Agenda item

The Cabinet Member for Finance, Performance and Core Services presented a report on the Council’s revenue and capital outturn position for 2020/21, which represented the expected final position for the year subject to external audit.

In respect of the revenue outturn position, the Cabinet Member advised that the General Fund net revenue expenditure for the financial year after the use of reserves was £181.927m against the revenue budget of £155.796m.  Much of the additional expenditure related to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and, after strong lobbying by the local government sector, the Council had received a total of £28.081m Government grant funding during the year, resulting in a year-end underspend position of £1.951m. 

The Cabinet Member placed on record his thanks for the tremendous efforts of management, staff and the Trade Unions in helping the Council to keep expenditure within reasonable limits despite the pressures on services due to the pandemic.  It was stressed, however, that the Government must recognise the long-term impact of the pandemic on the community and commit to sustainable funding across the public sector, otherwise the Council was likely to face significant overspends in the years ahead.

The Housing Revenue Account (HRA) showed a projected year-end underspend of £3.566m despite overspends on running costs, primarily due to a reduction in the revenue funding required to support the HRA Capital Programme which experienced considerable slippage due to the pandemic.  The Dedicated Schools Grant showed an underspend of £3.843m, although that was expected to reduce to £1.476m once an adjustment was made for the claw back of Early Years funding by the Department for Education.

With regard to the overall Capital Programme, the Cabinet Member advised that the total spend was £319.44m against the revised budget of £370.167m, with the shortfall of circa £50m largely resulting from project delays caused by the pandemic.

The Cabinet Member also referred to the intended allocation of capital receipts amounting to £51.624m and proposals relating to the winding-up of Barking and Dagenham Reside Roding Limited and Barking and Dagenham Reside Regeneration Limited, which would include the write-off of negative net assets projected at circa £1.032m and £0.014m respectively.

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Note the revenue outturn for the 2020-21 financial year, including the details of the individual service variances, as set out in sections 2 to 4 and Appendix A of the report;

(ii)  Note the outturn for the Housing Revenue Account for 2020-21 as set out in section 4 of the report;

(iii)  Note the update on key savings programmes, as set out in section 5 of the report;

(iv)  Approve the write-off of proposed savings now assessed as no longer possible or desirable to achieve totalling £1.693m, as listed in paragraph 5.5 of the report.

(v)  Note the update on the financial impact of COVID-19 and the lockdown and the financial support provided by the Government, as set out in section 6 of the report;

(vi)  Approve the transfers to and from reserves as set out in section 7 and Appendix D to the report;

(vii)  Note the impact of the consequent position for the Council’s reserves, as set out in Appendix E to the report;

(viii)  Note the Capital Programme expenditure outturn and the detailed figures, as set out in Appendix F to the report;

(ix)  Approve the carry forward of £27.4m General Fund capital programme slippage and £22.8m HRA slippage into 2021-22 and the revised total programme of £399.114m for 2021-22 as set out in Appendix G to the report;

(x)  Approve the allocation of capital receipts totalling £51.624m to fund transformation costs, repay film studio land purchase costs and Becontree Heath build costs, as set out in paragraph 9.6 of the report;

(xi)  Note the outturn on the Dedicated Schools Budget and the Local Management of Schools Reserves, as set out in section 11 of the report;

(xii)  Note the update on the financial position of the Council’s subsidiary companies, as set out in section 12 of the report;

(xiii)  Approve the write-off of the intercompany debt owed to the Council by Barking and Dagenham Reside Roding Ltd and agree that any further liabilities that arise under the development agreements and contracts that Barking and Dagenham Reside Roding Ltd was party to are settled directly by the Council who were also party to all the contracts, as referred to in section 13 of the report; and

(xiv)  Agree to appoint an insolvency practitioner and wind-up Barking and Dagenham Reside Roding Ltd by a Members Voluntary Liquidation with the intention that it be a solvent liquidation.