Issue - meetings

The Interim Section 151 Officer presented a Financial Monitoring Report for Members’ consideration.

Cabinet was informed that the report detailed the Council’s approach to monitoring financial performance in the 2022/23 municipal year.  Monitoring would be undertaken using data obtained from the Council’s financial management system.

The Council’s revenue budget for the 2022/23 municipal year was £12.1 million.  There was a capital budget of £2.4 million.  In addition to this, there was Levelling Up funding that had been allocated to the budget for use on specific projects.  There were financial challenges facing the Council moving forward and over the following three years the authority needed to bridge a gap of £1.4 million in order to achieve a balanced budget.  Base budgets were in the process of being reviewed and the Corporate Management Team (CMT) was also considering the financial position.  A range of indicators had been added to the report to enable performance in respect of the budget to be monitored and more would be added once technical issues with the Council’s finance system had been resolved.

Members subsequently discussed the content of the report and in doing so questioned why the figures provided in a table concerning payment of Council Tax did not appear to add up across consecutive columns.  Officers explained that the figures highlighted residents who were eligible for support but not all households had taken up this support, which impacted on the bottom line for the figures provided.  In future editions of the report Members agreed that an additional line should be added to the table clarifying the number of eligible people who had not received support.

Reference was also made to the number of customers who were not paying their Council Tax via direct debit and concerns were raised about the implications for the customer.  Officers clarified that attempts had been made over many years to promote payment of bills using direct debit.  However, approximately one third of customers did not pay via direct debit and the reasons for this varied, although included some customers who would struggle to make direct debit payments due to cash flow difficulties.

RESOLVED

1)          To note that future monitoring returns will be in the “on system” format;

2)          That the approach being taken by Officers to balance the 2022/23 budget and future years’ budget deficit positions be approved; and

3)          That the addition to the monitoring report of the additional financial health indicators be approved.