Issue - meetings

2023-24 Final Revenue and Capital Outturn Report

Purpose

This report sets of the outturn position for the 2023/24 financial year.

Recommendations

That Cabinet resolves to:

1. Review and note the outturn financial position set out in this report;

2. Approve the carry forward of unspent capital budget included in table 5 of £1.114m into the 2023/24 Capital Programme;

3. Approve the transfers to and from reserves, as set out in Paragraphs 4.28 to 4.30 and Annex C;

4. Note the changes to provisions as set out in paragraphs 4.33 and 4.34;

5. Approve the closing balance on the Financial Resilience Reserve and the commitment to fund the Council’s share of the estimated redundancy costs associated with Phase 1 of the transfer of services from Publica to the Council (up to £0.300m).

Additional documents:

Decision:

The purpose of the report was to set out the Council’s financial outturn position for the 2023/24 financial year.

The Leader asked to the Chief Accountant and Deputy S.151 officer to introduce the report in the absence of the Chief Executive.

The Leader informed Cabinet of a revised recommendation wording for recommendation 2. The following revised wording was proposed:

Approve the carry forward of unspent capital budget included in Annex A and paragraph 6.21 of £1.513m into the 2024/25 Capital Programme.

The recommendations as amended were proposed by Councillor Joe Harris and seconded by Councillor Paul Hodgkinson.

RESOLVED: That Cabinet

1. NOTED the outturn financial position set out in this report;

2. APPROVED the carry forward of unspent capital budget included in Annex A and paragraph 6.21 of £1.513m into the 2024/25 Capital Programme;

3. APPROVED the transfers to and from reserves, as set out in Paragraphs 4.28 to 4.30

and Annex C;

4. NOTED the changes to provisions as set out in paragraphs 4.33 and 4.34;

5. APPROVED the closing balance on the Financial Resilience Reserve and the

commitment to fund the Council’s share of the estimated redundancy costs

associated with Phase 1 of the transfer of services from Publica to the Council

(up to £0.300m).

Voting Record

6 For, 0 Against, 0 Abstention, 2 Absent/Did not vote

Minutes:

The purpose of the report was to set out the Council’s financial outturn position for the 2023/24 financial year.

The Leader asked to the Chief Accountant and Deputy S.151 officer to introduce the report in the absence of the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, Councillor Evemy. The following points were made:

This was the final report of the year and was tied in to the Budget and Medium Term Financial Strategy approved by members.
The Council had planned to use £861,000 of its financial resilience reserves at its budget, but only £610,000 had been used which was a welcomed improvement.
The improved position of Treasury Management Income supported this underspend of reserves from higher cash balances through higher interest rates with a £966,000 positive variance budget.
There was an underspend in respect of ICT licences and cybersecurity costs.
There was a saving on the capital programme as there was no additional external borrowing to fund the programme. There was also a slippage in the capital programme of £1.5 million which would be carried forward.
There was an overspend of £113,000 on Elections and there would be an examination of those budgets to see where the variances had occurred.
There was an increase of £56,000 in bad debt provision and £100,000 provision for legal services in case of challenge to the Local Plan Housing Requirement.
There was a review of the reserves to ensure different areas were supported appropriately.
The Council’s financial resilience reserve was £2.499 million and the report recommended a commitment to fund redundancy costs from this reserve through the Publica Review up to £300,000.

Cabinet asked about the Treasury Management Income and interest rates. The Chief Accountant noted that there were lower projections for income as higher interest rates could not be relied upon. There would also be a transfer of £150,000 into the Treasury Management Reserve.

Cabinet also asked about the Elections overspend and how this would be managed. It was noted that this was due to the District elections from the 2023/24 financial year and likely to be from increased postage and staff costs. It was confirmed that a thorough examination of the budget was required to see where this overspend came from.

The Leader informed Cabinet of a revised recommendation wording for recommendation 2. The following revised wording was proposed:

Approve the carry forward of unspent capital budget included in Annex A and paragraph 6.21 of £1.513m into the 2024/25 Capital Programme.

The recommendations as amended were proposed by Councillor Joe Harris and seconded by Councillor Paul Hodgkinson.

RESOLVED: That Cabinet

1. NOTED the outturn financial position set out in this report;

2. APPROVED the carry forward of unspent capital budget included in Annex A and paragraph 6.21 of £1.513m into the 2024/25 Capital Programme;

3. APPROVED the transfers to and from reserves, as set out in Paragraphs 4.28 to 4.30 and Annex C;

4. NOTED the changes to provisions as set out in paragraphs 4.33 and 4.34;

5. APPROVED the closing ... view the full minutes text for item 11

Meeting: 22/07/2024 - Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Item 86)

Webcast for 22/07/2024 - Overview and Scrutiny Committee

86 2023-24 Final Revenue and Capital Outturn Report PDF 555 KB

Summary/Purpose

This report sets of the outturn position for the 2023/24 financial year.

Recommendation

That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee resolves to:

1. Review and note the outturn financial position set out in this report

Invited

Councillor Mike Evemy, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance

David Stanley, Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Finance Officer

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Deputy Chief Executive (Chief Finance Officer) introduced the item. The purpose of the report was to set out the outturn position for the 2023/24 financial year.

The report outlined the updated material variances, including;

Improved treasury management investment income due to continued higher investment balances and interest rates. Outturn for the financial year was £1.783m; an income surplus of £0.966m
ICT underspend not previously forecast of £169,000 due to lower than budgeted cybersecurity, software and IT licence costs.
Additional expenditure incurred during the financial year was £113k in respect of Elections costs, including staff costs, postage costs and equipment expenditure.
There was an underspend of £0.986m across the total Publica contract sum for all Councils. The amount that was applicable to Cotswold District Council was £0.305m. The underspend had largely arisen due to vacancy management. £0.086m saving achieved from reduction in contact centre staffing and travel costs

Members discussed the report, raising the following points;

Additional information was requested on the ICT underspend, the Deputy Chief Executive stated that they would provide this
The Deputy Chief Executive explained that costs set aside for judicial reviews did not include assumptions on recovering these costs.
The Leisure contract deficit was discussed. The Deputy Chief Executive that the 10-year contract with Freedom Leisure included the repayment of this.

RESOLVED: That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee NOTED the report.

Issue - meetings

2023-24 Final Revenue and Capital Outturn Report

Meeting: 25/07/2024 - Cabinet (Item 11)

Meeting: 22/07/2024 - Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Item 86)

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