Purpose

To consider the provisional revenue and capital finance outturn for the 2023/24 financial year and take any associated decisions on in-year budget management.

Decision

That the following be noted:

1. The Provisional overspend, prior to use of reserves, was £15.511m. 
2. The Council’s Provisional overspend was £14.182m, after some accounting adjustments and this would need to be financed from the Council’s reserves.
3. The Budget for 2024/25 contained investment of £9.883m aimed at re-basing those budgets that were overspending the most in 2023/24. Analysis of the outturn suggested a pressure in 2024/25 of £11.7m that would need to be managed and required immediate mitigating action. 
4. A refresh of the medium-term financial plan would be presented to the next available Cabinet meeting, and this would include proposals for changes to the capital programme.

That the following be agreed:

1. The transfer to Housing Revenue Account (HRA) General Reserves the surplus on the HRA of £3.393m in the year, as laid out in paragraphs 5.1 to 5.3 of the report.
2. The draw down request from the Redundancy Reserve of £1.549m to cover the costs of redundancies agreed in 2023/24, and the associated budget transfer to those areas that incurred these costs as set out in paragraphs 10.3 and 10.4 of the report.
3. The draw down request from the Budget Smoothing Reserve attributable to the Balance Sheet and ledger reviews, and note that these mitigate the headline forecast overspend, reducing it from £15.511m to £14.182m.  This was set out in more detail in paragraphs 10.6 and 10.7 of the report. 
4. The Revenue carry forwards, relating to unspent specific grants and earmarked funding for transformation, as set in paragraphs 8.1 - 8.6 and Table 7 of the report.
5. A transfer to Public Health reserves of £1.095m, being the unspent element of the 2023/24 Public Health ring-fenced grant, as set out in paragraph 3.11 of the report.
6. The addition of the following new projects to the 2024/25 Capital Programme, totalling £0.740m

- Childcare expansion (£0.220m, grant funded)

- Upton Court Pathway (£0.075m, section 106 funded)

- Cippenham Bridges (£0.150m, section 106 funded)

- Swimming Pool Support Fund initiative (£0.295m, grant funded)