Agenda item

That it be noted:

·  that the 2022/23 forecast year-end position for the General Fund, taking account of use of all capitalisation direction amendments, is a fully balanced position. However, within this, there is an overspend of £7.322m across service areas, comprising a shortfall on in-year savings after mitigations of £4.309m against the total target of £19.958m, and including the loss set out in the latest SCF business plan of £5.175m. This is then balanced through an improvement in the collection fund position, the application of settlement monies received, the impact of capital receipts on MRP and a reduction in the use of capitalisation;

·  that the revenue budgets as presented in this report assume that the virements as set out in Appendix E have been approved;

·  that the General Fund Capital Programme is forecasting an underspend of £0.700m at a spend of £27.955m;

·  that the HRA is forecasting a contribution to the HRA reserve of £1.827m, a £0.850m adverse variance against budget;

·  that the HRA Capital Programme is forecasting on budget at a spend of £10.720m;

·  that the DSG balance is forecast to be a cumulative deficit of £27.290m by the end of this financial year with plans to reduce the in-year movement to a balanced position by 2025/26;

·  that maintained schools are projecting a reduction in balances by 31 March 2023 from £9.555m to £5.465m, with 4 out of 16 schools expecting to be in deficit with an aggregate deficit of £0.647m.

The Lead Member for Financial Oversight & Council Assets introduced a report that set out the forecast financial monitoring position as at the end of September 2022 for the 2022/23 financial year.  The report covered revenue, including DSG and schools; Treasury Management, including asset sales and pensions; and the capital position for both General Fund and Housing Revenue Account.

It was noted that a fully balanced position was forecast for the General Fund in 2022/23, taking account of use of all capitalisation direction amendments.  However, the Lead Member highlighted that there was an overspend of £7.3m across service areas, which included a shortfall in in-year savings of £4.3m against the £20m target, and the loss set out in the latest Slough Children First business plan of £5.2m.  These issues were offset by various factors such as an improvement in the collection fund position, impact of capital receipts on MRP and a reduction in the use of capitalisation.  Good progress continued to made in addressing the deficit in the Dedicated Schools Grant.

Lead Members discussed various aspects of the report including the importance of delivering savings proposals on time so the financial benefits could be achieved and to reduce revenue pressures next year.  After due consideration, the report was noted.

Resolved –  That it be noted:

(a)  That the 2022/23 forecast year-end position for the General Fund, taking account of use of all capitalisation direction amendments, was a fully balanced position. However, within this, there was an overspend of £7.322m across service areas, comprising a shortfall on in-year savings after mitigations of £4.309m against the total target of £19.958m, and including the loss set out in the latest SCF business plan of £5.175m. This was then balanced through an improvement in the collection fund position, the application of settlement monies received, the impact of capital receipts on MRP and a reduction in the use of capitalisation;

(b)  That the revenue budgets as presented in the report assumed that the virements as set out in Appendix E had been approved;

(c)  That the General Fund Capital Programme was forecasting an underspend of £0.700m at a spend of £27.955m;

(d)  That the HRA was forecasting a contribution to the HRA reserve of £1.827m, a £0.850m adverse variance against budget;

(e)  That the HRA Capital Programme was forecasting on budget at a spend of £10.720m;

(f)  That the DSG balance was forecast to be a cumulative deficit of £27.290m by the end of this financial year with plans to reduce the in-year movement to a balanced position by 2025/26;

(g)  That maintained schools were projecting a reduction in balances by 31 March 2023 from £9.555m to £5.465m, with 4 out of 16 schools expecting to be in deficit with an aggregate deficit of £0.647m.