Purpose

Proposed
decision:
 
Cabinet is asked to:
 

(a) 
note the revenue and capital forecast outturn position, savings
monitoring and reserves monitoring

(b) 
approve any additional management actions required

(c) 
note and agree capital cash limit changes
 
Reason for the decision
 
Quarterly reports are
presented which identify any management action required and
recommendations for Cabinet decision. 
 
 
 
Background – Provide brief additional context
 
The report on the
Council’s latest financial position will be reported to
Cabinet on 28/11/24, including the forecast overspend
excluding Schools’ Delegated
Budgets.  The
forecast overspend presents a serious and significant risk to the
Council’s financial sustainability if it is not addressed as
a matter of urgency particularly as the approved budget for 2024-25
did not include any contingency provision meaning any residue
overspend can only be offset from reserves.  The report identifies the latest progress on
savings compared to the original plan, any undeliverable savings
are already reflected in the forecast.
 
 
Options (other options considered but discarded)

-     
The Council has already continued the spending
controls introduced in 2023-24 into 2024-25 aimed at curtailing non
committed spend, any further extension of spending controls is
likely to impact on the Council’s ability to fulfil its
statutory responsibilities.

-     
All options to reduce spend both one off and
recurring are being considered to bring the 2024-25 budget back
into balance.
 
 
 
How the proposed decision supports the

Framing Kent's Future
- Our Council Strategy 2022-2026and Securing Kent’s Future
 
Securing Kent’s
Future (SKF) acknowledges that given the significance of adults and
children’s social care within the council’s budget, and
that spending growth pressures on the council’s budget
overwhelming (but not exclusively) come from social care, that the
priority of delivering New Models of Care and Support must take
precedence over the other priorities in Framing Kent’s
Future.  This creates an expectation
that council services across all directorates must collectively
prioritise delivering the new models of care and support objective
as a collective enterprise.
The Finance Monitoring
report for September 2024-25 provides the detail of the latest
financial position and the relevant information on the progress
being made in terms of the savings and management actions to reduce
the budget gap for the following year and the MTFP.
 
 

Decision

The Cabinet agree to:
 
a)   
note the forecast revenue overspend of £26.8m (excluding
Schools’ Delegated Budgets)
b)   
Note the forecast overspend on Schools’ Delegated Budgets of
£29.1m
c)   
Note the forecast capital underspend of £90.1m
d)   
Note the progress on the delivery of savings
e)   
Note and agree the Capital budget changes
f)    
Note the Reserves, Treasury Management and Prudential Indicators
Monitoring