Issue - meetings

Members received a report on the Council’s capital and revenue position for the 2015/16 financial year, as at 31 August 2015.

The General Fund showed a projected end of year spend of £157.7m against the approved budget of £151.4m.  The projected overspend of £6.3m continued to be attributable to the ongoing pressures within the Children’s Services department and Councillor Worby, presenting the report on behalf of the Cabinet Member for Finance and Central Services, referred to the Outline Business Case at Appendix E to the report which contained plans developed by the Children’s Social Care Ambition and Financial Efficiency (SAFE) Programme to minimise the overspend position in the current year and achieve a balanced position for 2016/17. 

Councillor Worby advised on further pressures within other service areas such as adult social care and parking, which were expected to be brought back into line by the year end, and commended the work of the Treasury Management team in respect of a projected £700,000 surplus relating to treasury management costs.

The Housing Revenue Account (HRA) showed a predicted breakeven position while the forecast outturn for the Capital Programme was £138.7m against the revised budget of £137m.  Councillor Worby was pleased to report that there was greater confidence that the full capital allocation would be spent in-year as new projects were ready to be brought forward to replace any existing schemes that may slip.  To that end, it was noted that the next Budget Monitoring report would include plans for the reprofiling of a number of capital schemes.

Councillor Turner introduced the SAFE Programme’s Outline Business Case at Appendix E to the report and advised that he was due to present a slightly updated version to the Public Accounts and Audit Select Committee on 21 October 2015, which he would share with his Cabinet colleagues.  The SAFE Programme had identified a total of £11.655m of financial pressures, almost all of which related to Children’s Social Care, and Councillor Turner outlined some of the initiatives that would help to reduce the level of spending and realise savings for the future, which included the initiative with the recruitment specialists, Penna, to replace agency staff with permanent employees. 

Councillor Turner commented that some of the pressures had arisen as a result of insufficient budget allocation, most evident in the areas of No Recourse to Public Funds and Unaccompanied Asylum Seekers where there was no budget provision, although he acknowledged that there was scope to better manage those areas in order to reduce expenditure.  Furthermore, the success of campaigns to increase the number of fostering and adoption placements had impacted on the budgets in those areas.

Councillor Turner remarked on the importance of frontline staff being engaged in the SAFE Programme and the costs associated with its implementation over the next 18 months.

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Note the projected outturn position for 2015/16 of the Council’s General Fund revenue budget at 31 August 2015, as detailed in paragraphs 2.1, 2.4 to 2.10 and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53