Agenda item

RESOLVED:

That the Cabinet noted the following:

1.           The forecast revenue budget outturn for 2017/18 was £11m overspend (Annex 1, paragraphs 1 and 8 to 43 of the submitted report). This included:
£9m savings to be identified,
£16m savings considered unachievable in 2017/18,
£13m service demand and cost pressures
less
£27m underspends, additional savings and income.

2.           Significant risks to the revenue budget (Annex 1, paragraphs 44 to 46 of the submitted report) could add £8m to the forecast overspend, including: £7m in Children, Schools & Families and £1m in Adult Social Care.

3.           Forecast planned savings for 2017/18 total £79m against £95m agreed savings and £104m target (Annex 1, paragraph 47 of the submitted report).

4.           All services continue to take all appropriate action to keep costs down and optimise 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 16 to 19 of the submitted report, 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.

That the Cabinet approved the following:

6.           Reprofiling of £356,000 capital underspends on Superfast Broadband project from 2017/18 across 2018/19 to 2020/21 (Annex 1, paragraph 63 of the submitted report).

Reasons for Decisions

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 Leader of the Council presented the budget monitoring report for period 31December 2017 (month nine of 2017/18).

He stated that in February the council would set its budget for 2018/19 in the face of significant rising demand pressures, particularly in social care; falling Government funding and continuing restraint on the ability to raise funds locally. To balance 2017/18’s budget the council had to make plans to deliver an unprecedented £104m of savings and that this significant challenge for the council came on top of already making over £450m savings since 2010.

Members were informed that within the £104m savings target, the council had agreed plans for £95m savings, with £9m savings yet to be identified and that after nine months of the financial year, services had already achieved £65m of savings with another £13m on track for delivery, and £1m faced potential barriers.

The Leader went on to state that at this stage, £16m savings were now thought to be unachievable in this year. The council’s 2017/18 budget included significant demand and cost pressures, mostly in social care and in the first nine months of the year, demand had increased above that forecast even a short time ago.  

He said that the combined impact of delivering lower savings than planned and demand rising faster than anticipated forecast a year end overspend of £11m for 2017/18. This was an £8m improvement on last month’s forecast position mainly due to specific actions Orbis had taken to stop or reschedule work to deliver savings in 2017/18 and from identifying further reductions in interest payable.  

This action in reducing the overall spending in 2017/18 was important because the Council would need to meet any overspends from its reserves. He referred Members to the 2018/19 budget report and stated that the Council plans to use £24m reserves to balance next year’s budget which left the reserves at minimum safe levels.

It was reported that services had already taken action as part of the recovery plan to reduce costs and bring the forecast overspend down. However, all services needed to continue to take all appropriate action to manage spending within available resources by keeping costs down, managing vacancies, optimising income and   being aware of the current financial position before committing additional future expenditure.

Other Cabinet Members were given the opportunity to highlight key points and issues from their portfolios.

RESOLVED:

That the Cabinet noted the following:

1.           The forecast revenue budget outturn for 2017/18 was £11m overspend (Annex 1, paragraphs 1 and 8 to 43 of the submitted report). This included:
£9m savings to be identified,
£16m savings considered unachievable in 2017/18,
£13m service demand and cost pressures
less
£27m underspends, additional savings and income.

2.           Significant risks to the revenue budget (Annex 1, paragraphs 44 to 46 of the submitted report) could add £8m to the forecast overspend, including: £7m in Children, Schools & Families and £1m in Adult Social Care.

3.           Forecast planned savings for 2017/18 total £79m against £95m agreed savings and £104m target (Annex 1, paragraph 47 of the submitted report).

4.           All services continue to take all appropriate action to keep costs down and optimise 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 16 to 19 of the submitted report, 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.

The Cabinet approved the following:

6.           Reprofiling of £356,000 capital underspends on Superfast Broadband project from 2017/18 across 2018/19 to 2020/21 (Annex 1, paragraph 63 of the submitted report).

Reasons for Decisions

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.