Issue - meetings

The Head of Financial and Customer Services presented the Financial and Performance Monitoring report for quarter 2 of the 2022/23 financial year.

Cabinet was advised that at the end of quarter 2, Officers were projecting an overspend of £342,000 in the Council’s general fund budget.  This overspend was anticipated after the Council had addressed the unallocated savings that had been included in the MTFP for the 2022/23 financial year.  A number of service variances had been identified, particularly in relation to housing support which was likely to be overspent by the end of the financial year due to significant growth in demand.  The leisure sector continued to recover, following the Covid-19 pandemic, and Officers were suggesting that it would be prudent to forecast a pressure in income from the leisure services provider in the District, SLM as existing contractual income levels were still not deliverable.

There remained a number of factors that would potentially impact further on the budget position which included:

·             The cost of living crisis, which was already impacting on demand for services, particularly housing support and homelessness services.

·             The impact of inflation on costs, such as in relation to contracted services.

·             The pay award of £1,925 extra per staff member, which would create an extra pressure on the budget.  The payments would include back pay and would be provided in December 2022 to staff.  This would need to be covered from reserves and the figures would be included in the financial and performance monitoring report for quarter 3 of the financial year.

In terms of capital expenditure, there had been £4.8 million expenditure allocated to the Burcot Lane project.  Some of this expenditure would need to be carried forward to 2023/24.

The report also provided an update on the Council’s performance in relation to the strategic purposes in the Council Plan.  Data provided in relation to measures had been included in the report.  This data would be important to help inform difficult decisions in respect of tranche 2 of the budget.

Following the presentation of the report, Members discussed the content and in so doing commented on the use of funding from business rates.  Concerns were raised that, as no increases had been announced to business rates in the Chancellor’s autumn statement, this income might not be a reliable source moving forward.  However, Officers explained that the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities had recently announced that he was not aiming to reset business rates and Officers were anticipating that this fund would remain available for several years.

Concerns were raised about the financial pressures that had arisen in relation to housing support and the implications for the Council.  Officers explained that the Council had spent the authority’s allocated housing support grant (DHP) by August 2022.  This situation was unusual, as usually some funding remained available until later into the financial year and this helped to demonstrate the level of demand at the present time.  Members were advised that other Councils were in a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53