Agenda item

(A report by Christine Marshall, Deputy Chief Executive – Corporate Development and S151)

Portfolio Holder: Councillor Sandeep Ghosh

The Chief Finance Officer, PSPS presented a report which set out the financial position of the Council for the year 2023/24, the outturn position for 2022/23 and an overall financial update.

Members noted that the Draft Statement of Accounts for 2023/24 had been finalised and then published on 30^th May 2024, in line with the regulatory requirements, with the External Audit by KPMG due to commence shortly as recently reported to Audit and Governance Committee.

The audited 2022/23 Statement of Accounts had also received the necessary external audit sign-off by Mazars and the final revenue position for 2022/23 had a surplus of £155,868. The report encapsulated the outturn for that year, reserve balances, and year-end adjustments.

The Council had navigated challenging financial periods influenced by many factors. The lingering effects of international events had impacted the resourcing levels and financial position. Significant inflationary pressures, across various domains, included contract obligations, the Internal Drainage Board (IDB) levy, service demands, payroll, and energy costs.

Councillor Baxter queried the references of unbudgeted section 113. The Chief Finance Officer, PSPS advised that after the budget had been set and arrangements were then made to share officers under Section 113 agreements, this would result in unbudgeted S113 recharges. A process had been set for the Quarter 1 monitoring process for 2024/25, where finance was inputting the necessary budget adjustment, to cancel out the variance. Councillor Baxter also queried the overspend of repairs and maintenance. The Chief Finance Officer, PSPS advised that for some of those overspends there had been some offsets from external income and the bulk of the overspend had not been funded.

Councillor Baxter referred to the positive outcomes and underspends where savings had been made. He thanked the officers for their work.

The Leader referred to the IDB funding and queried where the funding would go. The Chief Finance Officer, PSPS advised that the 23/24 funding had been announced, but they were still waiting for confirmation from the Government on the 24/25 allocation. The Assistant Director – Corporate stated that the 23/24 funding had been received and allocated to that year. He added that they were putting pressure on the Government to announce the previously committed £3,000,000 for 24/25 which, once received, would go against the efficiency target.

The recommendations were moved by Councillor Anne Dorrian and seconded by Councillor Dale Broughton.

RESOLVED:

That the Cabinet:

1.     Approve the report outlining the current year end underspend of £458,000 for 2023/24, and the detail set out in Appendix A within the report, and the transfer of the surplus to reserves;

2.     Note that the Draft Statement of Accounts for 2023/24 had been finalised and published on 30 May 2024 in line with the regulatory requirements, with the External Audit due to commence shortly as recently reported to Audit and Governance Committee.;

3.     Note the final revenue position of 2022/23, which was an underspend of £155,868 transferred to reserves, as set out in Appendix B within the report;

4.     Note that the 2022/23 Statement of Accounts had been audited and signed off by the External Auditor, as reported to the Audit and Governance Committee

5.     Recommend that Full Council approve the reserves transactions and balances for 2023/24, as set out in Table 4 of Appendix A within the report;

6.     Recommend that Full Council amend the Capital Programme for 2024/25, as shown in Table 5a to take into account the changes set out in Appendix A within the report; and

7.     Recommend that Full Council approve the reserve transactions and balances for 2022/23, as set out in Table 3 of Appendix B within the report.