Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from County Councillors M Ritson and J Tetlow and Councillor S Sidat.

Members are asked to consider any pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the agenda.

None received.

Resolved: That the Minutes of the last meeting held on 24 September 2025 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Chair updated members that he along with the Chair of the Fire Authority, Vice-Chair of the Fire Authority, County Councillor M Clifford, Chief Fire Officer (CFO), Director of Corporate Services (DoCS) and Fire Brigades Union (FBU) had recently met with the Fire Minister, Samantha Dixon to discuss the fair funding review to ensure that Northern Fire Services were not overlooked. Additionally, they met and lobbied Lancashire MP’s.

The DoCS advised that this report set out the current budget position in respect of the 2025/26 revenue and capital budgets.

Revenue Budget

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service’s (LFRS’s) 2025/26 revenue budget had been set at £77.511m. The budget profiled to the end of September 2025 was £37.475m and expenditure for the same period was £37.648m, which was essentially breaking even. Both pay and non-pay budgets were showing a small year to date overspend totalling £0.173m; £0.057m on pay budgets and £0.117m on non-pay budgets.

The budget included £0.5m of savings to be delivered through effective deployment of resources and effective management of overtime, whilst the profile of overtime was higher over the summer period, management information showed that overtime had been avoided and therefore the service was forecasting that these savings would be met.

Overall, a small overspend was forecast of £0.250m, which was just 0.3% of the net budget, this largely reflected the higher than budgeted pay awards of 3.2% for all staff compared to the 3% budgeted. The year-to-date and forecast positions within all departmental budgets were set out in Appendix 1 of the report, with the major variances of note shown separately in the table below.

Future Pressures

As previously outlined a pay award of 3.2% was agreed for both Grey Book and Green Book employees, this was above the 3% increase originally included in the budget.

As of September 2025, the UK Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation rate stood at 3.8%, continuing an upward trend from earlier in the year. This level of inflation was notably higher than the 2% general inflation assumption included in the budget and was placing pressure on both revenue and capital non-pay budgets.

Utility costs were also higher than the 2% inflation assumption at over 6% which was largely due to geopolitical instability. Longer-term  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24-25/26

The Director of Corporate Services (DoCS) advised that the report set out the Authority's borrowing and lending activities during 2025/26. In accordance with the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) Treasury Management Code of Practice and to strengthen Members’ oversight of the Authority’s treasury management activities, the Resources Committee received a treasury management mid-year report and a final outturn report. Reports on treasury activity were discussed on a quarterly basis with Lancashire County Council Treasury Management Team and the Authority’s DoCS and the content of these reports were used as a basis for this report to the Committee.

Economic Overview

The first half of 2025/26 saw:

·         A 0.3% pick up in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the period April to June 2025. More recently, the economy flatlined in July, with higher taxes for businesses restraining growth.

·         The 3-month comparison to the same three months last financial year rate of average earnings growth excluding bonuses had fallen from 5.5% to 4.8% in July.

·         Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation had ebbed and flowed but finished September at 3.8%, whilst core inflation eased to 3.6%.

·         The Bank of England cut interest rates from 4.50% to 4.25% in May, and then to 4% in August.

·         The 10-year gilt yield fluctuated between 4.4% and 4.8%, ending the half year at 4.70%.

From a GDP perspective, the financial year got off to a bumpy start with the 0.3% monthly fall in real GDP in April as front-running of US tariffs in quarter one (when GDP grew 0.7% on the quarter) weighed on activity. Despite the underlying reasons for the drop, it was still the first fall since October 2024 and the largest fall since October 2023. However, the economy surprised to the upside in May and June so that quarterly growth ended up 0.3% compared to the previous quarter. Looking ahead, ongoing speculation about further tax rises in the Autumn Budget on 26 November would remain a drag on GDP growth. GDP growth for 2025 was forecast by Capital Economics to be 1.3%.

With the November Budget edging nearer, the public finances position looked weak. Public net sector borrowing of £18.0bn in August meant that after five months of the financial year, borrowing was already £11.4bn higher than the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) forecast at the Spring Statement in March. The overshoot in the Chancellor’s chosen fiscal mandate of the current budget was even greater with a cumulative deficit of £15.3bn. This was due to both current receipts in August being lower than the OBR forecast (by £1.8bn) and current expenditure being higher (by £1.0bn). Over the first five months of the financial year, current receipts had fallen short by a total of £6.1bn (partly due to lower-than-expected self-assessment income tax) and current expenditure had overshot by a total of £3.7bn (partly due to social benefits and departmental spending). Furthermore, what mattered now was the OBR forecasts and their impact on the current budget in 2029/30, which was when the Chancellor’s  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25-25/26

The next scheduled meeting of the Committee has been agreed for 10:00 hours on Wednesday 25 March 2026 in the Main Conference Room, at Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service Headquarters, Fulwood.

Further meetings are:          scheduled for 29 June 2026

                                                proposed for  30 September 2026

The next meeting of the Committee would be held on Wednesday 25 March 2026 at 1000 hours in the Main Conference Room at Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters, Fulwood.

Further meeting dates were noted for 29 June 2026 and 30 September 2026.

The Committee is asked to consider whether, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, they consider that the public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business on the grounds that there would be a likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the appropriate paragraph of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, indicated under the heading to the item.

Resolved: That the press and members of the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business on the grounds that there would be a likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the appropriate paragraph of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, indicated under the heading to the item.

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Members considered a report that provided an update on all contracts valued above £175,000.

Resolved: That the Committee noted and endorsed the report.

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Members considered a report that provided an update on the various issues which had arisen in respect of the changes to the pension schemes applying to the uniformed members of the Fire Sector.

Resolved: That the report be noted.

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Members considered a report regarding an IDRP Stage 2 application under the Internal Disputes Resolution Procedure. The report outlined the facts of the case.

Resolved: That the stage one decision in relation to this application was upheld.