Agenda item

The Treasurer introduced the report which provided a review of the Service’s revenue outturn financial position and reported on progress against the capital programme at the end of the 2023-24 financial year.

The Treasurer referred Members to the summary of the estimated revenue outturn for 2023-24 shown in Table 1 of the report. There was an underspend against the revenue budget of £1,192k. Appendix 2 showed the estimated capital outturn against the capital programme. There was an estimated overspend of £23k.

The audit of the Authority’s accounts was planned to commence in July and should be completed in time for the accounts to be approved at the Authority meeting on 25^th September 2024. Any changes to the outturn position as a result of the audit would be reported to that meeting.

The Treasurer drew Members’ attention to the noted underspend against financing costs £1,159k, this was the result of a combination of two factors: savings against budgeted interest charges from proposed PWLB loans and higher than budgeted interest receipts from cash on deposit.  Whilst the Authority was committed to a large capital programme that was partly supported through taking PWLB loans, due to the current high fixed interest rates available on long term loans the current policy was to utilise ‘internal borrowing’ by drawing on cash reserves in the short term to fund the capital financing requirement and thus mitigate the exposure to higher than necessary interest expense.

As the benefit of the underspend was in relation to the management of capital and treasury investments the resulting surplus in effect belongs to the capital reserve.

In addition, there was underspend on the revenue budget of £1,192k.  A total of £2.3m would be moved to reserves.

The Treasurer referred to the section of the report containing information on the Authority’s Capital Programme. At the end of 2023-24, the Authority’s capital programme showed an outturn spend of £27.886m, an overspend of £23k. The main driver of this overspend had been the vehicle replacement programme.

Councillor Phil Marshall noted the total reserve movement was £5.4m.  In response, the Treasurer advised this was a presentational matter, the surpluses created in the year were £ 2.3m, the difference was due to other items previously identified as movement in and out of reserves for spend in the year.  The Treasurer advised he was planning to improve the transparency and clarity of reporting although was at times constrained by CIPFA guidance.

Officers took account of variances from budget for 2023-24 (£1,192k underspend) as they monitored the budget for 2024-25 and prepared the budget for 2025-26. The settlement of the pay award for firefighters for 2024-25 had been confirmed at 4%, in line with budget.  The Green Book pay rise had yet to be agreed.

RESOLVED: That

[1]      the outturn position on revenue and capital expenditure (subject to audit) be noted;

[2]      the movement in reserves as set out in Table 1 and Appendix 1 be approved; and

[3]      the transfer of the net underspend for 2023-24 (which is subject to audit) to the capital reserve be approved.