Issue - meetings

Further to Minute No. 207 of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 19^th March, 2014, consideration as given to a report presented by Stuart Booth, Director of Finance, which provided details of progress on the delivery of the Revenue Budget for 2013/14 based on performance for the first ten months of the financial year.  It was currently forecast that the Council would overspend against its Budget by £1.183m (+0.5%). This represented an improvement in the forecast outturn of -£934k since the December monitoring report. The main reasons for the forecast overspend continued to be:-

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

·                Income pressures within Environment and Development and ICT 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 in 2013/14.

The moratorium on all except ‘essential’ spend had been in place since 16^th October, 2013. The impact of this and the approval of 102 applications for Voluntary Early Retirement/Voluntary Severance (VER/VS) were now reflected in this monitoring report. 45 applications were also currently under consideration.

Reference was made to the reasons for the projected pressure from winter maintenance given that the winter had been relatively mild and an explanation was provided on budget and salt usage.

Resolved:-  That the current forecast outturn and significant financial challenge presented for the Council to deliver a balanced revenue budget for 2013/14  and the actions implemented to address the forecast overspend be noted and welcomed.

-           Director of Finance to report.

Councillor Akhtar, Deputy Leader, 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 ten months of the financial year.  It was currently forecast that the Council would overspend against its Budget by £1.183m (+0.5%). This represented an improvement in the forecast outturn of -£934k since the December monitoring report. The main reasons for the forecast overspend continued to be:-

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

·                Income pressures within Environment and Development  and ICT 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 in 2013/14.

The moratorium on all except ‘essential’ spend had been in place since 16^th October, 2013. The impact of this and the approval of 102 applications for Voluntary Early Retirement/Voluntary Severance (VER/VS) were now reflected in this monitoring report. 45 applications were also currently under consideration.

Cabinet Members noted the increases in agency, consultancy and non-contractual overtime costs, compared to the same period last year, which was as a result of meeting the demands of various reviews and restructures, the ongoing investigations and due to the need to maintain statutory staffing levels of in residential, home care, day care and social work posts.

Resolved:-  That the current forecast outturn and significant financial challenge presented for the Council to deliver a balanced revenue budget for 2013/14  and the actions implemented to address the forecast overspend be noted.