Agenda item

To consider the report of the Chief Finance Officer (copy enclosed).

The Committee considered the report of the Chief Finance Officer (CFO) providing an updated financial position for the period ended 30 June 2025 (period 3 / quarter one (Q1)). It was noted that Q1 was early in the financial year and may be subject to changes in the coming months.

The report provided the Council’s financial forecast for the full year ending 31 March 2025, including revenue and capital forecasts and the impact these would have on retained reserves. It highlighted that performance was closely aligned to budget which demonstrated good financial management in operational areas.

The CFO presented the report and advised of the following amendments to the recommendations set out in the report:

·                Recommendation (v) should refer to Appendix 3;

·                Recommendation (vi) should refer to Appendix 4;

·                Recommendation (vii) should be deleted as this was a drafting error.

These amendments were duly noted.

The report provided detailed information including:

·                Revenue Budget Monitoring (Q1) – The revenue forecast including main variances were detailed in Appendix 1 to the report. It was noted that overall the Council was within 0.3% of the budget and the CFO explained he was looking for a target of 1% above or below the budget.

·                Capital Budget Monitoring (Q1) – The forecast for the capital budget projected an overspend of £38k against the revised 2025 / 26 Capital Programme and the main project details were set out in Appendix 2 to the report.

·                Reserves – Movements on Reserves for the year 2025 / 26 were set out in Appendix 3 to the report.

The Chairperson then moved the recommendations, as amended and these were duly seconded.

In response to a question regarding the Revenues and Benefits reserve, the CFO explained that this amount was received as part of the council tax sharing agreement through Essex County Council and helped to support staff in the Revenues and Benefits teams across the county, ensuring that Councils had a good selection rate. He explained how Discretionary Housing Payments funding could be used to fund posts and that at present four Revenues and Benefits posts were funded through one off grant funding. The CFO would be reviewing this with the Revenues and Benefits team as part of ongoing budget monitoring and the 2026 / 27 budget process.

The Chairperson put the recommendations, and they were duly agreed.

RESOLVED

(i)             That Members note the forecast revenue outturn, as at 30 June 2025, is £43,000 under budget (0.4%), further information can be found at Appendix 1 to the report along with reasons for significant variances;

(ii)            that Members note that additional grant funding has been received above the total estimated when the budget was approved in February 2025 (chiefly comprising £385,000 additional funding for the impact of small business rate reliefs and the impact of revaluation of business premises);

(iii)           that Members agree for the additional grant income received to be transferred to the Council Tax and Business Rates equalisation reserve until such time as the costs the grant is designed to fund are identified, when it will be moved to the relevant service budgets (and reported to Members in the earliest subsequent report);

(iv)           That Members consider the forecast capital outturn as at 30 June 2025 which is for a total capital programme delivery of £6,502k against revised budget of £6,472k. Further information can be found at Appendix 2 to the report along with reasons for significant variances;

(v)            That the movements in Earmarked Reserves set out in Appendix 3 to the report be approved;

(vi)           that the revenue budget reconciliation in Appendix 4 to the report be noted.