Agenda item

The Committee received the budget report which provided the position at Quarter 1 (Period 3) of the 2023/24 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 MTFS savings.

The report was introduced by Councillor Carlin, Cabinet Member for Finance and Local Investment as set out in the agenda pack at pages 95 – 150.

By way of introduction, the Panel was advised that there was an overspend in Adult Social Care and the forecast was set to be an overspend of around £20 million by the end of the year. However, the Cabinet Member stressed that there was no immediate risk of Haringey needing to issue a Section 114 Notice

This was an ongoing issue due to lack of government funding for Adult Social Care and the Council was now 13 years into austerity. This issue was not specific to Haringey and other local authorises were also facing similar budgetary pressures in demand-led service areas. The Cabinet Member suggested that to her knowledge, there could be up to 25 local authorities that were in discussions with the government about the possibility of needing to issue a Section 114 Notice.

The following arose during the discussion of this item:

a)    Haringey’s finances were managed well with 76% of pre-existing savings expected to be met.

b)    The most significant area of forecast overspend was in Adults, Health and Communities which accounted for 91% of the total. £17.5m of this was Adults social care with a further £1m pressure on temporary accommodation.

c)    The Council had statutory spend in Adult Social Care, which was demand led with over 3500 care packages and high-cost packages for very disabled residents.

d)    During the budget forecast, officers had discussed themes of how the Council could work together across different directorates to deliver savings, both short and long term.

e)    In response to concerns raised about support from the National Health Services, the Committee was advised that the Council had received significantly less health and care funding, in comparison to neighbouring boroughs.

f)     The Committee was advised that a budget meeting was held last week with the Adult Social Care service. It was noted that the number of care packages had decreased, and this may be due to recovering from post COVID demand.

g)    The Committee noted that there was also an increase in the number of young adults which also created a budget pressure.

h)    Regarding the Council’s reserve position of £15 million, this was lower than average for a Council of this size. The Council could only spend the reserves if there was an unexpected risk and not on day-to-day spending. However, the Council had used the reserve to balance budgets and was now working towards replenishing and increasing its reserve position.

i)     The Committee noted that when the budget for 2023-24 was set, the Chief Finance Officer had to identify whether there would be enough reserve by conducting various risk assessments. The risk assessments looked at the general fund position, contingency budgets as well as ways of mitigating risks in the budget that is set in 2023-24.

j)     In response to a follow up question, the Committee was advised that the Minimum Revenue Provision was an amount of money the council set aside in the General Fund budget to repay the borrowing costs from the capital budget. there were statutory arrangements that governed this.

k)    In terms of publishing the Council’s Annual Statement of Accounts, the Committee was advised that last year’s accounts were published on 31^st July 2023. However, the Council’s accounts would still need to be audited. The issues around auditing were still ongoing at a national level and the government was working on this to get new auditors signed up to clear the backlog.

l)     In response to a question about capital projects, the Committee was advised that a review of the capital programme was underway, to assess projects that could potentially be postponed or even cancelled altogether. It was commented that, in general, capital projects where contracts had been already signed, would likely progress as scheduled.

RESOLVED

That the Committee to note the report.