Agenda item

The report provides information about the Council’s financial performance against its revenue and capital budgets in 2024-25.

Cllr Mark Elliott, Cabinet Member for Resources, introduced the report, moved the officer recommendation and made the following points:

·  The report presents the final financial figures for the council for the year ending April 2025.

·  It distinguishes between:

·  Revenue Budget – for ongoing costs and income.

·  Capital Budget – for one-off income and spending on assets.

Revenue Budget:

·  There was an adverse outturn of just over £200k, this is considered nearly balanced for a budget of over £400m.

·  This represents an improvement of £770k from the Quarter 3 position.

·  The £210k deficit will be covered by the Revenue Budget Contingency Reserve.

Children’s Services:

·  There was a notable £6.18m overspend due to high demand and cost pressures.

·  Despite this, the council maintained high standards of care for vulnerable children.

·  Cllr Elliott commended officers for their efforts to increase income and reduce costs.

Savings and Income Generation:

·  The target was £16.42m

·  £12.66m was fully delivered.

·  £2.78m was mitigated through contingency or other income.

·  Only 6% (under £1m) was not delivered in year.

·  This is a strong performance, boosting confidence for future targets.

Direct School Grant:

·  There was a significant overspend.

·  The Government extended the statutory override, so the deficit is not included in council accounts.

·  The Council is working with the DfE to balance this and is awaiting funding for the two new schools on the Culverhay site.

Tax and Rates Accuracy:

·  Council tax and business rate income predictions were highly accurate:

·  There was a 0.04% variance for council tax.

·  There was a 0.3% variance for business rates.

Capital Budget:

·  £53m was spent out of a £70m budget (75% delivery).

·  £16m was requested to be carried forward to 2025/26 for re-phased projects.

·  There was a £1.25m net underspend which was removed from the capital programme.

·  The narrowing gap between budget and spend shows improved capital planning.

·  The council has balanced its budget under challenging conditions and the hard work and diligence of council officers is acknowledged.

Cllr Sarah Warren seconded the motion.  She congratulated the team for achieving a near balanced revenue budget position at year end.  She acknowledged the challenges this entailed at a time when funding provided by government for children’s services, an entirely demand-led service, continues to fall short.  She noted the importance, both in terms of welfare of some of the most vulnerable children and the additional control it will give the council over its budget, of ensuring that many children will no longer have to travel out of county to attend school.

RESOLVED (unanimously):

(1)  To note the revenue budget outturn on budget position for 2024/25, after allowing for carry forwards and transfers to reserves.

(2)  To approve the revenue carry forward proposals listed in the tables in paragraph 3.6 of the report.

(3)  To approve that all other over budgets are written off as an exception to the Budget Management Rules for 2024/25.

(4)  To approve the transfer of £0.21m from corporate earmarked reserves.

(5)  To note the revenue virements for 2024/25 reported for information in Appendix 2(i) of the report.

(6)  To note the reserve positions and the use of flexible capital receipts shown in paragraphs 3.17 to 3.19 of the report.

(7)  To note the outturn position of the 2024/25 capital programme in paragraph 3.33, and the funding outlined in paragraph 3.36 of the report.

(8)  To approve the capital rephasing and write-off of net underspends as listed in Appendix 3. This reflects the outturn spend position on projects against final budgets as detailed in Appendix 4(ii) of the report.