Agenda item

First Financial Review 2024/25

To receive a report on the first financial review for Economy and Growth services for the financial year 2024/25.

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report which provided the current forecast outturn for the financial year 2024/25 based on the Council’s income, expenditure and known commitments as at the end of July 2024. It also identified actions that were being taken to address adverse variances to urgently address the Council’s financial sustainability.

 

The Council was forecasting an additional in-year pressure of £26.5m - this was before the application of any exceptional financial support. The overall reasons for the £26.5m pressure were outlined in the report.  

 

The Economy and Growth were reporting an underspend of £2.6m against a net budget of £28.1m. The key reasons for the underspend were outlined in the report and included savings on gas and electricity costs, business rates underspend and vacancy management.

 

It was noted that the report format had been changed so that one finance report with a single set of information would go to each service committee to enable them to consider and see the full financial position.

 

Reference was made to the review of the capital programme and that £70m capital spending was being moved into next year and future years.  It was explained that there were many reasons why projects slipped back into the following year.  Each capital project had been re-evaluated against actual spend on the project and any uncertain elements defrayed to the following years.  Where projects had external funding, this money would be spent first with the Council’s money being spent in the following years.

 

In relation to the Facilities Management area, it was explained that Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme grant money was being used to help decarbonise Delamere House, Macclesfield Town Hall, and schools in Cheshire East.  The relocation of teams from Westfields to Delamere House and Macclesfield Town Hall was underway and would be completed by the end of the year.  An update report on the future use of Westfields was due to come to the January 2025 committee meeting.    Savings had been made due to a decrease in the price of gas and electricity, however these prices were expected to rise in October and costs would be monitored to see what impact they had.

 

RESOLVED:  That the Committee

 

1               note the factors leading to a forecast adverse/(positive) Net Revenue financial variance of:

 

Council: £26.5m against a revised budget of £387.6m (6.8%)

Economy and Growth: (£2.6m) against a revised budget of £28.1m (9.3%)

 

note the contents of Annex 1, Section 2 relevant to services within the committee’s remit, and review progress on the delivery of the MTFS approved budget policy change items, the RAG ratings and latest forecasts, and to understand the actions to be taken to address any adverse variances from the approved budget.

 

2               note the in-year forecast capital sending of:

 

Council: £164.5m against an approved MTFS budget of £215.8m

Economy and Growth: £48.9m against an approved MTFS budget of £80.3m

 

due to slippage that has been re-profiled into future years.

 

3               note the available reserves position as per Annex 1, Section 5.

 

4               note that Council will be asked to approve Supplementary Revenue Estimate Requests for Allocation of Additional Grant funding over £1,000,000 as per Annex 1, Section, Table 1.

 

5               note the Capital Virements above £500,000 up to and including £5,000,000 as per Annex 1, Section 4, Table 3 will be approved in accordance with the Council’s Constitution.

 

Supporting documents: