Agenda item

Report from the Strategic Director for Finance and Customer Service.

Recommendations:

That Cabinet

1.          Note the current General Fund Revenue Budget forecast overspend of £2.0m.

2.          Note that actions will be taken as necessary to reduce the overspend position during the course of the year but that it is possible that the Council will need to draw on its reserves to balance the 2023/24 financial position.

Consideration was given to the report which set out the financial position as at the end of May 2023 and forecast for the remainder of the financial year. As at May 2023, the Council currently estimated an overspend of £2.0m for the financial year 2023/24. This was due to demand led pressures on Children’s residential placements and home to school transport as well as the impact of inflationary pressures in the economy, particularly on food prices, and the legacy impact of lockdown restrictions on some of the directorate’s services.

The current economic climate remained turbulent, with challenges in projecting where inflation will move and the pace at which it moves. At present inflation is not reducing at the pace at which Government and the Office for Budget Responsibility predicted. It was estimated that inflation would last for a further eighteen months. This meant the council would face short term pressures that would need to be managed through the Council financial planning strategy.

The forecast position would be closely monitored by officers with any mitigating factors being implemented.

Resolved: That Cabinet:

1.          Noted the current General Fund Revenue Budget forecast overspend of £2.0m.

2.          Noted that actions will be taken as necessary to reduce the overspend position during the course of the year but that it is possible that the Council will need to draw on its reserves to balance the 2023/24 financial position.