Issue - meetings

Cllr Z Hannington presented the 2024/25 Financial Monitoring report which provided up to date information on the projected outturn position for 2024-25 against the approved budget.

Nationally, councils continued to face extreme challenges with unprecedented pressures driven by high costs and high demand for services, particularly in adult social care, children’s safeguarding and school travel assistance. The projected year-end revenue position was summarized at 4.1.8 in the report and set out that before use of contingencies, there was a projected overspend of £4.498m at year end.  Good financial planning and management had ensured there would be a one-off contingency earmarked specifically for social care pressures of £1.959m, which together with the use of part of the general budget contingency, brought the overall position into balance.  The general budget contingency would have a residual balance of £1.4m after meeting the in-year pressures.

The key pressure continued to be adult social care, which currently required and additional investment of £4.3m which related to the cost of providing care packages across all client groups. The service continued to work on delivering care in order to maximise prevention and independence where possible and prioritised looking after the most vulnerable in the community.   It was pleasing to see that none of the budget strategy reserve had been used and this remained at £21.7m.

The capital programme totalled £102.4m and schemes were in progress with spend currently projected to be in line with budget at year end.   Changes to the capital programme were set out at Appendix C to the report and included new allocations and slippage into future years which required formal approval from Council.  Despite the pressures identified, due to strong financial management and budget planning the Council was in a good position.  The council had an excellent track record of managing its financial position and work would continue during 2024/2025 to manage budgets effectively and address the pressures.

Councillor B Tomlinson welcomed the report and commended the local authority on its ability to balance its budgets as local authorities up and down the country were experiencing the same financial pressures.  Comparing this Council’s decisions to those of neighbouring local authorities, he was grateful for what had been achieved.  With the Labour government now in charge, he felt they had been generous with regards to the NHS and extra funding but was interested to see the budget settlement.  Further funding was required for adults and children’s services or this would need to be raised from Council Tax.  As a Council it was important to do as much as possible to influence government’s decisions to support local authorities.

Councillor N Dugmore asked if there was a contingency fund held centrally for contractual and pay inflation and what was the amount and the size of the contingency.  He also asked how much money was held back for pay equality between the sexes.  In relation to the overspend on social care, he commented that care costs would impact the budget and this would get significantly higher in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33

To receive the 2024/25 Financial Monitoring Report.

The Cabinet Member: Finance, Governance & Customer Services presented the report of the Interim Director: Finance, People and IDT.

The Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) 2024/25 to 2027/28 was approved at Full Council on 29 February 2024 and included the 2024/25 revenue budget and medium term capital programme.  Since this approval, the economic climate had continued to be challenging with cost pressures being experienced, particularly in relation to the provision of Adult Social Care.

The report set out the latest financial monitoring position for the year relating to the revenue budget, capital programme and income collection.  It provided the latest projections in relation to the projected outturn position, progress against the approved 2024/25 capital programme and gave a summary of collection information in relation to Council Tax Business Rates and Sales Ledger income.

Nationally, Councils continued to face extreme challenges with unprecedented pressures driven by high costs and high demand for services, particularly in relation to Adult Social Care, Children’s Safeguarding and School Travel Assistance.    The autumn budget had set out its medium term financial plan for local councils which included a one year spending review covering 2025/26 and a further spending review in late spring 2025 to cover the period 2026/27 and 2027/28.   The headline figures indicated a real terms increase in core local government spending of 3.2% in 2025/26 including at least £1.3 billion of new grant funding of which £600 million would be new grant funding to support social care.  Further details would be announced in the local government financial settlement in December 2024.  The government were committed to reforming the approach to local government funding considering up to date need and local revenue with a targeted approach to the 2025/26 financial settlement.  This would be followed by a multi-year settlement.

Inflation fell to 1.7% which was below the Bank of England’s 2% target which was an indication that price increases were steadying.  The Bank of England’s base rate reduced from 5.25% to 5.00% in August with further cuts predicted for later in the year, although it was still higher than anticipated when the Council’s budget was set.   Whilst the funding outlook for the medium term remained uncertain, the administration would continue to address the priorities that residents expressed were important to them - a thriving economy, creating well paid jobs, ensuring the borough was a great place to live and learn, preserving the environment and addressing the climate change crisis.  It was a key priority that the Council remained efficient but kept the lowest council tax in the Midlands, whilst making wise investments to support front line services and be the best it could for its local residents.

The projected year end was summarised in the report which set out the Council had a one-off contingency of £1.595m set aside for the pressures of adult social care.  Prior to application of remaining contingencies included in the revenue budget, the projected outturn position was currently expected to be over budget by £4.498m at year end, which was an  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21