Agenda item - Targeted Budget Management (TBM) 2018/19: Month 5

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Agenda item

Targeted Budget Management (TBM) 2018/19: Month 5

Report of the Executive Director Finance & Resources (copy attached)

Decision:

RESOLVED: That the Committee agreed:

 

(i)            Noted the forecast risk position for the General Fund which

indicates a budget pressure of £3.078m. This includes an overspend of £1.148m on the council’s share of the NHS managed Section 75 services.

 

(ii)          Noted that the one-off financial risk safety net of £1.500m is

available to mitigate the forecast risk if the risks cannot be completely eliminated by the year-end.

 

(iii)         Noted the forecast for the Housing Revenue Account (HRA), which is currently an underspend of £0.480m.

 

(iv)         Noted the forecast position for the Dedicated Schools Grant, which is an underspend of £0.150m.

 

(v)          Agreed to create a Sports and Events Strategy Reserve as set out in paragraph 6.2.

 

(vi)         Noted the forecast outturn position on the capital programme and approve the variations and slippage in Appendix 5 and the new schemes as set out in Appendix 6.

 

Minutes:

53.1    The Committee considered the report of the Executive Director Finance & Resources, which set out an indication of forecast risks as at Month 5 on the Council’s revenue and capital budgets for the financial year 2018/19.

 

53.2    Councillor Mac Cafferty said that West Sussex County Council had recently made some damaging decisions on their emergency housing provision, and asked if that had impacted on the number of rough sleepers in the city. The Executive Director Neighbourhoods, Communities & Housing said that the Council were not aware of an increase, but the situation would be monitored. The Executive Director Finance & Resources said that it the situation changed it would be built into the budget process.

 

53.3    Councillor Sykes noted that East Sussex County Council, Surrey County Council and West Sussex County Council were all in financial difficulties and asked if that would impact on both this authority and Orbis. He noted that the spend on temporary accommodation had increased by another £500k up to £3.2m, most of which went to private providers and asked if some of the provision could be brought in-house to save money. He said that there had previously been pressure on Children’s Services, but there was now also pressure on IT & Digital and Adult Social Care. He said that whilst the Council had some control over IT spend, adult and children care were demand led, and some of the additional spend had been attributed to the recent hot weather, and asked if there had been any analysis of that as it was likely that there would be more hot weather in the future. He noted that there was more income from local land charges, and asked if there was room for further rises. He noted that £104k of pressure was due to money not being collected as a result of staff shortages within Revenues and Benefits, and asked that that be addressed.

 

53.4    The Executive Director Finance & Resources said that neighbouring councils did have some financial pressures, but did not think it would impact on this council or on Orbis. He agreed that there was some pressure on our IT & Digital services, but that was a result of needing to stabilise and improve services which started 18 months ago, and hoped that it would be in a stronger position in the new financial year. With regard to the ongoing high temperatures and the impact on adult care, any change in circumstances would need to be subject to annual planning and the impact on budget monitored, but there would be an additional £1.2m extra funding for adult social care. With regard to Revenues and Benefits there had been a recruitment problem but that had been addressed, and the collection rates should improve.  The Executive Director Neighbourhoods, Communities & Housing referred to temporary accommodation and said that some of the provision from lower cost providers had come to an end, and more expensive accommodation was being used. A report would be going to the Housing and New Homes Committee on bringing some of the service in–house. The Executive Director Health & Adult Social Care referred to the increase in adult social care due to the hot weather, and said it was mostly due to dehydration which had led to an increase in hospital admissions, and joint work was being carried out with the NHS to look at the reasons why. The Executive Lead for Strategy & Governance referred to local land charges and said that under the Local Land Charges Act, fees should be set to cover costs. He said that although the level of income has been sustained the number of clients had gone down, and some had stopped using us. What was significant was that the Government had passed legislation to transfer local land charges to HM Land Registry. That would be done in phases, and those with the highest charges would be targeted first.

 

53.5    Councillor Wealls referred to the pressure on adult social care funding and asked what initiatives and long term strategies were being taken to address the increase. The Executive Director Finance & Resources said that data was used to identify what funding was required, but accepted that that amount was under for most financial years. A project had been set up to be more transparent about all the different initiatives in place to manage the numbers which made up the majority of the financial risk, and both the Executive Director Families Children & Learning, and the Executive Director Health & Adult Social Care were involved in that project. The results would be reported corporately, and presented to members and would provide a more transparent picture of the current situation. 

 

53.6    Councillor Janio asked if the expansion of the Royal Sussex Hospital, and potential increased provision, had been had been modelled into the adult social care provision for the future. Executive Director Health & Adult Social Care said that it hadn’t been modelled in, but there were ongoing discussions with all parties.

 

53.7    The Chair noted that an amendment had been submitted from the Green Group and asked Councillor Sykes to propose the amendment.

 

53.8    Councillor Sykes proposed the following amendment:

                       

To add the following recommendation -

That the Committee create a ring-fenced reserve of £1.094m within the HRA reserves to support the future development of housing in the city for 27.5% Living Wage rent or social rent.

 

Councillor Sykes said that there was a housing crisis in the city, and this amendment would allow a ring-fenced reserve of £1.094m to be used to underwrite the financial case for new rental homes to be developed by the Council, which would support the development of 26 homes at living wage or 11 homes at social rent.

 

53.9    Councillor Mac Cafferty seconded the amendment.

 

53.10  Councillor Daniel agreed with the sentiments, but said that the whole budget needed to be looked at and consider all options on how the HRA money was spent. The appropriate committee to consider this would be the Housing and New Homes Committee.

 

53.11  Councillor Hamilton agreed that it was not appropriate for this committee to agree a policy for Housing and New Homes Committee.

 

53.12  Councillor Janio suggested that it was an amendment by guilt, in that they were going to support a later item which would bring the housing repairs, planned maintenance and capital works back in house which would cost over a £1m, which was money which could be spent on housing.

 

53.13  Councillor Sykes said the amendment was not inspired by guilt, but asking for money to ring fenced was more a statement of intent.

 

53.14  The Committee voted on the amendment, and it was not agreed.

 

53.15  RESOLVED: That the Committee agreed:

 

(i)            Noted the forecast risk position for the General Fund which

indicates a budget pressure of £3.078m. This includes an overspend of £1.148m on the council’s share of the NHS managed Section 75 services.

 

(ii)          Noted that the one-off financial risk safety net of £1.500m is

available to mitigate the forecast risk if the risks cannot be completely eliminated by the year-end.

 

(iii)         Noted the forecast for the Housing Revenue Account (HRA), which is currently an underspend of £0.480m.

 

(iv)         Noted the forecast position for the Dedicated Schools Grant, which is an underspend of £0.150m.

 

(v)          Agreed to create a Sports and Events Strategy Reserve as set out in paragraph 6.2.

 

(vi)         Noted the forecast outturn position on the capital programme and approve the variations and slippage in Appendix 5 and the new schemes as set out in Appendix 6.

 

Supporting documents:

 


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