Issue - meetings

August Revenue Budget Monitoring Report (Report of the Director of Financial Services) (report not ready)

Meeting: 19/12/2013 - The Former Self Regulation Select Commission (Item 39)

39 Revenue Budget Monitoring for the period ending 31st October, 2013 pdf icon PDF 99 KB

Minutes:

Further to Minute No. 138 of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 18th December, 2013, consideration was given to a report presented by Pete Hudson, Chief Finance Manager, concerning the funding reductions implemented by the coalition Government since 2011 which have required the Council to make savings of over £70 million, including £20.2 million 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 seven months of the financial year. It was currently forecast that the Council would overspend against its budget by £4.625 million (+2.1%).  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.

·                Continuing Health Care income pressures within Adult and Children’s Services.

·                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.

 

The moratorium on all except ‘essential’ spend had been in place since 16th October, 2013, and was starting to see a slow down in spend as had been experienced in previous years when a spending moratorium had been imposed.  Services were also exploring opportunities to maximise the flexible use of grant funding whilst ensuring grant conditions were complied with.  Further, the recent opening of the offer for staff to apply for Voluntary Early Retirement/Voluntary Severance (VER/VS) would also generate savings which would contribute to both reducing the in-year pressure and potentially contribute to closing the 2014/15 budget gap.

 

Monthly budget monitoring reports would not be submitted to Cabinet to enable close monitoring of progress towards delivering a balanced outturn.

 

It was also noted that meetings had taken place with the Clinical Commissioning Group regarding concerns over access to and timely payment of Continuing Health Care income for clients with Continuing Health Care needs.  An action plan had been developed and updates submitted to a series of future meetings between early December and the end of the financial year.

 

Discussion ensued and the following issues were raised and subsequently clarified:-

 

·                Current position and up-to-date information on the budget.

·                Moratorium of spend and whether this included staff recruitment and sick leave cover.

·                Suitability of candidates for the Director of Safeguarding position.

·                Reasons for increased agency staff usage in Children and Young People’s Services and Environment and Development Services and the good practice exhibited in other Directorates of the Council.

·                Procurement processes for agency staff ensuring value for money.

·                Spotlight review of agency and consultancy usage to be added to the Work Programme for 2014/15.

·                Council tax collection rates and current collection rates for business rates.

·                Overspend on independent sector residential and nursing care and the delivery of expected savings.

 

Resolved:-  (1)  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39


Meeting: 16/10/2013 - Cabinet (Pre-Intervention - 2nd June 2004 to 4th February 2015) (Item 97)

97 Revenue Budget Monitoring for the period ending 31st August 2013 pdf icon PDF 94 KB

-           Director of Finance to report.

Minutes:

Councillor Wyatt, Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing (Finance), introduced a report by the Director of Finance which provided details of progress on the delivery of the Revenue Budget for 2013/14 based on performance for the first five months of the financial year. It was currently forecast that the Council would overspend against its Budget by £5.475m (+2.5%). This represented a deterioration of the forecast outturn by £0.626m since the last (May) monitoring report. 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.

 

As the current forecast revenue pressure was significant, and because the position had deteriorated since the last report, it was now recommended that Stage 3 of the Strategy agreed by Members from the May monitoring report to address the forecast overspend be implemented with immediate effect. This action was required to mitigate the forecast pressure and prevent it from becoming serious. 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.

 

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 Stage 3 of the Strategy to address the forecast overspend with immediate effect be implemented, to bring spend in line with budget by 31st March, 2014.