Agenda item

It was agreed:

1.  That Lead Members work with individual Executive Directors to reduce the forecast overspend ahead of the Quarter 2 monitoring report for Cabinet.

2.  To authorise a virement from centrally held budgets to Adult Social Care allowing expenditure against the 2 ring fenced grants, of £1.2m and £0.6m, that have been awarded this year.

3.  To authorise a virement from centrally held budgets to service directorates in respect of inflationary pressures, amounting to £3.3m of the £5.3m available, and allow the balance of £1.9m to be added to the General Contingency.

4.  To authorise a virement from centrally held budgets to service directorates in respect of pressures, other than inflation, amounting to £1.6m of the £12.4m available.

5.  To authorise the funding of the one-off payment of £5.312m to Slough Children First in respect of prior year deficits from the Budget Equalisation Reserve, subject to the Slough Childrens First Business Plan (elsewhere on the agenda) being agreed.

6.  To delegate the Executive Director of Finance and Commercial, in consultation with the Lead Member for Finance and Finance Commissioner, to allocate the pay inflation of £2.8m held centrally to departments once the pay award is known.

It was noted that:

1.  Service revenue budgets are forecast to overspend by £24.4m in 2023/24; centrally held contingencies once allocated will mitigate this in part, and reduce the forecast overspend to £8.4m.  Corporate underspends in respect of interest costs and the Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) amount to £3.1m and reduce the overall forecast to an overspend of £5.3m.

2.  Medium Term Financial Strategy Savings (MTFS) of £19.7m are expected to be delivered against planned savings of £22.4m.

3.  That the Capital programme is forecast to underspend by £17.2m.

The Lead Member for finance introduced a report that set out the forecast position of the Council for the financial year 2023/24 as at the end of the first quarter to the end of June 2023.

The Lead Member commented that whilst the administration had not set the current budget, it was committed to owning it and delivering financial sustainability.  It was noted that service revenue budgets were forecast to overspend by £24.4m in 2023/24, although centrally held contingencies, once allocated, would mitigate this in part, and reduce the forecast overspend to £8.4m. Corporate underspends in respect of interest costs and the Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) amounted to £3.1m and further reduced the overall forecast to an overspend of £5.3m, if no action was taken.  It was proposed and agreed that all Lead Members would work with their Executive Directors to reduce the forecast overspend and that progress would be detailed in future quarterly reports to Cabinet.

The Cabinet considered and approved the virement requests and agreed to authorise a delegation to the Executive Director of Finance & Commercial, following consultation with the Lead Member, to allocate the pay inflation of £2.8m held centrally to departments once the pay award was known.

Resolved –

It was agreed:

(a)  That Lead Members work with individual Executive Directors to reduce the forecast overspend ahead of the Quarter 2 monitoring report for Cabinet.

(b)  To authorise a virement from centrally held budgets to Adult Social Care allowing expenditure against the 2 ring fenced grants, of £1.2m and £0.6m, that have been awarded this year.

(c)  To authorise a virement from centrally held budgets to service directorates in respect of inflationary pressures, amounting to £3.3m of the £5.3m available, and allow the balance of £1.9m to be added to the General Contingency.

(d)  To authorise a virement from centrally held budgets to service directorates in respect of pressures, other than inflation, amounting to £1.6m of the £12.4m available

(e)  To authorise the funding of the one-off payment of £5.312m to Slough Children First in respect of prior year deficits from the Budget Equalisation Reserve, subject to the Slough Childrens First Business Plan (elsewhere on the agenda) being agreed.

(f)  To delegate the Executive Director of Finance and Commercial, in consultation with the Lead Member for Finance and Finance Commissioner, to allocate the pay inflation of £2.8m held centrally to departments once the pay award is known.

It was noted that:

(g)  Service revenue budgets were forecast to overspend by £24.4m in 2023/24; centrally held contingencies once allocated would mitigate this in part, and reduce the forecast overspend to £8.4m.  Corporate underspends in respect of interest costs and the Minimum Revenue Provision (MRP) amounted to £3.1m and reduced the overall forecast to an overspend of £5.3m.

(h)  Medium Term Financial Strategy Savings (MTFS) of £19.7m were expected to be delivered against planned savings of £22.4m.

(i)  That the Capital programme was forecast to underspend by £17.2m.