Agenda item

Report of the Group Director of Operations.

The Cabinet Member with the Resources Portfolio introduced the report of the Group Director of Operations (previously circulated) providing an early forecast of the 2021/22 revenue budget outturn as part of the Council’s continuous financial management process and informing Cabinet of the budget rebasing exercise carried out following the 2020/21 outturn results.

The submitted report stated that it was the first revenue budget management report to Cabinet for 2021/22 and that the latest projections showed an overall improvement of £3.636M, which was due to £2.317M of additional balances following the 2020/21 outturn; £0.993M of resources returned to reserves; £0.22M of projected departmental underspend in 2021/22; and the use of £0.304M of COVID-19 reserve.

It was reported that there still remained a significant amount of uncertainty regarding the recovery from COVID-19 which had the potential to impact on the budget position during the remainder of the 2021/22 financial year.

RESOLVED - (a)  That the forecast revenue outturn for 2020/21, as detailed in the submitted report, be noted.

(b)  That further regular reports be made to monitor progress and take prompt action if necessary.

REASONS - (a)  To continue effective management of resources.

(b)  To continue to deliver services to agreed levels.