Decision

Cabinet RESOLVED to:

1. 1     to note the General Fund revenue budget provisional outturn breakeven position, after the budgeted utilisation of £63m capitalisation directions requested from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).  The risk contingency budget of £5m was not required to be utilised for the Council’s overall financial position and has, therefore, been used together with the service and corporate underspends to increase the Council’s Business Risk Reserve by £10.1m given the financial challenges currently facing local government.
2. 2     to note that the provisional outturn is the position prior to final accounting adjustments (e.g. capital accounting/revaluation/receipts and any impact from potential changes in prior years’ accounts which are still to be audited (e.g. debt calculations) and the external audit of the 2023-24 accounts.
3. 3     to note that the significant level of 2024-25 savings (£23.731m), agreed by Full Council in March 2024, include reduction in budgets that are delivering underspends in 2023-24 and will, therefore, not be recurrent underspends in 2024-25.
4. 4     to note the provisional outturn Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) savings achievement of £33.2m (91.9%) against the total savings target of £36.1m as set out in paragraph 4.93.
5. 5     to note the provisional outturn expenditure on the Council’s Transformation Programme as set out from paragraph 4.89.
6. 6     to note the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) revenue budget provisional outturn overspend of £9.9m.
7. 7     to note the General Fund capital programme 2023-24 provisional outturn underspend of £29.0m against the capital budget of £124.0m.
8. 8     to note the HRA capital programme 2023-24 provisional outturn underspend of £3.5m against the capital budget of £39.2m.
9. 9     to note the Council’s historic borrowing and subsequent debt burden continues to be critical to the non-sustainability of the Council’s revenue budget.  Dialogue with MHCLG continues.  The Council submitted a Financial Sustainability Plan on 22 May 2024 providing options of further financial support from Government in regard to its level of structural indebtedness to ensure it can deliver sustainable Local Government services.
10. 10   to note that the Council continues to operate Spend Control Panels to ensure that tight financial control and assurance oversight are maintained.