The Committee considered a report by the Head of Governance (circulated previously) regarding Mid-Year Treasury Management 2024/25.

The Head of Governance highlighted the following:

·         The Treasury Management Strategy Statement (TMSS) for 2024/25 was approved at full Council on 21 February 2024.

·         The revised Capital Financing Requirement (CFR) was around £37million.  It was projected that the CFR would be funded from £18million external borrowing, £5million financial leases, £14million internal borrowing from reserves.

·         The underlying TMSS approved previously required revision in the light of economic and operational movements during the year.The proposed changes were set out as follows:

·         The change to the upper limit for borrowing under 12 months would allow greater flexibility for short-term borrowing, given the current interest rate forecast.

·         The Council held £6.2million of investments as at 30 September 2024 (£1.8million at 31 March 2024) and the investment portfolio yield for the first six months of the year was 4.72% against the benchmark 7 day average SONIA rate of 5.12%.

In response to questions about the change in the CFR, the Head of Governance explained that the original TMSS had been approved in February 2024, with two capital schemes approved at a later date, which had a borrowing need.  The Head of Governance confirmed that the overall authorised borrowing limit remained at £40million.

The Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive added that the Council hoped to maximise its longer-term borrowing when interest rates drop.  Appendix A of the report detailed an economic update from the Council’s external treasury advisors, Link Group.

RECOMMENDED to full Council:

(a)  That changes to the prudential indicators be approved; and

(b)  That the report and treasury activity be noted