Issue - meetings

To set out the current financial position for the Council at the end of the first quarter of 2024/25 (report of the Deputy Chief Executive – Corporate Development (S151) enclosed).

Consideration as given to the report of the Deputy Chief Executive – Corporate (S151) which set out the current financial position for the Council at the end of the first quarter of 2024/25.

The Portfolio Holder – Finance presented the report and provided the following update:

Throughout the year, quarterly monitoring reports were completed forecasting the expected year end outturn compared to the approved budget. This report provided information on the forecast full year financial performance as at 30 June 2024.

This year, like recent years, would be challenging. A matter of particular note was that the 24/25 pay award had not yet been announced and would impact on the forecast outturn position if it was greater than the budgeted 3.5%.

A further significant matter for Cabinet’s attention was the allocation of £335,000 in respect of the IDB levy pressure for 2024/25 which had now been included within the Q1 forecast and efficiencies table.  This allocation was of great relief and showed that efforts in lobbying on this matter via the Special Interest Group had been worthwhile.  It was important that this work continued to ensure that a long-term solution to this pressure was achieved.

General Fund Revenue Forecast

The revenue outturn forecasted an overspend position of £67,000 at the year-end.  The following key areas were brought to the Cabinet’s attention:

• Neighbourhoods was forecast to overspend by £161,000 for the year due to staffing pressures within the Recycling and Refuse services.
• The General Fund 2024/25 net budget for investment income was £1.033million.  The forecasted full year outturn for investment income as at Q1 was £1.1million, which would be an overachievement of £67,000.
• A new area of detail in the report was Table 1b illustrating additions to the revenue budget as the year progressed through decision notices and delegated decisions.
• The 2024/25 budget included a savings efficiency target of £831,000, savings were being tracked and could be found in table 1c.  55% of the target had been identified as at 30 June and the forecast assumed the remaining target would be met with work ongoing to support this.

General Fund Capital

Table 4 provided details of all capital schemes. The proposed revised capital budget as at Q1 for the General Fund was £10.709million. Changes to the capital programme were also being tracked with £104,000 identified and detailed in Table 5. Slippage continued to be carefully monitored and considered and budgets refined as the financial year progressed.

HRA

Section 2.3 detailed the HRA revenue budget. Instead of the usual Quarter 1 forecast, the report proposed a budget reset for the Cabinet to consider and refer to Full Council for approval. The HRA revenue budget was under extreme pressure with compounding demands from service pressures, hyperinflation, ageing components, greater publicity of the responsibility of social landlords, and increased reports of Damp, Condensation and Mould. The proposed budget included a net movement of £346,000, resulting in a £192,000 surplus for the year, including an associated reserve withdrawal.

For HRA Capital, Table 7 provided details  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28