Agenda item

Council Budget 2020/21

(To receive a report from Michelle Grady, Assistant Director – Strategic Finance, which invites the Board to consider and comment on the council's budget proposals which were approved by the Executive at its meeting on the 7 January 2020)

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report by the Assistant Director – Strategic Finance, which invited the Board to consider the proposed Council Budget 2020/21, which was due to be considered by the Executive on the 4 February 2020.

 

Members were advised that at its meeting on the 7 January 2020, the Executive had approved the budget proposals, as set out in Appendix A to the report, as the preferred option. Since these proposals, the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement 2020/21 had been announced and the implications of the settlement and an amended budget were set out at Appendix B to the report.

 

The budget proposals reflected the level of government funding available to the Council in 2020/21, as well as the proposal to increase Council Tax in 2020/21 by 1.5% plus 2% for the Adult Care precept.

 

Members were informed that the budget proposed a total net expenditure which was £1.5m less than the funding that the Council anticipated that they would receive.

 

£44.123m of cost pressures has been added to the proposed budget, which were mostly due to an increase in demand in Adult Care and the impact of the National Living Wage. 

 

It was proposed that the total budget savings would total £14.842m. Members were reassured that the savings made would not mean a reduction in frontline services.

 

Members considered the report and during the discussion the following points were noted:

 

·         The Board supported the establishment of the Development Fund as a new Earmarked Reserve.

·         The significant reduction in total cost pressures from £44.123m in 2020/21, to £17.513m in 2021/22 and then to £7.772m in 2022/23, was due to particular cost pressures in the corporate budget for 2020/21, such as the £8.000m cost pressure for the change in use of capital receipts, which would be added into the base budget for the following years and would therefore be non-recurring. The cost pressures reflected known factors such as pay inflation but there were also unknown factors such as the national living wage and the number of looked after children, and these cost pressures were based on assumptions and numbers at the time of setting the budget. However, these could change over time and would be regularly reviewed. Any additional cost pressures would be built into our medium term financial plan, and could be covered if necessary from the financial volatility reserve.

·         In-Depth Reviews of some service areas were being conducted. These areas were identified by the Executive as service areas which it considered needed to have a focused review. Reasons for this included:

 

§  where there was a significant underspend;

§  where there were changes to the delivery of a service such as from changes in legislation;

§  where there were potential efficiencies;

§  where there were opportunities to transform the service; and

§  where there may be opportunities for income generation.

·         It was noted that the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee was aware of the children related deep dives, but it did not appear that other scrutiny committees were. It was suggested that the In-Depth Reviews should be considered by the relevant scrutiny committee. It was also noted that the adults In-Depth Reviews would be through an independent external mechanism and it was suggested that the Adults and Community Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee should receive these.

 

The Chairman wished it to be noted that he abstained from voting on the budget proposals.

 

RESOLVED:

 

1.    That the Board support the Executive Budget proposals, as set out in the report;

2.    That a summary of the comments made be passed on to the Executive in relation to this item. 

 

 

Supporting documents:

 

 
 
dot

Original Text: