Issue - meetings
2023/24 General Fund Budget Monitoring Report - Month 7 - End of October 2023
Meeting: 15/01/2024 - Executive (Item 91)
91 2023/24 General Fund Budget Monitoring Report - Month 7 - End of October 2023 PDF 2 MB
To consider the report.
Additional documents:
- M7 Appendix 01 - Adult Services, item 91 PDF 616 KB
- M7 Appendix 02 - Children, Families & Education Services, item 91 PDF 3 MB
- M7 Appendix 03 - Community Services, item 91 PDF 347 KB
- M7 Appendix 04 - Climate & Place (incl Accountable Bodies), item 91 PDF 1 MB
- M7 Appendix 05 - Strategy, Workforce and Localities, item 91 PDF 228 KB
- M7 Appendix 06 - Resources & Corporate Services, item 91 PDF 383 KB
- M7 Appendix 07 - Public Health, item 91 PDF 190 KB
- M7 Appendix 08 - Other Service Areas, item 91 PDF 382 KB
Decision:
Following consideration of the officer report, appendices and discussion, the Executive noted:??
a. The forecast overspend of £18.3m (3.7%) for the year and the recovery action being taken and mitigations put in place to address this.
b. The next report to be received by the Executive on Revenue Budget Monitoring will be the Month Nine report in February 2024.
Minutes:
The Leader of the Council and Lead Member for Governance and Communications, Cllr Bill Revans, invited the Deputy Leader and Lead Member for Resources and Performance, Cllr Liz Leyshon, to introduce the report.
The Deputy Leader and Lead Member for Resources and Performance, Cllr Liz Leyshon, introduced the report, highlighting: the new format of budget monitoring report following the introduction of solver working and Microsoft Dynamics; that the report is from the end of October (month7) with month 9 (Q3) to be considered at 7 February 2024 Executive meeting; the small improvement in the projected overspend due a range of actions and the introduction of the spending control boards; that the report details Directorate budget projections and mitigations; summarised table one of the report and the impact of Adults and Childrens Services budget overspend on the Somerset Council budget compared to the remainder of the Council; the added detail of government and special grants to aid understanding of funding specific parts of the Council's delivery of services.
The Service Director - Finance and Procurement, Nicola Hix, added to the above points, highlighting: the Adult and Children Services forecast overspend, and that the rest of the Council is forecast to be £10.5m underspent; summarised the pressures and mitigations in Adult and Children Services budgets; summarised the current positive effect and value of the spend boards, including reduced payments, further sight and scrutiny of spend, the encouragement across the Council to think differently and the further monitoring and enforcement of the no purchase order, no payment and the work underway with services to ensure compliance.
At the invitation of the Leader of the Council, Cllr Bill Revans, the Executive Director for Adult Social Care, Mel Lock, further provided details for the reasons for the Adult Services overspend, including, the local and national pressure, the residential nursing placements that have increased, the increase in paying for services, and that work continues to mitigate this.
At the invitation of the Leader of the Council, Cllr Bill Revans, the Executive Director for Children, Families and Education, Claire Winter, further detailed the reasons for the Children Services overspend, including the external placements for children in the care system, the impact of a nationally driven market system, costs for children with increasingly complex needs and home to school transport, and highlighted the mitigations currently in place and the significant amount of work taking place to review contracts to reduce costs while making sure that children can still get to school effectively and safely.
The Leader of the Council, Cllr Bill Revans, invited comments from other Members present, questions and points raised included: the national and local growth in numbers of Children with special educational needs and disabilities, including the impact of the change in the process and system over a period of time, the increase in required completion of education, health and care (EHC) plans post 2014, the increasing number of children with social, emotional mental health issues and the local and national stark ... view the full minutes text for item 91