Issue - meetings

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

The Council’s Scheme of Delegation gave the Executive collective responsibility for corporate strategic performance and financial management / monitoring, together with associated action. Standing Orders and Financial Procedures required Executive’s approval for major virements between revenue budgets, and in-year changes to the Council’s capital Investment Strategy.

The report provided the necessary information to enable Executive to discharge its financial management responsibilities, setting out:

·        projected revenue and capital budget year-end outturns as at Quarter Two 2022/23;

·        position statements in relation to the Council’s borrowing and prudential indicators, and its reserves and provisions; and

·        actions that the Council has taken and plans to address the issues raised.

OPTIONS

No other options were considered as part of the report.

ORDERED

That Executive:

1.     Approve the proposed revenue budget virements over £150,000 as detailed in Appendix 1 of the report; and

2.     Approve the revised Investment Strategy to 2024/25 at Appendix 2 of the report.

That Executive Notes:

1.     That there was a projected 2022/23 revenue budget year-end outturn as at Quarter Two of a £9.429m overspend.

2.     That if the Financial Recovery Plan 2022/23 as approved by Executive on 18 October 2022 was fully implemented, then the forecast overspend can potentially be reduced to approximately £2.1m.

3.     The management action being taken to address the shortfall and to improve this position further, wherever possible, in order to mitigate the risk on reserves.

4.     The proposed implementation of a Flexible Use of Capital Receipts Strategy for 2022/23 to fund transformation costs, in particular in Children’s Services, as approved by Full Council on 7 September 2022.

5.     That the current projected outturn and any non-implementation of the approved Financial Recovery Plan 2022/23 would have a negative impact on the Council’s current Medium Term Financial Plan, and that the ongoing financial challenges would continue into 2023/24 and future years. The position was being assessed and would be reported in a separate report to this Executive and then to Council as part of the Medium Term Financial Plan Update, and then as part of the budget strategy for 2023/24 to Executive and Council. It was noted there was currently a great deal of uncertainty in forecasting created by the pay award, inflationary pressures, and the impact on demand for services.

6.     The 2022/23 capital budget predicted year-end outturn of £69.241m as at Quarter Two against a revised capital budget of £90.614m

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.