Issue - meetings

The Strategic Director of Finance and Investment introduced a report on the Council’s capital and revenue position for the 2016/17 financial year, as at 31 July 2016.

The General Fund showed a projected end of year spend of £157.0m against the approved budget of £150.3m.  The overspend of £6.722m was almost £2m higher than projected at the previous meeting and was largely attributable to an increase in pressures within the Homelessness service from £1m to £2.7m.  The Strategic Director confirmed that a recovery plan had been put in place which should bring the service within budget by the year end.  The ongoing pressures within Children’s Social Care of £3.6m were also expected to be much reduced by the year end.

The Housing Revenue Account (HRA) showed a predicted revenue surplus of £0.6m, which would increase the HRA reserve to £9.3m at the year end, while the forecast outturn for the Capital Programme was at £204.1m against the budget of £199.4m due to accelerated spend on several projects.

The Strategic Director also advised on an opportunity to capitalise the £2m Transformation Programme funding that was due to be met from revenue budgets, as well as proposed virements from the Central Expenses budget to cover the costs associated with the annual pay award and Microsoft IT licences.

The Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Note the projected outturn position for 2016/17 of the Council’s General Fund revenue budget at 31 July 2016, as detailed in paragraphs 2.1 to 2.19 and Appendix A of the report;

(ii)  Agree to rescind the decision made by Minute 82(vi) (19 January 2016) to fund the £2m of the initial stages of the Transformation Programme from reserves and instead for the funding to be met from capital receipts, subject to an in depth review of capital receipts and the cost of the programme overall by the Strategic Director of Finance and Investment which shall be reported as part of the MTFS to a future meeting;

(iii)  Note the overall position for the HRA at 31 July 2016, as detailed in paragraph 2.20 of the report;

(iv)  Note the progress made on budgeted savings to date as detailed in paragraph 2.27 and Appendix B of the report;

(v)  Note the projected outturn position for 2016/17 of the Council’s capital budget as at 31 July 2016, as detailed in paragraph 2.28 to 2.33 and Appendix C of the report; and

(vi)  Approve virements from the Central Expenses budget in respect of the annual pay award (£2,635,500) and Microsoft IT licences (£380,000), as detailed in paragraph 2.34 of the report.