Agenda item

(a)  That the current financial forecast and the ongoing work by departments to reduce the over spend be noted.

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

The Leader of the Council introduced a report that provided Cabinet with the forecast financial information for 2016/17 to the end of December 2016.  The overspend had been further reduced to £0.837m and it was anticipated that a breakeven position would be achieved by year end.

The Assistant Director Finance & Audit highlighted that the previously reported overspend in adult social care had been reduced to an estimated £0.859m by year end, a fall of £0.14m on the previous month, and the department was continuing to scrutinise expenditure and explore underspends elsewhere in the directorate.  There had been an increase in the forecast overspend in Housing and Environment due to a corporate pension adjustment which was being examined.

The main area of underspend remained in Customer and Community Services, which helped offset overspends elsewhere in the Council.  The improved delivery of the capital programme had continued with expected spend of £119m against the budget of £134m.  The slippage of 11% was a considerable improvement on historic trends.  The Housing Revenue Account continued to show a forecasted surplus of £0.396m.

The Cabinet considered and approved the write off requests detailed in paragraph 9 of the report.  Commissioners noted that £0.7m of council tax credits had been written back into the accounts during the period.

Resolved –

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

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