Agenda item

The Acting Director of Finances, Bromsgrove District Council (BDC) and Redditch Borough Council (RBC), introduced the report and in doing so drew Members’ attention to the Recommendations as detailed on pages 15 to 16 of the main agenda report.

The report covered the period April to September 2023.

Members were informed that the detailed revenue monitoring report, as attached at Appendix 1 to the report; showed a projected outturn 2023/24 surplus of £24lk. It was appreciated that this was an estimation to the year-end based of the following assumptions: -

·         A 2% pay award had been added to the projected outturn figures, as per the original budget. There was a reserved £120k from last year surplus to accommodate an enhanced pay award in 2023/24.

·         Agency staff costs were being incurred due to backfilling of staff working on other contractual work e.g., food recovery programme, contaminated land and work for other local authorities, these costs were covered by vacant posts and income generation.

·         If April to September 2023 spend on pest control continued on the same trend for the rest of year, there would be an overspend on this service of £14k. WRS officers would continue to monitor and analyse this spend and advise of any changes in the projected outturn figure at quarter 3. The projected outturn figure to be funded by partners was: -

Redditch Borough Council£6k

Wychavon District Council£8k

This income was included in the income projected outturn.

·         The following was the actual bereavements costs April to September 2023 to be funded by partners. These costs were charged on an as and when basis. Due to the nature of the charge, it was not possible to project a final outturn figure: -                               

                        Bromsgrove District Council       £3k

                        Redditch Borough Council          £14k   

                          Worcester City Council               £5k                                                                                                         

·         Appendix 2 to the report, detailed the income achieved by WRS for April to September 2023.

·         Any grant funded expenditure was shown separate to the core service costs as this was not funded by the participating Councils.

The Head of Worcestershire Regulatory Services responded to a question from Members with regard to any surpluses / deficits, and in doing so explained that the Service Legal Agreement (SLA) required partners to make up any deficit, and that partners would benefit from any surplus. There was currently £137k in General Reserves and this would be the first port of call for any overspends. Following such an occurrence, if the level of overspend was significant, the ability to use the reserve would allow time for The Board to review the operation of WRS services and whether the model of operations needed to be revised ahead of a new budget being set for the following year.

The income brought in during the first half of 2023/24 was £204k, which was slightly below the previous year. This equated to 6.8% for 2023/24 and 7.7% for 2022/23.

Members were reassured that the Technical Services Manager, WRS, continued to source new business.

RESOLVED that the Board notes the final financial position for the period April – September 2023, and that