Issue - meetings

Medium Term Financial Strategy Update

Meeting: 23/07/2024 - Council (Item 26)

26 Medium Term Financial Plan Update pdf icon PDF 100 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Council considered an update report on the budget / Medium-Term Financial Plan (MTFP) since the budget was set in February 2024. Councillors noted that the budget gap for 2025-26 and beyond had increased by approximately £130,000, due to new commitments agreed. This would be the starting point for the detailed work to be undertaken over the summer / autumn.

The report noted that the unaudited draft accounts for 2023-24 had been closed by the statutory deadline of 31 May, and that the outturn position had been an underspend of £4.1m on the General Fund (£0.2m services, £3.4m corporate, £0.5m grants) and £8.1m on the Housing Revenue Account.  The key adverse and positive variances associated with the outturn were set out in the report.

There had been some on-going issues / opportunities arising from the outturn which would need to be properly analysed and reflected in the updated budget projections for the current and future years.

A detailed analysis of the budget variances would be provided to Overview & Scrutiny Committee – Resources in the Budget Outturn report in September 2024, and further update reports submitted in November and January as the budget proposals were developed. This would facilitate detailed scrutiny of proposals as they progressed.

In addition, update reports would be presented to Full Council in October and December 2024. There might also be a need for an update in January 2025 if the Local Government Finance Settlement was out of line with our assumptions and adjustments to budget proposals were required. Final budget papers would be presented to Full Council on 5 February 2025 for approval.

Upon the motion of the Lead Councillor for Finance and Property, Councillor Richard Lucas, seconded by the Leader of the Council Councillor Julia McShane, the Council

RESOLVED: That the Council notes the updated MTFP position which will be used as the starting point for the detailed work now required.

Reasons:

·     The General Fund Budget is a major decision for the Council and setting a balanced budget is a statutory requirement.

·     Scrutiny of the MTFP and Budget proposals demonstrate transparency and good governance.

 


Meeting: 11/07/2024 - Overview and Scrutiny Committee – Resources (Item 10)

10 Medium Term Financial Plan Update pdf icon PDF 101 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Lead Councillor for Finance and Property introduced the item, advising the meeting of the financial progress achieved over the previous twelve months. 

 

The Assistant Director, Finance, contrasted the Council’s current position to the Council’s financial situation when the Budget for 2024-25 was set.  The meeting was reminded that the Medium-Term Financial Plan (MTFP) update report provided detail of the process for developing the 2025-26 Budget and MTFP.  The Assistant Director, Finance, advised that the unaudited draft accounts for 2023-24 had been published by the statutory deadline of 31 May.  She referred to the adverse and positive variances in the budget outturn for 2023-24 and advised that a more detailed report of the key variances would be provided to the Committee’s September meeting.  The Assistant Director, Finance, referred to the use of £1m of the General Fund underspend on one-off expenditure, and the breakdown of usable reserves and usable but earmarked reserves within the report. 

 

The Committee was informed that since publication of the draft accounts for 2023-24 the Council had received a £3.8m VAT refund from HMRC which would significantly improve the reported outturn figures.

 

The Assistant Director, Finance, summarised the funding assumptions, economic outlook, ongoing and one-off budget changes, and budget timetable as presented in the report submitted to the Committee.

 

The Chair questioned why only one of the four financial reports scheduled for the meeting had been submitted.  The Assistant Director, Finance, apologised and advised that the three reports outstanding would be provided to the next meeting of the Committee.

 

In response to questions, the Assistant Director, Finance, undertook to provide financial training for Committee members.  In addition, she advised the Committee of plans for IT renewals and the requirement to replace car park machinery. 

 

In reply to questions, the Assistant Director, Finance, explained the background to the £3.8m VAT refund from HMRC.  The Lead Councillor for Finance and Property stated that the Council was £300m in debt and, assuming successful implementation of the asset disposal programme, was projected to be £450m in debt by the end of the decade.

 

In reply to a query about uncovering further efficiency gains in services, the Lead Councillor for Finance and Property indicated that much of the financial recovery plan was based on finding efficiency gains.  He stated that many opportunities for better ways of working would arise from the Council’s partnership with Waverley Borough Council.

 

A member of the Committee asked how likely improvements were in the adverse key variances identified in the report.  The Assistant Director, Finance, indicated that there were plans to minimise or reduce adverse key variances going forward.

 

In reply to questions from the Chair, the Assistant Director, Finance, clarified that the £2.3m deficit from 2023-24 did not get rolled forward, confirmed the £4.1m underspend on the General Fund, and explained the difference between usable reserves in the General Fund that could be re-prioritised by the Council and reserves in the General Fund that were earmarked for a particular purpose.  The Assistant Director,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10