Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member for Finance, Performance and Core Services presented a report on the Council’s revenue and capital budget monitoring position for the 2018/19 financial year as at 31 August 2018 (Month 5).

The General Fund showed a similar position to that at the end of July 2018, with a projected year-end overspend of £4.945m against the budget of £145.368m.  The Capital Programme showed a projected year-end spend of £157.489m against the original budget of £133.216m, with the increase attributable to a range of factors including new grant funding, the carry forward of unspent allocations from 2017/18 and the acceleration of later years’ projects in the current year.

Cabinet Members commented on the impact that the Government’s continued underfunding of public services was having on the Council’s ability to deliver a balanced budget each year, particularly in the areas of Adult and Children’s Social Care.  Concerns were also expressed regarding the Government’s Universal Credit project and the potential that local Council budgets would be cut further to meet the extra £2bn being called for to implement Universal Credit.

The Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Note the current forecast outturn position for 2018/19 of the Council’s General Fund revenue budget as detailed in section 2 and Appendix A to the report;

(ii)  Approve the proposed revisions to the 2018/19 Capital Programme as detailed in section 4 and Appendix B to the report;

(iii)  Approve the reprofiled five-year Capital Programme as set out in Appendix C to the report; and

(iv)  Note the in-year Capital Programme monitoring position as set out in Appendix D to the report.