Consideration was given to the report which set out the financial position as at the end of July, 2018 based on actual costs and income for the four months April to July, 2018 with a forecast for the remaining eight months of the financial year.
As at July 2018, the Council was expecting to deliver a balanced General Fund budget by the financial year-end, after taking account of the £10m budget contingency approved within the 2018/19 budget.
However, to achieve this position a number of mitigating savings actions and further spending reductions were required to be identified and implemented across all Council services, in order to offset the impact of a range of cost and demand pressures impacting on the Council’s budgets.
Cabinet Members outlined the current position for the two large areas of overspend and it was noted that for Children’s and Young People’s Services Directorate the overspending against budget was continuing in the current financial year as a result of demand for services outstripping budget capacity. The number of children in care continued to increase this financial year and had reached 649 at the time of writing this report. The increased number of Looked after Children also placed significant pressure as did the number of young people requiring support from the Leaving Care Service following the increase of provision up to the age of twenty-five.
The targeted initiative “Right Child, Right Care” was profiled to result in a significant reduction in looked after children and a process to ensure that the young people were in the right placements for their needs. There was also pressure within Early Help and whilst this was being reduced through effective vacancy management there still remained some pressure. Challenges to potential efficiencies were continuing to take place.
The Adult Care Services Directorate was forecasting an overall overspend of £6.221m. A combination of increased client numbers, the rising cost of care packages, and delays in delivery of savings plans had led to pressure on budgets across all client groups. A recovery plan had been developed to address previously undelivered savings and project plans were currently being finalised with the expectation that further savings would be identified from this activity. The main reasons for the delayed delivery of savings were related to the complexity of new cases and the historical assessment practice across all cohorts in terms of over reliance on residential care and poor application of self directed support.
Mitigating actions to deliver a balanced budget position, after use of the budget contingency were outlined as part of the report.
Resolved:- (1) That the forecast General Fund balanced budget position after use of the budget contingency be noted.
(2) That management actions continue to address areas of overspend, provide enhanced controls over all spend and identify alternative and additional savings.
(3) That the alternative budget savings proposals for Regeneration and Environment, and Finance and Customer Services as referenced in paragraph 3.4.4 and 3.6.7 be approved.
(4) That the updated Capital Programme be noted.