Issue - meetings

The Executive Member for Finance and Governance and the Director of Finance submitted a report for Executive’s consideration.

The report set out arrangements by each Directorate to support the Council’s financial recovery plan for 2022/23.

The Quarter One budget monitoring report to Executive on 6 September 2022 reported a forecast overspend of approximately £9m for 2022/23.  This was mainly due to pressures relating to additional inflation, the increased pay award, and increased demand, placement and agency costs within Children’s Services, all of which were unknown at the start of the financial year and were national issues.

Following that report, each Executive Member and Director had reviewed discretionary spending plans in their area for the remainder of the financial year. An overview was contained in the report and indicated the forecast overspend could be substantially reduced to approximately £1.6m. Work would continue throughout the remainder of the year to improve this position further, wherever possible, in order to mitigate the risk on reserves.

The Mayor commented that difficult decisions needed to be made in order to reduce any detrimental impact on the public.

Executive was asked to note the progress made and approve the recovery plan as outlined in the report. 

OPTION

To not propose a recovery plan for 2022/23 would mean that the Council’s financial health was severely and adversely impacted with a continuing overspend, and if not corrected the Council’s spending would be unsustainable.

ORDERED

1.    That an addendum be made to point 32 of the report to read “Any impact on the strategic priorities will be referenced in the quarter two strategic plan performance report to be presented to Executive on 8 November 2022.”

2.    That Executive note the progress being made to recover the financial position in 2022/23 by each Directorate;

3.    That Executive approve the recovery plan for 2022/23 as set out in the report; and

4.    That Executive note that the recovery plan will be used as a benchmark for reporting future budget variations.

REASON

To enable the effective management of finances, in line with the Council’s Local Code of Corporate Governance, the Scheme of Delegation and agreed corporate financial regulations.