Decision details

The Cabinet will be asked to consider the projected position of the Council’s revenue and capital budgets for 2012/13 and, if necessary, consider proposals for in-year adjustments aimed at achieving a balanced budget position at the year end

The Cabinet Member for Finance presented a report on the Council’s revenue and capital budget position for the 2012/13 financial year as at 30 November 2012.

The General Fund was now projected to achieve an end of year under spend of £1.135m which would result in the General Fund balance increasing to £15.5m (which corrected figures that appeared in the summary section of the report).  The Cabinet Member advised that, further to Minute 49 (13 November 2012), the level of risk associated with the Local Authority Error Rate had reduced as a result of the error rate being brought down to 0.40% from 0.46%. 

With regard to Housing General Fund expenditure, the Corporate Director of Housing and Environment referred to the significant pressures arising from the Council’s obligations to the homeless, particularly in respect of the costs of bed and breakfast accommodation.  He advised that the number of placements in bed and breakfast accommodation had been reduced to approximately 100 from a previous high of almost 300 but the benefit cap on that type of accommodation, coupled with the proposed changes by Government to benefit rules, meant that the issue would continue to be closely monitored.  In respect of the benefit rule changes, it was noted that several Councils, including Croydon, were taking part in a pilot to test the changes.

The Housing Revenue Account (HRA) continued to show a projected break-even position, although there were significant pressure areas within that overall position which were being mitigated through other means such as the investment of HRA surpluses.  The Cabinet Member for Environment referred to the £138,000 pressure as a result to delays in the implementation of the Garage Strategy approved by Cabinet on 22 May 2012 (Minute 4) and sought clarification of the arrangements for ensuring that income generation targets put forward as part of the annual budget process were achieved.  The Deputy Chief Financial Officer referred to the schedule at Appendix B to the report relating to savings targets within General Fund estimates but it was noted that similar information relating to the HRA was not included.  Officers were asked to prepare a detailed report for consideration by Cabinet Members on all income generation targets, to include the arrangements for ensuring that they were realistic and achievable in the first place as well as the ongoing monitoring.

The Capital Programme forecast reflected further slippage on the position reported at the last meeting, primarily due to delays in the School Places Programme.

Cabinet agreed:

  (i)  To note the projected outturn position for 2012/13 of the Council’s revenue budget at 30 November 2012, as detailed in paragraphs 2.3 to 2.11 and Appendix A of the report;

  (ii)  To note the progress against the 2012/13 savings targets at 30 November 2012, as detailed in paragraph 2.12 and Appendix B of the report;

 (iii)  To note the position for the HRA at 30 November 2012, as detailed in paragraph 2.13 and Appendix C of the report; and

 (iv)  To note the projected outturn position for 2012/13 of the Council’s capital budget at 30 November 2012, as detailed in paragraph 2.14 and Appendices D and E of the report.