The Managing Director submitted a report
(previously circulated) together with the quarter 2 revenue budget
outturn report (also previously circulated) which was due to be
considered by Cabinet at its meeting on 10 November,
2020.
It was reported that the Council’s projected reserves at the end of 2020 were
£20.506 million, £1,143 million higher than the
initial 2020-24 MTFP position and included a brought forward amount
of £0.274 million from 2019-20 and the rebasing exercise of
£0.897 million
The
Assistant Director Resources, reported that of the £20.506
million projected reserves, there was a risk reserve balance of
£4.350 million and a commitment to use £11.330 million
to support years two to four of the current MTFP, leaving a surplus
of £4.826 million, subject to no further pressures being
identified and no impact of Covid-19 in future years.
Specifically in relation to impact of Covid-19 on the Council’s finances, it was reported that it was estimated that the cost to the year-end would be £13.7 million, however the Council had received £8.7 million of Government grant to date and approximately £4 million was anticipated from the sales, fees and charges income recompense scheme which would leave a Covid-19 gap of £875,000.
Members asked questions in relation to whether any additional funding would be provided to the Council as part of the second national lock down which was due to come into effect shortly, and it was reported that further funding was not expected, however, additional financial impacts to those already planned for within the budget were not anticipated as it had been expected that some services would not revert back to the usual income levels during this period and that this had been accounted for in the budget.
Discussion also ensued on the
cost and implications to the Council of the support contract which
it had in place following the provision of laptops by the
Government to children, the position following a grant from
government for troubled families which it was indicated would go
into reserves and car parking income.
RESOLVED – That the report be received.
The Cabinet Member with the Resources Portfolio introduced the report of the Managing Director (previously circulated) providing an up-to-date forecast of the 2020/21 revenue budget outturn as part of the Council’s continuous financial management process and informing Members of the budget rebasing exercise carried out following the 2019/20 outturn results.
The submitted report stated that it was the second revenue budget management report to Cabinet for 2020/21; the impact of Covid-19 on both expenditure and income levels was projected to be significant; to date the Government had provided a grant of £7.174m to assist with pressures with a further £1.508m expected; on 2 July 2020 the Government announced a further package of support to help reimburse lost income and this additional funding was anticipated to be £4.095m this financial year; and that should all funding come to fruition it was estimated that the Covid-19 pressure for 2020/21 would be £0.875, which was significantly lower than anticipated in Quarter 1.
Reference was also made to the budget rebasing exercise that had been undertaken following the outturn position which had returned £0.897m into general reserves; the year-end projection, taking into the Covid-19 pressures, anticipated grants, the rebasing exercise and savings, showed an overall improvement in 2020/21 of £1.43M; and to concerns for future years.
RESOLVED - (a) That the forecast revenue outturn for 2019/20, as detailed in the submitted report, be noted.
(b) That the Covid-19 pressures and government grants received to date, as detailed in the submitted report, be noted.
(c) That further regular reports be made to monitor progress and take prompt action if necessary.
(d) That the proposed carry forward requests, as detailed in the submitted report, be agreed.
(e) That the transfer of £0.143m to the ICT earmarked reserve, as detailed in the submitted report, be approved.
REASONS - (a) To continue effective management of resources.
(b) To continue to deliver services to agreed levels.