Agenda item

The Asssistant Director for Finance and Customer Services explained that alongside the preparation of the Quarter Two 2025/26 Finance and Performance Monitoring Report (including Financial Savings and Half Yearly Treasury Management Report) work was undertaken on the Quarter One 2025/26 Finance and Performance Monitoring Report following the request for it to be reconsidered at the Council meeting held on 8^th October 2025. 

 

This would ensure that the information at Quarter Two was up to date and accurate. Information on the Quarter One report was as follows:

 

• The Full Year Variance of £173,361 on the Totals Line remained the same.

 

• The Full Year Projected Forecast had been amended from £587,360 to £173,361 on the Totals Line.

 

•  The Narrative within the report had been reviewed and improved, with a view to ensuring that full explanations were given for all variances.

 

• There were two areas where the narrative had been materially adjusted:

 

 

 

 

• Rent revenue relating to Nailers Yard - Several enquiries for office space and two enquiries for the food and beverage unit had been received and the service charge schedules prepared for the commercial building by GJS Dillon. Heads of terms were due to be issued to an incoming tenant who wished to let one and a half floors of the building. The next stage was to instruct Bruton Knowles to undertake the property management role of the commercial building.

 

The information included in the preamble above was provided to Members to reassure them the current status at Quarter Two was accurate following the queries made in respect of Quarter One previously. This information would be reported to full Council at its meeting that evening.

 

In considering the Quarter 2 2025/26 Finance and Performance Monitoring Report (including Financial Savings and Half Yearly Treasury Management Report) it was reported that there were two minor discrepancies highlighted to Members as follows:

 

• The Communities, Housing and General Fund narrative explanations added up to £145,000 rather than £149,000.  Other net variations had been amended from £31,000 to £27,000.
• The Planning and Leisure narrative added up to £46,000 rather than £49,000.  Therefore, further comments had been included to state that there were other net variations of £3,000.

 

At the end of Quarter Two, the Council was forecasting a £336,000 revenue overspend for the full financial year. This was primarily driven by:

 

·       Increased costs in Waste Management, due to the ageing fleet and agency staffing.

·       Additional costs in Finance, including agency cover and VAT consultancy.

·       Shortfalls in parking income and increased costs in Lifeline Services.

 

These pressures had been partially offset by:

 

• Vacancy management savings.
• Increased income in waste services.
• Underspends in Corporate Financing.

 

At Quarter Two £894,000 of the Council’s £1.213 million savings target had been delivered, leaving £319,000 to be achieved. Work was ongoing to meet this target by year-end.

 

Capital expenditure to date stood at £4.872 million against a revised budget of £21.876 million, which included £14.891 million of carry forwards from 2024/25.

 

Information was provided in respect of key Council projects which included:

 

• Windsor Street - Phase One remediation was complete; the Council was still awaiting Environment Agency feedback on PFAS levels before Phase Two works commenced.
• Nailers Yard - Construction was progressing well, with a revised completion date of 6th May 2026. A further £500,000 had been committed to this scheme.

 

In terms of Reserves and Treasury Management it was reported that Earmarked Reserves currently stood at £11.266 million. No new borrowing had been undertaken and £7 million was held in short-term investments. Performance and prudential indicators were compliant and stable.

 

An update on Members’ Ward Budgets was provided. It was reported that eighteen Members had allocated a total of £15,968.80 to projects. There was some unallocated funding which amounted to £46,031.20. Members were reminded this must be spent by 31^st March 2026.

 

Council Tax collection was slightly below target at 56.58 per cent for Quarter Two. However, Business Rates collection was strong at 56.82 per cent. This exceeded the national average.

 

In terms of processing of Benefits payments, it was reported that new claims were processed in 16 days on average and changes to claims were processed in 9 days. These were both well within the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) expectations.

 

The Procurement Pipeline had been included within the report for Members’ information. It noted that currently there were ten contracts that exceeded the £200,000 key decision threshold and five contracts were being procured by Redditch Borough Council on behalf of Bromsgrove District Council.

 

Finally, it was reported that the Council’s financial monitoring was fully aligned with the Council’s strategic purposes and that Managers continue to work closely with Finance to mitigate risks and ensure delivery of priorities.

 

Members thanked Officers for their hard work in preparation of the Quarter Two 2025/26 Finance and Performance Monitoring Report (including Financial Savings and Half Yearly Treasury Management Report), particularly in light of the additional work that had been undertaken in revisiting the contents of the Quarter One report.

 

It was noted that the Finance and Budget Working Group had pre-scrutinised both the Quarter One and Quarter Two reports and had understood that the work on increased narrative within these kinds of report was still underway. The only area of concern that had been raised during these discussions was the use of agency staff, particularly in Environmental Services. It was noted that the use of agency staff in this area was necessary to ensure that the waste collections were carried out in an efficient and timely manner if staff were not available due to sickness.

 

The Performance data contained within the report was presented and areas that could not be provided at the time of publication of the agenda were provided as follows:

 

• Housing - Cost of B & B Placements – this was £46,503 at Quarter Two. This was an increase from Quarter One and more in line with totals at Quarters Three and Four in the previous financial year.
• Community Safety – Number of crimes reported – 1,418 (an increase of 22 on the previous Quarter).
• Community Safety – Anti-Social Behaviour – 267 incidents reported (a decrease of 34 on the previous Quarter).

 

RECOMMENDED that

 

1)    The Balance Sheet Monitoring Position for Quarter Two be noted – which is the Treasury Monitoring Report and required to be reported to Council.

2)    The Council’s Treasury performance for Q2 of the financial year 2025/26 be noted.

3)    The position in relation to the Council’s Prudential indicators be noted.

 

RESOLVED that the following be noted

 

4)    The current Revenue position of £336,000 unfavourable variance.

5)    The current Capital spending of £4.872 million against a revised budget of £21.876m.

6)    The current savings delivery is £894,000 against an annual target of £1.213 million for 2025/26.  This is included in the above Revenue position.

7)    The Earmarked Reserves balances of £11.266 million.

8)    The Ward Budget allocation position to date was 18 approved allocations at £15,968.80, leaving a balance of £46,031.20 to be allocated before year end.

9)    There was an updated procurements position, with any new items over £200,000 to be included on the forward plan.

10)The position on Council Tax and Business Rates.

11)The position on benefits processing.

12)The Quarter Two position on Corporate Performance Indicators.