Scottish Borders Council

Agenda item

Monitoring of the General Fund Revenue Budget 2021-22

Consider report by the Executive Director, Finance & Regulatory, providing budgetary control statements for the Council’s General Fund (copy attached).

Minutes:

5.1       There had been circulated copies of a report by the Executive Director Finance & Regulatory providing budgetary control statements for the Council’s General Fund based on actual expenditure and income along with explanations of the major variances identified between projected outturn expenditure/income and the current approved budget. The Council had continued to experience impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic into the new financial year with a number of variations from budget evident. The report explained that due to the very challenging operating environment it remained essential that the Council continue to operate as efficiently as possible to ensure that any financial implications not yet clear could be managed as the financial year progressed.

 

5.2       Forecasts had been completed at the first quarter of 2021/22 at 30 June which projected the Council to be in a balanced position at the financial year end. The forecast position reflected the carry forward of resources from 2020/21, and assumed that the COVID-19 reserve would be drawn down over the course of the year to meet identified financial pressures. The latest forecast included all known pressures, including loss of income, confirmed Scottish Government funding, the effects of the continued freeze on discretionary spend and the assumptions around delivery of Financial Plan savings.

 

5.3       The report outlined that significant confirmed funding is in place for 2021/22, with a commitment that additional expenditure incurred through the Integration Joint Board (IJB) delivering Health & Social Care services be funded by the Scottish Government. The report detailed the breakdown of confirmed COVID-19 funding for 2021/22, stating that a total of £31.614M was available. The total COVID-19 funding was split between funding which had been ring-fenced to be used for a specific purpose (£13.462m) such as education recovery, IJB funding, admin funding and funding to support communities, and that which could be used more generally by the Council to address COVID-19 pressures (£18.152m). Full details of funding available was provided in Appendix 2 to the report.

There was likely to be an ongoing impact on the delivery of planned Financial Plan savings during 2021/22 as a result of the diversion of management time to the pandemic during 2020/21 and into 2021/22.  The level of savings required by the financial plan, totalled £9.301, in 2021/22 and an analysis of delivery of savings was provided in Appendix 5 to the report.   Savings of £2.099m were delivered permanently, £2.950m (32%) was profiled to be delivered by 31 March 2022 and £4.252m (46%) was to be delivered on a temporary basis through alternative savings.  The Executive Director, Finance & Regulatory answered Members questions regarding the report.

 

DECISION

AGREED:-

(a)         to note the projected corporate monitoring position reported at 30 June 2021, the remaining pressures identified, the underlying cost drivers of this position and the identified areas of financial risk as reflected in Appendix 1 to the report;

 

(b)         to note the COVID-19 funding detailed in Appendix 2 to the report;

 

(c)         to approve the virements contained in Appendix 3 & 4 to the report; and

 

(d)         to note the progress made in achieving Financial Plan savings in Appendix 5 to the report.

 

Supporting documents:

 

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