Issue - meetings

This report presents the Council’s draft capital and revenue budgets for 2015/16.  In accordance with the constitution, Cabinet is required to develop ‘initial budget proposals’ approximately three months before finalising the budget and setting council tax levels at the end of February 2015.

The draft budget is based on the principles contained in the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) 2014/18 approved by Cabinet at the end of September and reflects the latest formula grant assumptions announced as part of Local Government Finance Settlement 2014/15 and 2015/16 Technical Consultation in July 2014.

Discussion:

The Head of Finance Strategy introduced the report which presented the draft capital and revenue budgets for 2015/16.  He explained that for 2014/15 there was a forecast overspend of £4.5 million, which was largely due to pressures in children’s social care.  He then explained to the committee the process of building the draft capital and revenue budgets, adding that there was still a gap of £12m to close for 2015/16.

In relation to the spending pressures relating to children’s social care, some of which was attributable to difficulties in recruitment of social workers, which had created a reliance on agency staff, a Member asked why agencies were able to recruit social workers when the local authority were having difficulty in doing so.  In response the Director for Children and Adults explained that recruitment had been a challenge, particularly in relation to first line management posts and this was a problem shared with local authorities up and down the country, however, the situation had improved over the past 15 months.  Retention of permanent staff had improved with the turnover rate of staff in children’s social care now being low.  The authority was being creative in terms of recruitment of social workers, approaching other countries where there was equivalency in standards of training and in driving down, where possible, the costs of agency staff.

Decision:

The committee noted the report and the draft capital and revenue budgets for 2015/16. 

Background:

This report presented the Council’s draft revenue budget for 2015/16.  In accordance with the Constitution, Cabinet was required to develop initial budget proposals before finalising the budget and setting council tax levels at the end of February 2015.

The draft budget was based on the principles contained in the Medium Term Financial Plan 2014/2018 approved by Cabinet on 30 September 2014 and reflected the formula grant assumptions for 2015/16 announced as part of the Local Government Finance Settlement 2014/15 and 2015/16 Technical Consultation in July 2014.

It was reported that the initial budget proposals showed a current forecast budget gap of £12.017 million for 2015/16 which would increase to £26.032 million for 2017/18.

It was noted that the Council would not know the definitive position in terms of Government support until the Final Settlement in January 2015, although the provisional settlement due in December would provide greater certainty.

Budget proposals incorporating pressures were set out within the report and accompanying appendices 1a-1c. In relation to the capital budget proposals for 2015/16 it was noted that, at this stage, it had been assumed that future investment would be restricted to the existing approved Capital Programme, supplemented by the Council’s expectations in relation to Government grant.

The report also set out details of the main factors and assumptions that would form the basis of the 2015/16 Housing Revenue Account budget.

Reasons:

It is the responsibility of Cabinet to develop draft budget proposals for consideration by Overview and Scrutiny Committees. These draft proposals are the first stage of the budget consultation process leading to further discussion by Cabinet on 10 February 2015 and formal council tax setting on 26 February 2015. 

The timetable for consideration by overview and scrutiny is as follows:

Business Support: 4 December 2014

Children and Young People: 9 December 2014

Health and Adult Social Care: 11 December 2014

Regeneration, Community and Culture: 18 December 2014

Business Support: 3 February 2015

Cabinet: 10 February 2015

Council: 26 February 2015.