Issue - meetings

John Betts ( Interim Corporate Director Finance) Cath Head (Head of Finance Operations) and Joe McKay (Acting Chief Accountant) were in attendance for this item.

1.    Mr Oakford (Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, Corporate and Traded Services) introduced the report which set out the revenue and capital budget monitoring position as at September 2024-25 (Quarter 2). The forecast revenue outturn position was an overspend of +£26.8m (excluding schools), which represented 1.9% of the revenue budget. The forecast outturn position had increased by £10.5m compared with the forecast position in June 2024-25 (Quarter 1). The largest overspend was within Adult Social Care & Health (+£32.5m), of which £22.7m related to savings which could not be delivered in year, but the majority of which would be delivered in future years. The remaining £9.8m of the overspend related to other service-related pressures, largely driven by the increase in the cost (both complexity and inflationary) to deliver social care placements from providers. Similar challenges were faced by other upper-tier local authorities with 81% reported to be on course to overspend on their adult social care budget in the current financial year. Work would continue within the ASCH directorate to reduce the forecast overspend as far as possible. Panels remained in place to ensure that social care need was being met in the most cost effective manner and this was reviewed by senior management. There were three particular workstreams in train with external consultants who were working closely with Adult Social Care and Health front line staff to identify more effective working to deliver cashable savings and reduce the forecast overspend trajectory for 2024-25. Non-delivery of savings would have a significant impact on the future year's budget. Any overspend was a concern for the authority and presented a risk for the Council's future financial sustainability. It was critical that the overspend for the Council was managed down to as near a balanced position as possible, as any overspend weakened the Council’s financial sustainability going forward. Reserves were a one-off solution; however, they continued to be used without the ability to replenish them. The capital programme spent to date was £123.3m, representing 28.9 % of the total approved budget. The directorates were projecting a £90m underspend against budget for the full year. This was split between a £14.4m real variance and £104m of rephasing. Of the rephasing, £41m was prudential borrowing funding, with the remainder funded from grant or external funding. Mr Oakford commented on those areas where there were underspends, primarily those reported within the Children, Young People & Education Department, and gave recognition to the work undertaken to not only reduce the spend but deliver savings.

2.    The Leader noted the significant reduction in pressures compared to the financial position for 2023-2024 which was as a result of tremendous areas of progress, as evidenced within the SEND reforms. However, the savings which were due to be met within the Adult Social Care and Health remained a significant pressure for both Kent County Council and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 72