Agenda item

The report of the Director – Finance and Corporate Services is attached.

It was RESOLVED that:

a)               the 2024/25 revenue position and efficiencies identified in Table 1, the variances in Table 2, and Appendix A to the report be noted;

b)               changes to the earmarked reserves as set out at Appendix B along with the carry forwards and appropriations to reserves in Appendix E to the report be approved;

c)               the capital carry forwards outlined in Appendix C and summarised in Appendix F to the report be approved; and

d)               the update on the Special Expenses outturn at paragraph 4.20 and in Appendix D to the report be noted.

The Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Finance, Transformation and Governance, Councillor Virdi presented the report of the Director – Finance and Corporate Services, which outlined the year-end financial outturn for 2024/25, linked to the closure of the accounts process and previous financial update reports.

In introducing the report, Councillor Virdi said that the report had been to the most recent Corporate Overview Group where no significant issues had been raised, and noted that there were challenges to the Council’s public finances which meant that it was imperative that it continued to drive improvement and efficiency, including to meet the challenges that lay ahead in relation to the government's financial reforms and local government reorganisation.

Councillor Virdi referred to the Council’s revenue and capital budget positions as well as the reserves and special expenses and was pleased that the final Outturn position was projecting a net revenue efficiency of £2.407 million. Councillor Virdi referred to page 4.5 and Table two of the report which detailed the main variances and said that the primary adverse variances arose from planning appeals and reduced fee income, rent increases from supported housing providers impacting housing benefits along with the cost of maintaining and replacing the Council’s fleet and tankers. He said, however, that in counterbalance, there were several areas of efficiencies, including from investment income and treasury activities and unallocated contingency for several projects, savings from the Depot and some additional grant funding. He drew Cabinet's attention to one technical adjustment highlighted at paragraph 4.6 where lease payments had been removed in line with new accounting practices.

Councillor Virdi said that the report highlighted the specific challenges that the Council faced and how it would fund them, for example in relation to carbon reduction, local government reorganisation activities and the simpler recycling measures. He said that all were significant and required reserves to fund them in order to protect the Council and ensure that it was in the best possible place to meet them. In relation to reserves, Councillor Virdi referred to appendix B and pages 21 to 23 which highlighted the overall movement in usable reserves which had increased to £24.28 million from £20.9 million and to paragraph 4.13 which detailed where the reserves were going to be used and what they were required for. He noted that while the Council had reserves, there remained severe service pressures which were being carried forward. He said that the favourable projected position enabled the Council to protect itself from the from risks that materialised in what remained a challenging financial environment and to carry forward balances or replenish its reserves for alternative opportunities such as local government reorganisation.

In relation to the capital programme, Councillor Virdi referred to paragraphs 4.6, Table three and Appendix C and pages 24 to 21 for the overall position. He summarised that the Council had had approximately 58% of the budget spent, with resulted in a £4.308 million underspend which would be carried forward for project rephasing commitments.

In relation to special expenses, Councillor Virdi referred to appendix D and paragraph 4.17 which showed a projected overspend of approximately £50,000, which was mainly due to a shortfall of income from venue hires, but that it was hoped that current refurbishment activities would result in an increase in those income levels.

In conclusion, Councillor Virdi thanked Councillors and Officers, in particular the Director – Finance and Corporate Services and the Finance Team for their work in ensuring and supporting financial process and was pleased to report that the Council had again met its statutory deadline to produce the end of year financial statements and thought that solid finances were the bedrock of a strong performing organisation which the Council was, but that it would not rest on its laurels and would continue its diligent and prudent decision making and innovative approach to remain ahead of the curve.

In seconding the recommendation, Councillor J Wheeler said that the report reflected the culture of the Council and demonstrated how every department had played its part in looking for efficiencies. He noted the challenging financial environment, with inflation and growth in wages and the Council receiving less funding in the last budget review. He referred to some other councils who had been poorly run in the past and hoped that the government recognised the work of the Council and funded it correctly to enable it to continue the fantastic work that it did.

The Leader concurred with the comments made and thanked Officers for their hard work.

It was RESOLVED that:

a)             the 2024/25 revenue position and efficiencies identified in Table 1, the variances in Table 2, and Appendix A to the report be noted;

b)             changes to the earmarked reserves as set out at Appendix B along with the carry forwards and appropriations to reserves in Appendix E to the report be approved;

c)             the capital carry forwards outlined in Appendix C and summarised in Appendix F to the report be approved; and

d)             the update on the Special Expenses outturn at paragraph 4.20 and in Appendix D to the report be noted.