To report the provisional financial outturn position for 2023/24 for revenue and capital budgets, subject to external audit.  The 2023/24 outturn shows a net overspend of £8.7 million after the use of reserves and recovery plan actions.

The cabinet member for finance and corporate services advised the 2023/24 overspend of £8.7m demonstrated a significant reduction from forecast over spend at Quarter 2 and the £8.7m had to be funded from reserves. 

Confirmed that a detailed overview of ear marked reserves had been undertaken to identify balances with no future commitments or planned use to fund the £8.7m overspend.  The total reserve balance as of 31 March 2024 was £82.8m and will undergo routine monitoring across 2024/25.

The 2023/24 approved revenue budget was £193.3m.  Table 1 sets out the revenue outturn by Corporate Director portfolio and Table 2 sets out the management recovery actions implemented during the last year, the impact of these recovery actions were set out. 

It was noted that full Council approved £20m of savings for 2023/24 and as of 31 March 2024, 79% had been delivered. Confirmed that £15.8m savings had been delivered and £4.2m had not.  Confirmed the full details were set out in Appendix E.  Confirmed that this was the evidence requested by Scrutiny Management Board earlier in the year. 

Confirmed the capital outlay and the revised 2023/24 capital budget of £68.4m which included additional grants and approved changes. The capital budgets had been re-profiled in line with expected delivery, set out in Appendix B Table C. This has reduced the 2023/24 capital budget by £78.9m which has been reallocated across the following three years, set out in Table 4. The final spend position is £47.3m which represents an underspend of £21.1m against a budget of £68.4m.  Full details for each project area were set out in Appendix B.  The underspend is as a result of projects being delivered under the project budget. 

Confirmed that the Council’s financial position remains very stable with a deliverable balance budget for 2024/25, a Medium Term Financial Strategy which shows the Council will be able to deliver balanced budgets over the four year period and confirmed that the Council has strong reserves. 

Cabinet members discussed the report and it was noted that whilst the majority of the Community Wellbeing budget is demand driven, it has still saved £6.1m and has come in on budget.  The cabinet member for adults, health and wellbeing stated that the hard work to achieve this is due to the director and their staff. 

The Children Services Improvement Plan was discussed and it was noted that the Council approved the budget which enabled the delivery of that Plan and included a three year financial plan based on assumptions in three key areas.  Firstly, regarding a reduction on the number of children in care.  It was noted that operational practice is informed by careful assessment of the individual children’s needs, the risks, their best interests and the circumstances. The assumption was to reduce children in care to 395 and it was confirmed the current figure is 389.  It was acknowledged that more progress was needed and the cabinet member for children and young people provided assurances to Cabinet and thanked officers for their  ...  view the full minutes text for item 124