Purpose

Budget Monitoring 24/25 Quarter
4 

Content

DECISION:

 

1.    
Notes the council’s provisional gross outturn position
as at 31 March 2025 was an overspend £30.5 against the
approved Council Budget, After using earmarked reserves amounting
£14m, the net was £16.5m, funded from the
Council’s reserve.
 

2.    
Notes the Housing Revenue Account outturn was £3.3m
underspend.
 

3.    
Notes the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) Outturn was an
overspend of £4.3m overspend.
 

4.    
Notes the council’s provisional outturn position as at
31 March 2025, against General Fund and Housing Revenue Account
capital programme revised budgets for 2024/25.
 

5.    
Notes the use of General Fund earmarked reserves amounting to
£42.2m, which will impact on the Council’s financial
sustainability, as reserves are one-off source of
funding.
 

6.    
Notes the progress made against the 2024/25 savings targets,
based at 31 March 2025.
 

7.    
Notes that there are no equalities implications directly
resulting from this report, as set out in Section 10.
 

8.    
Approves the net slippages of £22m, net overspends of
£2.9m and additions of £4.7m across the General Fund
capital programme and net slippages of £22.9m, net overspends
of £1.5m across the Housing Revenue Account capital programme
as detailed in section 7. 

Reasons for the decision

The regular,
timely and accurate reporting of Revenue and Capital Budget
Monitoring information through the year is a key financial control.
It makes visible variations to budget to inform decision making and
enable the council to take timely mitigating actions.
 
It is important
that issues driving variations to budget are understood, challenged
and addressed so that the council remains both within the approved
budget envelope and on track to delivering the plans Members
budgeted for.

Alternative options considered

The council could
choose to monitor its budgetary performance against an
alternative time
frame, but it is considered that the reporting schedule provides
the appropriate balance to allow strategic oversight of the budget
by Members and to manage the council’s exposure to financial
risk. More frequent monitoring is undertaken by officers and
considered by individual service directors and the council’s
CMT including approval of management action.