Purpose

To report on the Council’s resources currently held as earmarked reserves, provisions and general balances as at 31 March 2023, taking account of the outturn position for 2022-2023

Decision

That Cabinet approves:

1. The transfers to/from general balances and provisions as detailed in Tables 2, and 5 of the report.
2. The contributions to/from earmarked reserves as detailed in paragraphs 5.11 to 5.22 and paragraphs 6.8 to 6.13 of the report.
3. 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 2023.
4. Delegated authority to the Cabinet Member for Resources and Digital and the relevant Cabinet Member, in consultation with the Director of Finance and the relevant Director/Deputy Director to allocate funds from reserves as detailed in Appendix 1 to the report.

That Cabinet notes:

1. The level of the Council’s reserves and provisions as at 31 March 2023 and the purposes for which they are being held, as detailed in Appendix 1, 2, and 3 to the report.
2. That the recommendations detailed in this report are in line with the Reserves Strategy approved by Council on 1 March 2023.
3. That relevance and adequacy of reserves would be reviewed as required by the Constitution during the 2024-2025 budget setting process.
4. That allocation of funding from all earmarked reserves would be reported to Councillors in future reports.
5. That the Resources and Equality Scrutiny Panel would scrutinise the use of reserves as part of the budget setting process as in previous years.
6. That the Director of Finance 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.
7. That the figures quoted in the report are still subject to statutory audit by Grant Thornton as part of the 2022-2023 accounts closedown process.