Agenda item

Budget Monitoring P6 2023 - 2024

Meeting of Cabinet, Monday, 6th November, 2023 10.00 am (Item 69.)

Executive Summary		This report provides an update on the Council’s financial performance and projected outturn for 2023/24 for the revenue account, capital programme and reserves statement as at the end of September 2023. The overall position at the end of September 2023 shows a £1.685m underspend for the net operating expenditure on the revenue account, this is however an unadjusted position that does not include any known variations e.g. the inclusion of the pay award for 2023/24. As at 30 September 2023, the General Fund projected a deficit of £0.515m for the full year 2023/24. This is after adjusting for all known variations and full year forecasting by service managers.
Options considered		This is an update report on the Council’s financial position and so no other options were considered.
Consultation(s)		Cabinet Member Section 151 officer Budget Managers
Recommendations		It is recommended that Cabinet: 1) Note the contents of the report and the current budget monitoring position and note that officers will work together to take action to reduce the overall projected deficit on the General Fund at the year-end of 2023/24. recommends to full Council that it 2) Approves an additional capital budget of £58k so that the work for the refurbishment of the Red Lion roof (Cromer), the Art Deco Block roof and handrails (Cromer) and the Chalet Block at Sheringham can be awarded as one contract. And that approval be given to fund the additional expenditure from the Asset Management Reserve. 3) Approves an increase to the DFG capital budget of £118k and approves that it is funded by the additional grant received for this purpose from the Government. 4) Approves the provision of a new play area at the Lees in Sheringham and approves a capital project budget for this of £65k and that funding for this should come from the Delivery Plan Reserve. 5) Approves the capital spending of £11k on the Morris Street Car Park Boundary Wall and that it be funded from the Asset Management Reserve. 6) Approves that the £85k of the Car Park refurbishment capital budget is reallocated to the Public Conveniences so that the outstanding works can be carried out and complete the scheme.
Reasons for recommendations		To update members on the current budget monitoring position for the Council.
Background papers		\\fs\Accounts\Budget Monitoring\BUDGET MONITORING\2023-24\Period 6\Report\Final Report & Appendicies\Budget Monitoring P6 2023-24 .doc
Wards affected	All
Cabinet member(s)	Cllr Lucy Shires
Contact Officer	s151 Tina Stankley, Tina.stankley@north-norfolk.gov.uk

Links to key documents:
Corporate Plan:	Budgets set to support the Corporate Plan objectives.
Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS)	Budget process in line with MTFS
Council Policies & Strategies	Service Budgets set in line with the council policies and strategies.

Corporate Governance:
Is this a key decision		no
Has the public interest test been applied		Not an exempt item
Details of any previous decision(s) on this matter		N/A

Decision:

Decision

RESOLVED

To recommend to Full Council that it

1) Approves an additional capital budget of £58k so that the work for the refurbishment of the Red Lion roof (Cromer), the Art Deco Block roof and handrails (Cromer) and the Chalet Block at Sheringham can be awarded as one contract. And that approval be given to fund the additional expenditure from the Asset Management Reserve.

2) Approves an increase to the DFG capital budget of £118k and approves that it is funded by the additional grant received for this purpose from the Government.

3) Approves the provision of a new play area at the Lees in Sheringham and approves a capital project budget for this of £65k and that funding for this should come from the Delivery Plan Reserve.

4) Approves the capital spending of £11k on the Morris Street Car Park Boundary Wall and that it be funded from the Asset Management Reserve.

5) Approves that the £85k of the Car Park refurbishment capital budget is reallocated to the Public Conveniences so that the outstanding works can be carried out and complete the scheme.

Reason for the decision:

To update members on the current budget monitoring position for the Council

Minutes:

Cllr L Shires, Portfolio Holder for Finance & Assets, introduced this item. She began by saying that she hoped that the report was more accessible than previously. There were six recommendations and she referred members to the relevant pages which outlined the reasons for each. She said that she wanted to highlight the impact of increased levels of homelessness across the District – both on local residents and communities and on the Council’s finances as it tried to support a sharp rise in requests for support. She asked Cllr W Fredericks, Portfolio Holder for Housing, to provide more detail on this.

Cllr Fredericks said that she had been asked to speak at a National Temporary Accommodation Summit the previous week, along with four other councils, presenting to 110 councils. The aim was to ask to Government for more financial support to deal with the issue of homelessness. She said that the main reasons for the increase in homelessness were domestic abuse, private lets coming to an end – often because the properties were being sold or because they were being turned into holiday lets. The original budget was between £600-700k a year and it was likely to be £1.2m in the next financial year, which was a huge increase. Many families were placed in bed and breakfast establishments, usually out of District and away from family, work and school. She said that this was a nationwide problem and all councils were asking for financial support from Government.

The Director for Finance said that the Council was experiencing more pressure on its budget and there was a forecast overspend for the end of the year. Service managers had been asked to look at savings. The Chairman acknowledged that this was a challenge and thanked officers for their hard work.

Cllr C Cushing referred to the recent staff pay award and asked for clarification on the impact on the budget figures. The Director of Finance confirmed that it was £1925 for the majority of staff. She said that this would create a budget pressure of £120k and agreed to update the report to Full Council to reflect this.

Cllr Cushing then referred to page 32 of the report and the concern about not being fully reimbursed for £1.6m of housing benefit. He asked if this was factored into the anticipated deficit of £0.5m. The Director of Finance confirmed that it was. He then asked about having to pay interest for borrowing. He said that going forward, it may be a better approach to have money set aside for such occasions. The Director of Finance said that it was offset by the high level of interest received on investments, so the net position was not so severe. She said that she had spoken to the Treasury Officer and the Council would be looking to reduce the level of borrowing in future.

Cllr Shires concluded by thanking the Housing Team for all their hard work in supporting residents.

It was proposed by Cllr L Shires, seconded by Cllr T Adams and