Agenda item

To receive the 2023/24 Financial Monitoring Report.

The Cabinet Member for Finance, Customer Services and Governance presented the report of the Chief Financial Officer.

The report gave an update on the latest financial monitoring position for the year in respect of the revenue budget, capital programme and income collection.  Since the Medium Term Financial Strategy was approved at Full Council on 2 March 2023, the economic climate had continued to change with high inflation and energy costs and interest rate rises.  Due to the cost of living crisis there was an increasing demand on Council services to support local residents and businesses.

Early monitoring for 2023/24 indicated a number of variations from the approved budget particularly in relation to Adult Social Care and Children’s Safeguarding and the pay increase to meet the national living wage.  Work to identify efficiencies and additional income was currently underway in order to meet the projected pressures and protect services.

Prior to the application of contingencies, the projected outturn position was expected to be over budget by £2.653m at year end.  It was expected that by making use of budgeted contingency the overall position would be within budget for the year leaving £1.3m contingency balance for the rest of 2023/24.

The capital programme totalled £145m with 93% of the budget already allocated.

Income collection in relation to business rates, Council Tax and Sales Ledger were slightly behind target but all debt would be pursued and continue to be collected after the end of the financial year.

Due to the impact of Covid and the cost of living crisis which had affected visitor numbers, the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust (IGMT) had requested that an extension of 2 years to their current loan, due to expire on 31 January 2031, be granted.  This extension would continue to support the valuable working partnership between the Council and the IGMT which was key to the effective management of the World Heritage Site, tourism and promoting Destination Telford.

Cabinet Members noted the report the hard work undertaken during the current challenging times.  They welcomed the extension to the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust loan as this was an important partner within the visitor economy and this would ensure they could continue to function and rebuild the business.  The Council would continue to work to deliver services despite the pressures of the cost of living crisis and increased energy costs and continue to protect residents and invest into local businesses.

The Leader of the Liberal Democrat group welcomed the report.  Despite the lack of government funding services were still a necessity for local residents and he noted that the Council should be in budget at year end.

The Leader of the Conservative group praised the Council Officers for their work.  He noted the failure of successive governments to address social care issues and the burden it put on Local Authorities.

RESOLVED – to RECOMMEND TO COUNCIL that:

a)    the 2023/24 revenue budget position be noted; the efficiency proposals, additional income and budget re-alignments summarised in Appendix D to the report and all associated changes to the Medium Term Financial Strategy be approved;

b)   the position in relation to capital spend be noted; and     

the changes to the capital programme detailed in Appendix C to the report and all associated changes to the Medium Term Financial Strategy, including Treasury and Prudential Indicators be approved;

c)    the current Treasury & Prudential Indicators position be noted;

d)   the collection rates for NNDR, council tax and sales ledger be noted; and

e)    the option to extend the IGMT loan repayment outlined in section 5.4 of the report and its terms to be delegated to the Director: Finance & HR and Executive Director: Housing, Communities and Customer Services with the Cabinet Member for Finance, Customer Services & Governance be approved;