Issue - meetings

[Report of the Chief Operating Officer. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Finance and Health.] Quarterly monitoring report on forecast  of spend against budget and consideration of any proposed budget virements.

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Health introduced the report which provided an update on the projected financial position of the Council for 2016/17 as at Period 9 (December 2016). It covered significant operating and capital revenue variances on a full-year basis.

At the end of Quarter 3 and Period 9 overall the Council was projecting a full-year deficit/overspend of £21.3m for 2016/17. This was a small improvement of £0.7m from the Quarter 2 position of £22.0m reported to Cabinet in October 2016. The Council were still grappling with demand pressures in Adults services, Children’s services and in Temporary Accommodation. There was also some further work being completed on improving forecasting for year end.

The Chief Operating Officer was asked to outline the Council’s position on reserves, assuming the overspend does not fall significantly by the end of the financial year.

The Cabinet noted that there were two specific categories for reserves, those which were earmarked for specific Council projects and non ear marked reserves for use when unexpectedly needed and looked at for assessing the Council’s sustainability. In order to manage and mitigate the overspend, further to checking what the earmarked reserves were allocated for, the Chief Operating Officer had consolidated the earmarked reserves to provide some scope to cover the overspend by the end of the financial year.

RESOLVED

1.    To note the report and the Council’s 2016/17 Period 9 financial position in respect of revenue and capital expenditure;

2.    To note the risks and mitigating actions, including spend controls identified in this report in the context of the Council’s on-going budget management responsibilities;

3.    To approve the creation of a contingency budget within the capital programme funded from any net corporate scheme budgets no longer required to fund new schemes (subject to approved business case).

4.    To approve the required virements over £0.25m as set out in section 7 of this report.

Reasons for decision

A strong financial management framework, including oversight by Members and senior management, is an essential part of delivering the Council’s priorities and statutory duties.

Alternative options considered

This is the 2016/17 Quarter 3 Financial Report. As such, there are no alternative options.