Issue - meetings

The Committee received a Finance Update for Quarter 1 2024/25. The report covered the position at Quarter 1 of the 2024/25 financial year including General Fund (GF) Revenue, Capital, Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) budgets. The report focused on significant budget variances including those arising from the forecast non-achievement of approved Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) savings. The report was introduced by Cllr Dana Carlin, Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services, as set out in the agenda pack at pages 63-166. Taryn Eves, Director of Finance and Josephine Lyseight, AD for Finance were also present. The following arose during the discussion of the report:

1. The Chair enquired whether the organisation was getting to a position whereby it was functionally unable to balance the budget long-term. It was commented that it didn’t seem to matter how much money was put into the budget, the Council still ended up with an overspend and a budget gap at year end. The Chair also commented that savings were put forward every year to plug the gap, but a proportion of those savings didn’t get met and further savings were required. In response, the Director of Finance advised that she would not characterise the situation as being unable to set a balanced budget for this year or next, at this stage. It was commented that a lot of work was being done behind the scenes to identify opportunities to reduce the budget gap. In addition, there was monthly monitoring of high risk budgets, such as Children, Adults and Housing Demand. The Director Finance advised that there was always risk and uncertainty around setting a future balanced budget position and that there was a lot of work to do in setting the budget.
2. In response to a question, the Director of Finance advised that the projected £20m overspend was a projected overspend at the year end, rather than a £20m overspend at Q1. The Director of Finance set out that due to the governance processes involved, it was usually around Christmas time before they started the process of setting a budget. The figures that were used didn’t include Q3 numbers and there was always a degree of revision required. Some of the pressures highlighted in the report in Children’s did not come to light until after January and so there was always going to be additional pressures to the in-year budget. Officers set out that they were actively looking at ways to reduce in-year spending and in-year demand. Officers also commented that the Q2 figures were likely to be challenging due to the level of demand and the complexity of some of the care needs involved.
3. The Committee sought clarification as to whether the budget mitigations being taken in-year might be reflected in an improved position in Q2. In response. Officers advised that it was anticipated that there would be an increase in demand in Q2 and that this would offset any reductions in spend. It was commented that actions taken  ...  view the full minutes text for item 55