Agenda item

To receive an update on the financial forecasts for 2021/22 and note any actions associated with the position reported; and to note or approve virements and supplementary estimates as required.

The Sub-Committee considered a report outlining how the Council was managing resources to provide value for money services during the 2021/22 financial year.The report set out the financial performance of the Council with and without the impact of Covid-19.

Further details of how the Council was performing in 2021/22 were set out in Annex 1 to the report.

Arising from members’ consideration of the report, the following comments were made:

§  There was a need for the relevant service committees to address significant overspends and underspends arising from, among other things, increasing social care costs, reduced car park income and staff recruitment and retention issues.

§  It was recognised that each service committee had responsibilities to work with officers to manage its allocated budget.

§  Members noted the potential implications of the national local government pay award, which had not been fully factored into the budget for this year as a public sector pay freeze had been assumed.

§  Consideration should be given to whether the assumptions underlying the budget remained realistic or required further review.

§  It was noted that the non-domestic rates and Council tax collection rates had improved although the full impact of non-domestic rates had yet to be determined.

§  The position with the General Reserves would be kept under review, and it may be necessary to consider further financial savings in future to ensure that the Reserves remained at an appropriate level.

§  Members noted that the overall position with the budget, excluding Covid-related expenditure, represented a projected variance of less than 1% which had been achieved in challenging circumstances.

Arising from the discussion, the Director of Finance and Customer Services undertook to ask the Council’s Corporate Leadership Team to consider the options for addressing staff recruitment and retention.

RESOLVED (unanimously)

That the Sub-Committee

1.    notes the contents of the report and each appendix;

2.    approves:

          (a)        supplementary revenue estimates for general purpose grants coded centrally up to and including £1,000,000 in accordance with Financial Procedure Rules as detailed in Appendix 1 of the report, Section 3 Corporate Grants Register, Table 1; and

          (b)        capital virements up to and including £5,000,000 in accordance with Financial Procedure Rules as detailed in Appendix 1, Section 5 Capital Strategy, Table 5;

3.    recommends that Council approve:

          (a)        fully funded supplementary revenue estimates for general purpose grants coded centrally over £1,000,000 in accordance with Financial Procedure Rules as detailed in Appendix 1 of the report, Section 3 Corporate Grants Register, Table 1;

          (b)        fully funded supplementary revenue estimates for specific grants coded directly to services over £1,000,000 in accordance with Financial Procedure Rules as detailed in Appendix 1, Section 3 Corporate Grants Register, Table 2; and

          (c)        supplementary capital estimates over £1,000,000 in accordance with Financial Procedure Rules as detailed in Appendix 1, Section 5 Capital Strategy, Table 6;

4.    recommends that Service Committees:

          (a)        note the financial update and forecast outturn relevant to their terms of reference;

          (b)        note that officers will seek to improve outcomes and the financial outturn across all Committees to mitigate the overall forecast overspend of the Council; and

          (c)        approve supplementary revenue estimates for specific grants coded directly to services up to and including £1,000,000 in accordance with Financial Procedure Rules as detailed in Appendix 2-7, Section 3 Corporate Grants Register, Table 2.