Agenda item

The report was considered by the Financial Planning Task Group on 9 July 2024 and Cabinet on 15 July 2024. A report of the Financial Planning Task Group’s discussions is also attached later within the agenda.

The Chairman noted that on page 19 of the agenda pack was a report setting out the year end revenue position for the Council as of 31 March 2024 for the financial year 2023-24. The report provided detail of the final position for services and details of variances against budgets following the quarter three budget monitoring reported to Cabinet on 6 February 2024. The report was considered by Financial Planning on 9th July and Cabinet on 15th July.

Cllr Nick Botterill, Cabinet Member for Finance, Development Management and Strategic Planning stated that in the previous year the Council had underspent by £14.371million. It was outlined that in Quarter 3 there had been a proposal for £8.66million to be moved to the High Needs Reserves Block, which had been a one-off payment and had left therefore left a net underspend of £5.7million or 1.2% of the net budget.

Regarding savings, out of an ambitious target of £26million, 90% of the proposed savings had been made, which was a great example of the control of accounts and spending achieved by officers.

Clarity was provided that the £5.7million underspend would be redirected to other pressing priorities, the biggest of which being Highways. Therefore, the £5.7million of underspend would be added to another £5million, meaning that an extra additional £10.7million spend on Highways had been committed, with £10million already allocated in the last year, therefore taking the total funding up to £20.7million, which represented a 50% total increase in spend. It was stated that though roads would be disrupted from works, this was necessary to bring the roads back into an acceptable condition.

Cllr Pip Ridout, Chairman of the Financial Planning Task Group endorsed the report and placed emphasis on the need for individual members to challenge the report and to conduct scrutiny.

The following comments were received by Select Committee Chairmen of the Committee with clarity sought regarding whether there was concern regarding the significant overspend in adult social care. The officer agreed that adult social care was an area for concern as small changes could lead to significant impacts. The officer outlined there was as real need to understand each element of the under and overspends to ensure that the correct assumptions were included in the budget setting process in the future. It was also suggested that some of the underspends had been produced through non-delivery and there was a need to understand such aspects.

The following comments were received by Members of the Committee with clarity provided that the Council was still on track to open properties in early 2025 to support young people over 18-years old and that a matching process had started to ensure that the children were identified and appropriate for the homes they would be moved into. Regarding the challenge of recruitment of foster carers, it was detailed that this was a challenge nationally and that in Wiltshire the number in care was lower than the national average, therefore meaning for less of a demand. Furthermore, in Wiltshire there was high occupancy rates in services, which was positive. It was outlined that there was a challenge with recruitment and that meetings took place to discuss the issue as well as the plans and strategies in place. It was also questioned what Councillors could do to increase the number of foster carers, with feedback welcomed to be sent to Jen Salter, Director Families and Children.

A discussion took place regarding what was meant by “High calibre agency staff”, to which it was noted that not all agency staff available were of “high calibre” and that Wiltshire would not have an approach of taking on agency staff unless they were able to meet the Council’s expectations and were able to deliver practice. Detail was also provided by the S.151 Officer as to how an increase in national living wage might affect the budget and how there was a need to monitor this to ensure that the spinal column points in place maintained differing roles, responsibilities and rewards.

The recruitment difficulties experienced by services that resulted in projected underspends for School Effectiveness, Targeted and SEND and Inclusion service areas was discussed with assurance provided that the Council was back on track with its recruitment. Also, that generally in terms of recruitment, appropriate pay rates would be considered by the leadership team and whether market supplements would be needed. It was also outlined the high needs sustainability plan had additional capacity built in with it acknowledged that the Council wasn’t doing as well as it could be in this space.

Clarity was sought regarding stretch income targets for car parking and that the achieved reported income was because of usage metrics and contributed to a wider improving picture on usage statistics. In addition, it was confirmed that the underspend relating to Area Boards was because of the underspend in grant funding, which was a result of the robust processes which had been put in place to target the spending of Area Boards based on outcomes.

It was questioned whether the underspend of the early years block related to capacity or nursery practices not wanting to support take up, to which it was noted that generally early years take up in Wiltshire had been positive over the past years with a continual rise. It was agreed that officers would go away to source an in-depth answer as to why the gap had shifted.

It was raised that though the report was positive, whether there were any risks that the Council was exposed to, and that the Committee should be aware of to which it was outlined that the high needs block was the largest risk, however this was not of the Council’s making and that there was a need for Safety Valve to work to mitigate this. The Council had been successful to date due to how it had correctly anticipated risks as well as the preventative measures and practices that had been delivered for a successful outcome. It was stressed that the Council could not afford to be complacent with its positive position and that the oversight of metrics would enable the Council to deal with any issues which might occur as well as the general fund reserves and not being heavily indebted. It was stressed that though the Council had a strong balance sheet, reserves could only be used once and could not be replicated should multiple issues occur.

At the conclusion of discussion, it was,

Resolved:

The Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee agreed:

1.    The general fund revenue budget outturn position for the financial year 2023/24;

2.    The Dedicated Schools revenue budget outturn position for the financial year 2023/24;

3.    The Housing Revenue Account outturn position for the financial year 2023/24;

4.    The contributions to and from earmarked reserves as planned and detailed in Appendix B;

5.    The final year end position of savings delivery.

Cllr Gordon King left the meeting at the conclusion of this agenda item at 11.30am and was substituted by Cllr Clare Cape.