Agenda item

The Service Manager (Strategic Finance) introduced the report which presented the forecast outturn position for 2025/26 as at Quarter 1. She said that as of 30June 2025 a revenue overspend of £789k was forecast, and that of this, £888k related to variances against the net cost of services budget – which was being monitored by Leadership Team on a monthly basis.

The Service Manager (Strategic Finance) said that net £99k favourable variance was forecast against interest received and paid by the council, mainly due to better interest rates being achieved on the Councils investments than was budgeted.

The Service Manager (Strategic Finance) said that savings proposals of £3.4m were built into the net cost of services budgets in 2025/26, with the table in paragraph 1.2 of the report showing the progress made in achieving these savings. She said that of this £3.4m, nearly £3.1m would be achieved in full within in the year, with just under £200k not being realised for the same period (as highlighted in amber), and just under £130k, (highlighted in red) being reviewed for achievability. 

The Service Manager (Strategic Finance) said that revised capital programme budget for 2025/26 was £11.25m, with a forecast that there will be an underspend of £637k in 2025/26. She said that this was due to no current requirement forecast for the capital contingency and underspends against the Old River Lane budget and ICT rolling programme.

The Service Manager (Strategic Finance) said that detail regarding debtors included the outstanding debt position as at the end of July, compared to 31 March 2025. She said that this showed a reduction in the debt outstanding of just under £700k between these two dates. She added that whilst outstanding debt was a constantly moving position, she wished to highlight that in line with the Council’s debt management policy, just under £510k of debt had been written off, and large aged debts with a single customer of just under £700k had been collected – with this reduction in the volume of debts outstanding allowing the team to focus their efforts on collectable debts.

The Chair thanked the Service Manager (Strategic Finance) for the report.

Councillor Deering referred to Appendix D of the report and questioned how in excess of £1m of old debt existed and why a large write off of debt had occurred.

The Service Manager (Strategic Finance) said that a review of aged debt had been undertaken, tackling the oldest debt first. She said that this enabled £512k of debts which were uncollectable, i.e. through bankruptcy, to be identified, allowing the team to focus on the £1m of collectable aged debt.

The Director for Finance, Performance and Risk said that much work had been undertaken over the past six months in relation to debt. He said that much of the old debt could not legally be pursued through the Courts, but lessons had been learned, and processes were now in place. He added that the level of debt was like levels seen in other local authorities and had been impacted by the pandemic.

Councillor Deering sought assurance that the Procurement Team had now been formed.

The Director for Finance, Performance and Risk said that there was a Debt Team within the Finance Department, with Procurement Team involvement relating to Parking and Revenue and Benefits debt – which engaged the services of external recovery agents. He said that there may be a possibility to incorporate these different debt collections moving forward. The Service Manager (Strategic Finance) clarified that the parking enforcement contract related to penalty charge notices (PCNs)

Mr Sharman sought further information regarding the savings proposals within the report. 

The Director for Finance, Performance and Risk said that he was confident that the proposals shown in amber would come to fruition, but in all probability, these would not materialise until 2026/27. He said that those shown in red would have their achievability revised by the Executive in October as part of the Mid-Term Financial Plan, with any that were removed putting pressure on future years and leaving a funding gap for next year. He said that efforts to mitigate these pressures continued, with Leadership Team monitoring and working to address.     

It was moved by Councillor Nicholls and seconded by Councillor Willcocks that that the recommendations, as detailed, be approved. After being put to the meeting and a vote taken, this motion was declared CARRIED. 

RESOLVED – that the net revenue budget end of year projected overspend of £789k be noted and considered, and;

(B) that the capital programme forecast outturn of £637k be noted and considered.