Decision details

To consider the month end budget report and make any recommendations as appropriate.

RESOLVED:

That the following be noted.

1.         Forecast revenue budget outturn for 2017/18, is £17m overspend (paragraphs 1 and 8 to 39 of the submitted report). This includes:
£9m savings to be identified,
£16m savings considered unachievable in 2017/18,
£11m service demand pressures
less
£19m underspends and additional income.

2.         Significant risks to the revenue budget (paragraphs 40 to 44 of the submitted report) could add £13m to the forecast overspend, including: £8m in Children, Schools & Families and £3m in Adult Social Care.

3.         Forecast planned savings for 2017/18 total £79m against £95m agreed savings and £104m target (paragraph 46).

4.         All services continue to take all reasonable action to keep costs down and maximise income (e.g. minimising spending, managing vacancies wherever possible etc).

5.         The Section 151 Officer’s commentary and the Monitoring Officer’s Legal Implications commentary in paragraphs 15 to 18 of the main budget monitoring report to Cabinet state that the council has a duty to ensure its expenditure does not exceed resources available and move towards a sustainable budget for future years.

6.         The council and all eleven district and borough councils in Surrey have submitted an application to form a business rates retention pilot in 2018/19 (paragraph 45 of the submitted report).

That the followed be approved.

7.         Transfer £8m from the Budget Equalisation Reserve to Central Income & Expenditure to negate the deferral of the increase in Waste PFI credits (paragraph 36 of the submitted report).

Reason for decision:

This report is presented to comply with the agreed policy of providing a monthly budget monitoring report to Cabinet for approval and action as necessary.

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Overview and Budget Scrutiny Committee]