Decision details

Cabinet is asked to:

-     note the revenue and capital forecast outturn position, savings monitoring and reserves monitoring

-     approve any additional management actions required

-     note and agree revenue and capital cash limit changes

Reason for the decision

Quarterly reports are presented which identify any management action required and recommendations for Cabinet decision. 

Background

The report on the Council’s latest financial position will be reported to Cabinet on 26/09/24, and shows a forecast overspend of £16,344.9 excluding Schools’ Delegated Budgets.  The forecast overspend presents a serious and significant risk to the Council’s financial sustainability if it is not addressed as a matter of urgency particularly as the approved budget for 2024-25 did not include any contingency provision meaning any residue overspend can only be offset from reserves.  The report identifies the latest progress on savings compared to the original plan, any undeliverable savings are already reflected in the forecast. The most significant overspends are in Adult Social Care, and Growth, Environment & Transport Directorates, due to a combination of unachievable savings and unplanned spending increases.

Options (other options considered but discarded)

-       The Council has already continued the spending controls introduced in 2023-24 into 2024-25 aimed at curtailing non committed spend, any further extension of spending controls is likely to impact on the Council’s ability to fulfil its statutory responsibilities.

-       All options to reduce spend both one off and recurring are being considered to bring the 2024-25 budget back into balance.

How the proposed decision supports the Framing Kent's Future - Our Council Strategy 2022-2026

How the proposed decision supports Securing Kent’s Future

Securing Kent’s Future (SKF) acknowledges that given the significance of adults and children’s social care within the council’s budget, and that spending growth pressures on the council’s budget overwhelming (but not exclusively) come from social care, that the priority of delivering New Models of Care and Support must take precedence over the other priorities in Framing Kent’s Future.  This creates an expectation that council services across all directorates must collectively prioritise delivering the new models of care and support objective as a collective enterprise.

The Finance Monitoring report for June 2024-25 provides the detail of the latest financial position and the relevant information on the progress being made in terms of the savings and management actions to reduce the budget gap for the following year and the MTFP.

The Cabinet agree to:

a)    note the forecast revenue overspend of £16.3m (excluding Schools’ Delegated Budgets)

b)    Note the forecast overspend on Schools’ Delegated Budgets of £23.1m

c)    Note the forecast capital underspend of £55.4m

d)    Consider and note the progress on delivery of savings

e)    Note and agree the Revenue budget changes

f)     Note and agree the Capital budget changes

g)    Note the Reserves Monitoring

h)    Note the Prudential Indicators Monitoring