Issue - meetings

Meeting: 28/07/2020 - Cabinet (Item 9)

9 Q1 Budget Monitoring Report 2020-21 pdf icon PDF 632 KB

Additional documents:

Decision:

This report sets out the overview of the financial Revenue and Capital outturn position for Buckinghamshire Council for the financial year 2020/21 as at quarter 1.

 

RESOLVED: 

·       Cabinet noted the current forecast outturn for the financial year 2020/21 and the proposed mitigating actions to bring the position back into line with the budget.

·       Cabinet agreed to delegate to the relevant Corporate Director, in consultation with the relevant Cabinet Member(s) and the S151 Officer, agreement on the usage of specific un ring-fenced Covid-19 grants.

 

 

Minutes:

Katrina Wood, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Resources, introduced the Q1 Budget Monitoring Report 2020-21 which summarised the end of Quarter 1 position for 2020-21.  The report took into account the pressures relating to Covid-19 and also the business as usual activity. Overall there was a forecast revenue overspend of £5.97 million.  This was made up of unfunded Covid-19 pressures of £3.55 million and other pressures of £2.42 million.   The Covid-19 pressure took into account the forecast additional costs and lost income of just over £39 million offset by expected government funding of £35.5 million, however, this included an estimated £6.5 million relating to the recent announcement about how government would recompense authorities for lost income. Guidance was still awaited as to how it would be calculated and which income streams would be included/excluded.  Therefore, the £3.55 million gap could increase or decrease.  The Council continued to lobby government for full recovery of all costs and lost income. In terms of the other revenue pressures in business as usual; the main pressures related to adult learning disability costs, home to school transport costs and staffing pressures within the Planning, Growth and Sustainability Directorate.  These pressures were partly offset from within corporate contingencies where some budget had been approved to cover the key financial risks facing the Authority. The Directorates were now looking at mitigating actions to bring their areas back into balance and Appendix One provided the details of variances by Directorate.  On the capital side, an overall net slippage of £5.24 million was forecast which was made up of some acceleration of schemes and some slippages.  There was an ongoing review of the Capital Programme which would consider a revised profiling of all the schemes in the light of the pandemic.  Due to some Covid-19 related funding coming in as an un-ring-fenced grant e.g. the Emergency Assistance Grant for food and essential supplies, there was a recommendation to delegate how this funding would be used to the relevant corporate director in consultation with the appropriate Cabinet Member and the Section 151 Officer; this would ensure that such emergency funding was used in a quick and appropriate manner.

 

The Leader clarified the difference between Revenue expenditure which was the day to day costs and the Capital expenditure which was a one-off cost which enhanced/purchased an asset.

 

K Wood added that Appendix Two showed a Covid-19 pressure of £13.55 million which was before the government announcement on the 2 July 2020.  It had been estimated the Council would receive £10 million which was why a £3.55 million pressure was forecast.  Only £3.5 million had been confirmed and it was estimated there would be approximately £6.5 million from the announced income protection schemes around scales, fees and charges.

 

The following points were raised and discussed by Cabinet:

 

  • It was noted that it was not just the amount the Council would receive from the Government that was uncertain but also that of our partners e.g. the NHS had received Government funding  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9