The Finance Committee of the City of London Corporation met on Tuesday 1 July 2025 to discuss a new project procedure, the 2024/25 outturn report for City Fund and City's Estate, and a resolution from the Community and Children's Services Committee regarding homelessness funding. Members were also scheduled to discuss the revenue outturn for the Finance Committee's operational services, and receive an update on the Chamberlain's Departmental Risk Management.

New Project Procedure / P3 Framework

The committee was scheduled to consider a report regarding a new framework to address issues in the governance and delivery of projects and programmes. The report stated that the changes respond to Lord Lisvane's governance review, which found slow decision-making and insufficient visibility for members. To reflect the direction of travel, it was proposed to rename the project procedure to the Project, Programme, Portfolio (P3) Framework.

The report stated that the revised P3 Framework proposes a simplified governance model aligned with a project's scale, complexity, and strategic importance, and that all project types, including capital, transformation, and innovation, would be brought under a single framework. A new tiering system would focus member scrutiny on higher-value and higher-risk projects, engaging members at strategic points of decision-making, while lower value projects and programmes would benefit from streamlined governance. The report stated that the proposals would streamline the gateway process into five strategic stages, with a greater emphasis on early alignment with Corporate Plan outcomes, climate action, social value, and return on investment.

The report included the following recommendations for consideration:

• Approval of the new P3 Framework, including new project gateways.
• Approval of the increase of delegated authority to £5m for Chief Officers.
• Approval of the increase of the threshold for Court of Common Council to receive gateway submissions to £20m.
• Noting the increase to £250k threshold for entering the gateway process.
• Approval that once a Red project approves a rebaselined plan with the Service Committee and Project and Procurement Sub-Committee, it can then proceed as a Green project.
• Approval for the Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) of a project or programme to have delegated authority to draw down against the agreed costed risk profile.
• Expanding the use of optimism bias with the established 'optimism bias' reserve to be authorised from the Service Committee and Finance Committee.
• Noting that the new P3 Framework will take effect at a launch event on 25 November 2025.
• Approving that further updates can be made to the P3 Framework with approval from the City of London Corporation Portfolio Board with members approving changes to the delegation levels.
• Authorising the Chamberlain to make the necessary amendments to other documentation i.e. the Corporation's Financial Regulations and the Procurement Code in order to align these documents with the Framework.

The report stated that the current financial regulations refer directly to the project procedure as the overarching guidance for Capital and Supplementary Revenue project budgets within the City Corporation, and that updating the framework would remove the previous guidance on how to manage project budgets. The report stated that the update to the framework gives an opportunity to update financial governance and improve transparency and accountability for budget managers, and that in order to achieve this, the financial regulations will also require updating in order to ensure there is a complete overarching financial governance framework.

2024/25 Outturn Report for City Fund and City's Estate

The committee was scheduled to consider a report providing a summary of the 2024/25 draft outturn position for City Fund and City's Estate. The report stated that for revenue budgets, City Fund was underspent by £23.4m and City's Estate by £5.6m, but that the total Local Risk was overspent on both funds, largely due to inflationary increases that exceeded the annual uplift factored into budgets.

The report stated that the total underspend of £29m (£23.4m City Fund and £5.6m City's Estate) is an increase of £16.4m from the forecast reported at Q3, mostly due to additional income being received on money market funds and external dividends, and that detailed analysis of variances will be reported to service committees.

The report also stated that as per the Financial Regulations, Chief Officers can bid to carry forward funds into the following financial year, where their local risk budget is underspent, and that the Chamberlain, in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of Resource Allocation Sub-Committee (RASC) will be reviewing the carry forward bids in early July. The report noted that bids received from Chief Officers total £1.3m from City Fund and £0.5m from City's Estate to fund delayed activity from 2024/25 due to various reasons, and that any approved carry forwards will be offset against the amounts transferred to reserves.

The report stated that central contingencies including those held by Finance Committees had unspent balances of £23.3m (£12m City Fund and £11.1m City Estate) and that these amounts will be transferred to reserves in order to support pressures in future years. The report noted that the budget paper that was agreed by Court in March 2025 listed a number of one off or time limited pressures and recommended these be funded from this underspend and will therefore be considered by the Chamberlain and Chairman and Deputy Chairman of RASC as part of the carry forward process.

The report also stated that Financial Regulations state that a deficit in a Chief Officer's local risk budget should be carried forward and recovered in the following financial year unless Finance Committee agree to write off, and that several Chief Officers have overspent during the year largely linked to pressures on employee budgets due to restructuring, unachieved vacancy factors, and unachieved savings, and that these will be discussed alongside the carry forward bids.

The report also provided a summary of the 2024/25 outturn for Capital and Supplementary Revenue Projects (SRPs) across both City Fund and City Estate, stating that actual capital and SRP expenditure in 2024/25 amounted to £388.4m comprising £295.6m for City Fund and £92.8m for City's Estate, which is a combined £180.7m less expenditure than the approved Capital Programme of £569m, due to slippage.

Resolution from the Community and Children's Services Committee

The committee was scheduled to receive a resolution from the Community and Children's Services Committee regarding the commitment of funding for homelessness from council tax. The resolution stated that the Community and Children's Services Committee, noting the discussion at the Court of Common Council on 6 March 2025, and the statement made by Deputy Henry Nicholas Almroth Colthurst, regarding the potential use of revenue from the Council Tax to support homelessness initiatives, resolves that the Finance Committee be asked to:

• Formally consider and confirm the commitment that revenue generated from the Council Tax on second homes be prioritised for initiatives addressing homelessness within the City of London.
• Report back to the Community and Children's Services Committee on the mechanisms by which this funding will be allocated, monitored, and evaluated to ensure it delivers meaningful impact.
• Ensure transparency in the application of these funds, including through regular reporting to the Court of Common Council and relevant committees.

Revenue Outturn 2024/25 – Finance Committee Operational Services

The committee was scheduled to consider a report presenting a comparison between the 2024/25 revenue outturn for the services managed by the committee and the budget for the year, including details of the carry forward requests that have been submitted for consideration.

The report stated that the budget for 2024/25 was set at £66.2m, reflecting an increase of £8.9 m (15%) from the initial budget of £57.3m, and that the total net expenditure on operational services managed by the committee was £66.3m, which is an overspend of £128,000 or 0.2%, compared to the budget of £66.2m, comprising an underspending on local risk budgets of £801,000 and overspending on central risk budgets of £847,000 and a net overspending of £82,000 on Cyclical Works Programme (CWP) and Capital and Support Services recharges.

The report noted that a detailed review of local risk underspending reveals that the Chamberlain was £446,000 underspent due to staff vacancies and additional income and the Remembrancer was underspent by £1.073m mainly due to additional event income, and that both have requested carry-forwards which total £508,000. The report stated that the City Surveyor had a minor underspending of £57,000 for the year, but has made no carry-forward request, and that the Town Clerk was overspent by £758,000 principally at Mansion House largely due to additional security costs, some extra costs for building surveys for future works and some unrealised savings targets, and that on investigation it was felt that budget allocation for 2024/25 for Mansion House was insufficient and for 2025/26 it has been agreed that the budget will be uplifted to cover the identified shortfall pending a full zero-based budget exercise to inform budget setting for the Mansion House going forward.

Chamberlain's Departmental Risk Management Update

The committee was scheduled to receive a report updating on risks faced by the Chamberlain's department, focusing on Financial Corporate and Departmental risks. The report stated that currently, there is one RED risk on the Corporate Risk Register and one RED risk on the Departmental Risk Register under the Chamberlain's responsibility, and that all risks are regularly reviewed, and several mitigating measures are in place to prevent the realisation of these risks or future risks.

The report noted that the risk score for CR35 Unsustainable Medium-Term Finances – City Fund is unchanged, and that the June Efficiency and Performance Working Party reviewed the savings update from 2024/25, and that Star Chambers are being held to identify costed savings proposals to be included in the 26/27 budget setting process, strategic transformation themes with the potential to move the needle over the medium-term financial strategy and identify the likely investment/capacity required to deliver savings options, and that the Chamberlain's Assurance Board continues to conduct monthly oversight of the approved major programmes, and that the 2026/27 budget and MTFP update will be presented to the Resource Allocation Sub Committee on 24th June, at which meeting the committee will have the opportunity to discuss the current financial position and provide guidance on the assumptions informing the 2026/27 budgets.

The report also noted that CHB002 Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Finances has a risk score of RED 16 and is unchanged since June, and that the challenges with the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) are not limited to the City of London, and that Finance colleagues are collaborating with other local government colleagues, as well as the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and the Treasury, to find broader solutions, and that a HRA-focused star chamber will take place over the summer, and that an update on the 10-year plan is expected in July.

Delegated Decisions

The committee was scheduled to note a report providing details of delegated decisions taken between committee meetings, including:

• Procurement for the replacement Pan-London Sexual Health eService (SHL.UK).
• MRI Horizon (Property Management Software).