Agenda item

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

The report of the Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer which set out the  financial performance of the Council’s services at the end of Quarter 3, 31 December 2025 was presented for the Executive’s consideration.

Councillor Gary Pritchard, Leader introduced the Quarter 3 revenue budget monitoring report noting that the forecasted year-end position is an underspend of £1.865m (0.95%). Although the position at the end of the third quarter provides greater certainty being based on nine months of actual income and expenditure, several factors could still influence the final outturn. These include changes in demand for services, particularly social care; one off unforeseen expenditure,  recruitment and retention challenges leading to higher than anticipated vacancies, unexpected weather conditions and the potential receipt of additional grant funding in the final quarter.

The Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer reported that the overall combined position of the Council’s services shows a forecasted overspend of £0.463m (as set out in Table 4). He highlighted the budget variances, noting that Children’s Services remains an area of concern with an overspend of £1.625m driven by the rising number of children in care and high placement costs.  Other areas experiencing overspends include Planning and Council  Business. Most remaining services are either on budget or underspending helped mainly by staff vacancies, additional grant funding and higher fee income. The underspend in Adult Services has been assisted by several one-off events totalling £2.4m which have either increased income or reduced costs. Without these, the underlying position would be an overspend of £1.2m.

Corporate budgets overall show a £1.267m underspend (as set out in Table 6). Core Council Tax income is forecast to be £483k above budget. The Council Tax premium is expected to generate a surplus of  £578k by year-end, partly due to properties transferring back to Council Tax from business rates following a change in eligibility rules for business rates on self-catering accommodation. There remains a risk that appeals relating to self-catering properties could reduce income, and £900k has been set aside in a reserve to mitigate this risk.

The Executive noted how close the overall budget is to that set at the start of the year, with only a projected 0.95% underspend, and expressed thanks to the Finance Service staff  for their work.

Councillor Gary Pritchard, Leader commented that the timing of grant funding, particularly when received late in the financial year continues to hinder strategic planning which is a concern long raised with Welsh Government. He added that multi-year settlements and the incorporation of grant funding into the main settlement would provide councils with greater  certainty, rather than the receipt of ad-hoc grant allocations throughout the year.

It was resolved –

·      To note the position set out in Appendices A, B and C of the report in respect of the Authority’s financial performance to date and expected outturn for 2025/26.

·      To note the summary of contingency budgets for 2025/26 detailed in Appendix CH.

·      To note the monitoring of agency and consultancy costs for 2025/26 in Appendices D and DD.