Agenda item

To scrutinise the financial position for the directorates within the committee’s remit.

Context:

The purpose of this report is to provide Members with information on the forecast revenue outturn position of the Authority at the end of reporting period 3 which represents month 9 financial information for the 2015/16 financial year.

This report will also be considered by Select Committees as part of their responsibility to,

• assess whether effective budget monitoring is taking place,

• monitor the extent to which budgets are spent in accordance with agreed budget and policy framework,

• challenge the reasonableness of projected over or underspends, and

• monitor the achievement of predicted efficiency gains or progress in relation to savings proposals.

Key Issues:

Specific issues were highlighted which were relevant to the Adults Select Committee:

·         A £162k potential overspend needs some further analysis to understand the underlying position. This overspend includes £620k overspend in relation to non-school redundancy costs (which are still subject to member approval). Setting these one off costs aside would reduce the over spend to an underspend of £458k.  However, the position reported above also includes £778k of underspends relating to reserve funded projects which are now going to be deferred to 2016/17. Taking this into account results in an over spend of £320k overall and a £1.096 million overspend in net cost of services.

·         Bulk of overspend is within Childrens Services and addressed at a corporate level.  Adult social care, increased income generation from current vacancies which are being held. 

·         Compensated by overspends (Mardy Park and Severn View).  £95k budget mandate to be considered (additional payments), met wholly by Adults select mandate. 

·         Performance against mandate savings, 274k sitting within adults select and have been achieved 100%.

·         One note of caution, over the next 2 years will be required to achieve savings and work over and above existing budgets.   Requirement to look at significant achievements that have been made this year. 

·         Areas relevant to Adults select were moving in the right direction and no areas of concern.

·         In summing up, officers highlighted that the directorate were on track, £136k would be delivered for year end.  All mandate savings had been achieved, however, further savings to be achieved in 2016/17 and 2017/18, this should not detract from the good work that had been undertaken by officers within the directorate. 

Members Scrutiny:  

• Officers were commended in relation to work that had been done and savings that had been achieved. 
• A member requested clarification regarding what reduced income related to due to falling long term clients.  Officers responded that this related to the transformation of Mardy Park and the decreased number of long term paying clients, which had resulted in a direct loss to income streams.

·         A member queried whether work force planning was in place.  Officers confirmed that this was an issue, with an ageing workforce, key employees with significant expertise were planning for retirement.  Succession planning was regularly considered by the directorate, this was a challenge for management and a transition period would be required.  There was recognition for the high calibre of staff within both Adults and Children’s teams.  

• The select committee were reassured that there was a good reporting structure through the directorate, the budget was structured early and fed back to directorate accountants.  Issues that covered both Children and Adults would be identified.  Culture of the directorate ensured that staff were expected to deliver and had a plan in place.