Issue - meetings

Report from the Strategic Director of Finance and Customer Services.

Recommendations:

That Cabinet:-

1.    Note the update on the revenue budget financial outturn 2024/25.

2.    Note the Council’s progress on the delivery of the Local Council Tax Support Top Up payment.

Consideration was given to the report which provided an update to Cabinet on a number of financial matters. The report was provided as an interim update for Cabinet, following on from the approval of the Budget and Council Tax 2025/26 report at Council on 5 March 2025 and in advance  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6

Report from the Strategic Director of Finance and Customer Services.

Recommendations:

That Cabinet:-

1.    Note the update on the revenue budget financial outturn 2024/25.

2.    Note the Council’s progress on the delivery of the Local Council Tax Support Top Up payment.

At the Chair’s invitation the Assistant Director Financial Services introduced the report, indicating that the report aimed to give members an early indication of the outturn financial position for the fiscal year 2024-2025. This preceded the more detailed July outturn report.

The December monitoring position, reported to Cabinet in February, indicated a £3.1 million overspend. Efforts were made to reduce the overspend to mitigate the call on the Council’s reserves. The final quarter of the financial year saw improvement, reducing the overspend to £0.3 million. 

·       Homelessness Spend: Reduced through re-routing and cost reduction.

·       Home to school Transport: Cost reduction through re-routing.

·       Grant Maximization: Intensive work to maximize available grants.

·       Recruitment Holding: Holding recruitment where possible and reasonable.

·       Income Generation: Improved income generation in regeneration and environment sectors.

The direct pressures amounted to £12.8 million across the main directorates, primarily as a result of demand and market cost pressures in social care, home to school transport, waste management and homelessness. A proportion of that had been mitigated by planned budget contingencies approved in the budget for 24/25 which were held within central services. They were for social care and home to school transport and totalled £6.9 million.

It was noted that significant savings were achieved through Treasury Management due to the Council's borrowing and lending policies. In terms of savings delivery, about £5 million of the £9 million plan had been delivered. This was affected by challenges in delivering CYPS savings that would carry forward into 25/26. This challenge had been alluded to in the budget setting and budget planning process and MTFS process for 25/26 to 27/28.

The report provided an update on the local Council Tax Support scheme. The scheme had been completed for 24/25 and it was underway for 25/26, with the bulk of allocations having been made but the scheme remained open for new Council Tax Support claimants.

The Chair invited members of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board (OSMB) to raise questions and queries on the points raised earlier.

In response to a question from Councillor Blackham the Assistant Director Financial Services explained the outturn position improvement was a reduced overspend. When the budget was set for 25/26 it was indicated that the Council had overspend by £3.1 million in 24/25. That position needed an additional call from the reserves that hadn't been planned for in 24/25 of £3.1 million. That balance had been reduced to £0.3 million. So, the Council was effectively losing more reserves from the outset at the start of 24/25, but only by £0.3 million rather than £3.1 million, so it was an improved position against December's but not against the start of 24/25. The Assistant Director Financial Services responded further that in the position where the 25/26 budget was set, it was indicated that £3.1 million of reserves would be used to balance 24/25.

Councillor A Carter expressed concern about the sustainability of using reserves to cover overspends. He questioned how many more years the Council could continue this practice before  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5