Purpose

The report is to ensure that cabinet is
infomed of the provisional out-turn for the Council against the
budget for 2024-25

Content

RESOLVED
that:-
 
The following be
approved:
 
(a)      the creation of a new
earmarked reserve to carry forward the unspent Ministry of Housing,
Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) funding for Plan for
Neighbourhoods. The Council will receive funding over a ten-year
period to bring communities together, improve living standards and
give people in places more of a stake in their future. It is
proposed that the transfer of the final value and utilisation of
this reserve is delegated to the Executive Director of Place and
Regeneration and the Executive Director of Transformation and
Resources;
 
(b)      the drawdown of
£0.879 million from the Homes for Ukraine Scheme earmarked
reserves, which has been used to support Ukrainian families to
rebuild their lives and fully integrate into local
communities;
 
(c)      the drawdown of
£1.159 million from the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) reserve
to offset the in-year deficit of £8.868 million during
2024-25. The final deficit on the grant will follow the guidance
issued by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
that a deficit arising on the DSG must be excluded from Council
reserves and held in a ring-fenced unusable reserve;
 
(d)      any balance remaining upon
finalisation of the Statement of Accounts will be transferred
to/from the Council’s Strategic Management
Reserve.
 
The following be
noted:
 
(e)      the projected General Fund
underspend of £0.079 million and the assumptions outlined in
the report;
 
(f)       that this forecast
provisional outturn is based on the figures as at the end of
February and is subject to change;
 
(g)      that a modification gain
of £3.066 million will be recognised in 2024-25 following
restructuring of £44.100 million of the Council’s
long-term debt. The restructure involves changing the existing
maturity loans to a 20-year Equal Instalments of Principal (EIP)
loan and will generate a net interest saving to the Council of
£1.111 million over the next three financial years. The
£3.066 million modification gain will be transferred to the
Strategic Management Reserve in 2024-25 and released to the General
Fund as the modification gain unwinds over the life of the
loan;
 
(h)      the net re-profiling to
the Capital Programme of £62.706 million from 2024-25 to
2025-26 to reflect expenditure levels during the financial year.
Final reprofiling will be requested in the Final Outturn report to
Cabinet;
 
(i)       the supplementary
estimates at Appendix A and the required changes to the
budgets;
(j)       the delivery of the
approved savings at Appendix B;
 
(k)      the use of the contingency
shown at Appendix L;
 
(l)       the schedule of
movement in the Council’s reserves shown at Appendix
M;
 
(m)     the virements requested by
services within delegated limits as shown in Appendix N;
and
 
(n)      the details of capital
project reprofiling shown at Appendix O.