Issue - meetings

Budget Monitoring Report (Pete Hudson)

Meeting: 05/09/2013 - The Former Self Regulation Select Commission (Item 24)

24 Revenue Budget Monitoring for the period ending 31st May 2013 pdf icon PDF 80 KB

Minutes:

Further to Minute No. 50 of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 24th July 2013, consideration was given to a report presented by the Director of Finance concerning the funding reductions implemented by the coalition Government since 2011 which have required the Council to make savings of over £70 millions, including £20.2 millions of savings which the Council must deliver during the 2013/14 financial year in order to achieve a balanced outturn budget.

 

The submitted report provided details of progress on the delivery of the Revenue Budget for 2013/14, based on performance for the first two months of the financial year. It was currently forecast that the Council would overspend against its budget by £4.849 millions (+2.2%). The main reasons for the forecast overspending were:-

 

·                The continuing service demand and cost pressures for safeguarding vulnerable children across the Borough area.

·                Income pressures within Environment and Development Services.

·                Demand pressures for Direct Payments, Older People’s Domiciliary Care services and day care for clients with Learning Disabilities.

·                Additional, one-off property costs relating to the continued rationalisation of the Council’s asset portfolio as part of the efficiency drive to reduce operational costs.

·                Some savings targets were currently pending delivery in full during 2013/14.

 

Although the current forecast revenue pressure was significant, through the implementation of appropriate management actions it should be possible to mitigate the forecast pressure and prevent it from becoming serious. A strategy for addressing the forecast pressure was proposed within the submitted report.   This strategy would ensure that the Council was able to deliver a balanced outturn and preserve its successful record of managing both its in-year financial performance and its overall financial resilience.

 

Support for the strategy was requested to address the 2013/14 forecast pressure of £4.849 millions. This proposed strategy consisted of three stages and incorporated key principles of increasing income, controlling costs and managing demand. Escalation to the subsequent stages of the strategy would be dependent upon the degree of success in reducing the forecast overspending towards a balanced outturn position.

 

Members raised the following issues during the debate of this report:-

 

: budget issues concerning Children and Young People’s Services (including : school places; foster care placements within and outside the Authority area – and the consequent difficulty of being able to forecast budget spending accurately);

 

: spending on the use of consultants, which is reducing considerably (Members asked to be informed of the expenditure details); reference was made to the scrutiny review of the Council’s use of consultants, containing a recommendation that no procurement process for the engagement of consultants should commence unless a clear business case is stated and can justify the appointment of external consultants (Minute No. C24 of the Cabinet meeting held on 17th June 2009 refers);

 

: reductions in income affecting several service areas across the Authority (including the impact upon Council facilities such as the Rockingham professional development centre);

 

: the impact of employee sickness absence;

 

: the use of shared service arrangements to try and achieve  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24


Meeting: 24/07/2013 - Cabinet (Pre-Intervention - 2nd June 2004 to 4th February 2015) (Item 50)

50 Revenue Budget Monitoring for the period ending 31st May 2013 pdf icon PDF 80 KB

-           Director of Finance to report.

Minutes:

Councillor Akhtar, Deputy Leader, introduced a report by the Director of Finance, which detailed since 2011 the funding cuts implemented by the Coalition Government have required the Council to make savings of over £70 million, including £20.2 million savings which the Council must deliver during 2013/14 to deliver a balanced outturn.

 

This report provided details of progress on the delivery of the Revenue Budget for 2013/14 based on performance for the first two months of the financial year. It was currently forecast that the Council would overspend against its Budget by £4.849 million (+2.2%). The main reasons for the forecast overspend were:-

 

·                The continuing service demand and cost pressures for safeguarding vulnerable children across the Borough.

·                Income pressures within Environment and Development Services.

·                Demand pressures for Direct Payments, Older People’s domiciliary care services and day care for clients with Learning Disabilities.

·                Additional, one-off property costs relating to the continued rationalisation of the Council’s asset portfolio as part of the efficiency drive to reduce operational costs.

·                Some savings targets were currently pending delivery in full in 2013/14.

 

Although the current forecast revenue pressure was significant, through the implementation of appropriate management actions it should be possible to mitigate the forecast pressure and prevent it from becoming serious. A strategy for addressing the forecast pressure was proposed within this report.   This would ensure that the Council was able to deliver a balanced outturn and preserve its successful track record in managing both its in year financial performance and its overall financial resilience.

 

Support for the strategy was requested to address the 2013/14 forecast pressure of £4.849m. This proposed strategy consisted of three stages and incorporated key principles of increasing income, controlling costs and managing demand. Escalation to the subsequent stages of the strategy would be dependent on the degree of success in reducing the forecast overspend towards a balanced outturn position.

 

Resolved:-  (1)  That the current forecast outturn and significant financial challenge presented for the Council to deliver a balanced revenue budget for 2013/14 be noted.

 

(2)  That with immediate effect, the proposed strategy to bring spend in line with budget by 31st March 2014 be approved.