Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member for Finance, Performance and Core Services presented a report on the Council’s revenue budget monitoring position for the 2019/20 financial year as at 30 September 2019 (Month 6).

The forecast expenditure in the General Fund was £159.07m against a budget of £148.82m.  Once planned drawdowns from reserves and surpluses from Collection Fund and Business Rates budgets had been taken into account, the overall budget gap was projected at £7.582m.

Across the Council there were known budget pressures of up to £15.5m, with some underspends of £5.5m forecast centrally, giving rise to a forecast net spend position of £10m. A significant proportion of this was attributed to care and support services, which was being closely monitored.

Members discussed the importance of supporting enterprises such as the Relish Café against this financial backdrop and the Cabinet Member referred to the Council’s Investment and Acquisition Strategy as a means to raise income to support the Council’s ambitious plans.

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Note the projected revenue outturn for Council services as set out in sections 2 - 11 and Appendix A to the report;

(ii)   Note the implications for the reserves position and the need to identify in-year action in relation to General Fund expenditure;

(iii)  Note the update on the Capital Programme and approve the additional 2018/19 slippage on the General Fund budget of £0.366m for My Place;

(iv)  Note the update on the Transformation Programme, including the quarter 2 forecast position, and approve the net carry-forward of £2.907m; and

(v)  Approve the proposed allocation of the London-wide Strategic Investment Pot to the individual projects listed in paragraph 16.8 and Appendix C of the report.