Issue - meetings

To submit a report by the Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer.

It was RESOLVED:-

The report of the Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer setting out the financial performance of the Council’s services at the end of Quarter 1 of the 2022/2023 financial year was presented for the Executive’s consideration.

The Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer reported that predicting the final year-end position at the end of Quarter 1 is difficult as the position can change considerably through the remainder of the financial year with the increase in inflation, the fact that the staff pay awards for 2022/2023 have yet to be agreed, the potential for covid related costs through the winter months and the impact on the cost of living crisis which will have on the demand for Council services.  The estimated position at the end of the financial year does not take into account the proposed pay awards for teachers (September 2022) and other staff (backdated to April 2022).  Once these costs are known, they will be factored into future projections.  An earmarked reserve of £2.3m has been created to provide additional funding to meet these inflationary pressures, an additional £2m will be required to fund the pay awards should the current offer be accepted.  This will utilise most of the earmarked reserve, leaving little additional funding to meet the expected increases in other costs.  He further said that the winter pressures, which are historically seen within the Highways and Adult services, and it is hard to quantify the full extent of extra costs which could be incurred this early in the financial year.    The Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer highlighted that a new tender contract for school transport will need to be effective from November 2022 and the taxis and mini buses contracts in January, 2023, it is anticipated that these will increase costs significantly for the Council.   He wished it to be noted that there is an overspend of £1.5m within the Adults’ and Children’s Services at present and grants and reserves have supported these services, but without these the overspend would be over £3m and this needs to be taken into account when setting the budget for next year.  Homelessness also creates pressure on the budget as the capacity of the private sector is reducing and this creates problems with additional people presenting themselves as homeless to the service.  He concluded that it was very unlikely that the forecast set out in the report would be the final position and it is estimated that the Council will probably overspend its revenue budget in 2022/2023, but that the position will become clearer at the end of the second quarter.

It was RESOLVED:-