Issue - meetings

To consider the quarterly budget position. 

That the financial performance information for the third quarter of 2022/23 be NOTED.  

97.1           The report of the Head of Finance and Asset Management, circulated at Pages No. 15-28, set out the third quarterly monitoring report of the Council’s financial performance for 2022/23. Members were asked to consider the information.

97.2           The Head of Finance and Asset Management explained that the report highlighted a projected outturn surplus based on the quarter three position of £1.18m on the revenue budget and detailed the expenditure to date against both the capital programme and the approved reserves – the pay award had now been finalised and paid during quarter 3 which was fully funded from reserves. The significant increase in surplus projection was due to the costs of both the pay line review phase 1 and the excess cost of the national pay award having been taken from the reserves which were set aside to fund those costs – the total cost of those were £353,000; increased business rates retention of £249,000; increase in planning fees – quarter 2 income was greater than expected by £90,000 and the Council forward projected a further £200,000 due to one large application; the receipt of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund grant of £128,000 which was not expected to be spent by year-end; investment interest received was £100,000 more than expected; the Material Recovery Facility (MRF) gate fee had reduced by a further £35,000; and Ubico’s forecast deficit had reduced since Q2 by £100,000 mainly within diesel and employment costs.

97.3           The main element of surplus expenditure was employees and the full-year projection for employees highlighted a potential gross surplus of £640,830 - although it should be noted that within the Council’s corporate expenditure was a target to save £100,000 from employment costs around the Council – the net position was therefore a surplus against target of £540,830. There were employee savings being accrued across most service areas but the majority of the overall surplus was in One Legal – those savings would be shared by all of the partners in One Legal. The national pay award was agreed in November and had resulted in an uplift of £1,925 on every scale point – the Council had budgeted for 2% increase in salaries and, as a result, the excess cost calculated at £215,111 had now been charged to the pay award revenue reserve. Similarly, the first phase of the local pay line review had now been calculated at a cost of £138,503 and this had been charged against the Medium Term Financial Strategy.

97.4           The projected outturn for supplies and services highlighted a potential underspend of £133,418 – computer annual renewals was expected to be £34,000 below budget across many service areas, this was due to a large majority of licenses remaining with current contracts or being renegotiated at current levels. It was anticipated that bank charges would deliver a saving of £29,000; IT equipment would be £52,000 under budget, as some equipment had been purchased at a lower cost than expected and some would not be purchased until the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 97