Decision

A financial outturn report for the 2023/24
financial year was presented. The main headlines were:
 
·   a revenue budget surplus of £179k
with £721k unused contingency (an overall improvement of
£700k from Quarter 3);
 

·      performance
against prudential indicators for 2023/24 for treasury activity
demonstrated full compliance with the Prudential Code for capital
finance in Local Authorities;
 
·   reduced capital expenditure of
£4,284k, £1,877k of which related to the General Fund
and £2,407k to the Housing Revenue Account, with recommended
slippage of £4.051m to be rephased across future years. 
 
 
The report provided a summary of the outturn
positions of the respective committee revenue budgets, resulting in
91% of the £1.65m savings target being delivered. 
Following a reassessment of risks for 2024/25, it was recommended
that the £721k contingency be retained and only used as a
last resort. The growth of underlying reserves remained a key
priority, hence the proposed transfer of the £179k surplus to
the General Fund Reserve and the intention to keep the Department
for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) informed of the
Council’s financial situation. The latter was in light of the
Council’s unsuccessful application to DLUHC (in 2023) to use
£500k of capital receipts from the sale of Redstone House to
build reserves resilience.
 
The report confirmed the intention to review
the capital programme before the Autumn to ensure that 2024/25
allocations (adjusted for carry-forwards) were achievable, based on
a realistic and justifiable level of resources.
     
 
Concerns were expressed about:
 
·          
the Planning Policy Committee’s £404k overspend, which
was largely due an on-going reliance on contract staff and a
£190k overspend on the cost of planning appeals; and
 
·          
the performance of the planning enforcement service and the value
for money aspect of the associated budgetary provision.
 
In response, the Chair explained that his
Group regarded staff retention / recruitment as a matter of
urgency, hence a recent meeting with key officers which culminated
in an action plan to address this and other current issues. He
confirmed his willingness to share the details with the rest of the
Committee, subject consultation with the Leader.  The Chief Executive, while explaining the dual
challenge of having to resource the Future Tandridge Programme,
acknowledged the critical importance of maintaining ‘business
as usual’ services.      
 
The desire for more accurate budgeting to
avoid ‘under’ as well as overspends was discussed. In
that respect, the Chair confirmed the Administration’s
objective of aligning outturns with budgets and that end of year
underspends were not planned.
 
Arising from a question about the potential
impact of the forthcoming General Election on the Council’s
spending plans, the Director of Resources advised that long awaited
Local Government funding reforms could be delayed by a further
year.
      
           
R E S O L V E D – that:
 

A.    the
Council’s financial outturn position for 2023/24 be
noted;

 

B.    the Council’s full compliance with
the Treasury Management Prudential Indicators for 2023/24 be
noted;
 

C.   from the Council’s
overall outturn position:

 

(i)    the £721k
unused contingency be retained to cover external risks to the
delivery of the 2024/25 budget and medium-term financial strategy,
particularly planning appeals and enforcement
 

(ii)   the £179k outturn
surplus be transferred to the General Fund Reserve, bringing the
total to £2.966m from £2.787m;
 

D.   capital carry forwards
of £4.051m be approved, with a revised phasing to be reported
during the September committee cycle.