Purpose

The purpose of this report is to inform
Cabinet of the Council’s resources currently held as reserves
and provisions as 31 March 2025, taking account of the outturn
position for 2024-2025.

Content

1.     
That the transfers to/from provisions as detailed in
Table 5 to the report be approved.
 
2.     
That the contributions to/from earmarked reserves
(not previously approved) as detailed in section 7 of the report be
approved.
 
3.     
That expenditure from provisions for their purposes
as set out in Appendix 2 and 3 to the report, up to the value held
in each provision as at 31 March 2025 be approved.
 
4.     
That authority be delegated to the Cabinet Member
for Resources in consultation with the Section 151 Officer and the
relevant Director/Deputy Director to allocate funds from reserves
as detailed in Appendix 1 to the report.
 
5.     
That the level of the Council’s reserves and
provisions as at 31 March 2025 and the purposes for which they are
being held, as detailed in Appendix 1, 2, and 3 to the report be
noted.
 

6.     
That it be noted, the recommendations detailed in
the report are in line with the Reserves Strategy approved by
Council on 26 February 2025.
 
7.     
That it be noted, the allocation of funding from all
earmarked reserves would be reported to Councillors in future
reports.
 
8.     
That it be noted, the Resources and Equality
Scrutiny Panel would scrutinise the use of reserves as part of the
budget setting process as in previous years.
 
9.     
That it be noted, the Section 151 Officer considers
that the overall level of all reserves and provisions are
sufficient to meet the likely level of obligations to be met from
reserves and provisions in the short term.
 
10.  
That it be noted, the figures quoted in the report
are still subject to statutory audit by Grant Thornton as part of
the 2024-2025 accounts closedown process.
 
11.  
That it be noted, the Performance and Budget Outturn
2024-2025 report on this same agenda assumes the use of reserves as
outlined in this report.  If the
reserves approvals as outlined in section 7 of the report were not
approved, then this would impact on the outturn position outlined
in the Performance and Budget Outturn Report.