Agenda item

(a)  That the current financial forecast at Month 7 and the ongoing work by departments to reduce the overspend be noted.

(b)  That the write offs detailed in section 9 of the report be approved.

(c)  That the virements detailed in section 8 of the report be approved.

The Leader of the Council and the Assistant Director Finance & Audit introduced a report that updated the Cabinet on the forecast financial information to the end of October 2016 and sought approval for write offs and virements as detailed within the report.

There had been no significant change on the previous month in terms of the revenue position and the Council was forecasting an overspend of £1.596m.  The main pressures were unchanged i.e. adult social care, homelessness and income from the strategic acquisition programme.  Work was ongoing to address the overspend and it was anticipated that it would be reduced in future reports to the Cabinet.  The Housing Revenue Account was showing a net surplus of £0.396m and the consolidated capital programme forecast net outturn was £78.032m (70%).

Speaking under Rule 30, Councillors Swindlehurst and Anderson both commented that the forecast revenue overspend remained high in comparison to previous years and expressed concern that a use of reserves in 2016-17 and one-off items to balance the 2017-18 budget would be seen as the Council failing to properly bring current spending under control.  It was responded that the overspend was primarily due to demand led pressures in social care and homelessness and it was anticipated that future updates would reflect the action being taken to address the overspend.

The Cabinet considered the virement and write off requests set out in sections 8 and 9 of the report.  The write offs totalled £1.086m, the majority of which was Business Rates caused by company liquidations.  Commissioners discussed the actions undertaken to reduce write offs and assurance was provided that the Council’s processes were sound and implemented as quickly as possible to maximise collection rates.

At the conclusion of the discussion, the Cabinet noted the report and approved the virement and write off requests.

Resolved –

(a)  That the current financial forecast at Month 7 and the ongoing work by departments to reduce the overspend be noted.

(b)  That the write offs detailed in section 9 of the report be approved.

(c)  That the virements detailed in section 8 of the report be approved.