|
Meeting: |
Executive |
|
Meeting date: |
12/09/2024 |
|
Report of: |
Debbie Mitchell Director of Finance |
|
Portfolio of: |
Councillor Katie Lomas & Councillor Anna Baxter, Executive Members for Finance, Performance, Major Projects, Human Rights, Equality & Inclusion
|
2024/25 Finance and Performance
Monitor 1
Subject of
Report
2. This report outlines the Council’s challenging financial position with a forecast overspend for 2024/25 of £3.4m. This is a huge improvement on the £11.4m forecast overspend we have previously seen at this stage in the financial year and is a direct result of the significant work undertaken by officers across all parts of the Council to identify savings and mitigations.
3. However, there is still a forecast overspend and therefore, whilst it is incredibly positive that the position is much improved, there remains a great deal of work still to do. It remains clear that the Council cannot afford to keep spending at this level. The general reserve is £6.9m and, whilst we have other earmarked reserves that we could call on if required, continued overspending will quickly see the Council exhaust its reserves.
4. The existing cost control measures remain in place, and further action is needed to bring spending down to an affordable level, both within the current financial year and over the next 3 years, to safeguard the Council’s financial resilience and stability. The impact that this work is having can be clearly seen in this latest forecast and the Council’s track record of delivering savings, along with robust financial management, provides a sound platform to continue to be able to deal with future challenges.
5. If we continue to take action and make any difficult decisions now, this will ensure the future financial stability of the Council and that we can continue to provide services for our residents. It is vital that mitigations are delivered, and the forecast overspend is reduced.
Benefits and Challenges
6. This report is mainly to note the latest financial projections and current performance. The main challenge is delivering on agreed savings whilst also identifying further reductions in expenditure. The main benefit of approving the recommendations will be the ongoing financial stability of the Council.
Policy Basis for Decision
7. This report is mainly to note the latest financial projections and current performance. The ongoing financial resilience and stability of the Council will be essential to ensuring that Council priorities can continue to be achieved.
Financial Strategy Implications
8. This report sets out the projected financial position and identifies a range of actions that are necessary in order to reduce expenditure, both within the current financial year and over the next 3 years to safeguard the Council’s financial resilience and stability.
Recommendation and Reasons
9. Executive is asked to:
· Note the finance and performance information.
· Note that work will continue on identifying the savings needed to fully mitigate the forecast overspend.
· Approve the £900k savings identified in paragraph 68 needed to deliver the Place service review saving agreed in the 2024/25 budget.
Reason: to ensure expenditure is kept within the approved budget.
Background
Financial Summary and Mitigation Strategy
10. The current forecast is that there will be an overspend of £3.4m. This is despite the additional budget allocated through the 2024/25 budget process and ongoing action being taken by managers across the Council to try and reduce expenditure. If the Council continues to spend at the current level, and no action is taken, then we will continue to overspend and will exhaust our reserves and any other available funding. The current level of expenditure is unaffordable and therefore we must continue the work started in the previous financial year to identify and take the necessary actions to reduce expenditure.
11. As outlined in reports to Executive throughout the previous financial year, we have continued to see recurring overspends across both Adult and Children’s Social Care. However, the underspends and mitigations that have allowed us to balance the budget at year end have generally been one off. Whilst the use of reserves to fund an overspend is appropriate as a one-off measure, it does not remove the need to identify ongoing savings to ensure the overall position is balanced. The budget report considered by Executive in February 2024 also included an assessment of risks associated with the budget, which included the need to secure further savings and effectively manage cost pressures.
12. Members will be aware that the financial position of local government is a national challenge and that the pressures being seen across both Adult and Children’s Social Care are not something that is unique to York. Many Councils are experiencing significant financial pressures and struggling to balance their budgets now, so it is vital that we continue the work started last year to reduce our expenditure down to a sustainable level both within the current financial year and over the medium term.
13. Given the scale of the financial challenge, and the expected impact on budgets in future years, it is vital that every effort is made to balance the overall position. It is recognised that this will require difficult decisions to be made to protect services for vulnerable residents.
14. Corporate control measures are in place, but it is unlikely they will deliver the scale of reduction needed within the year. Other savings proposals, including service reductions, may also be needed. Officers will continue to carefully monitor spend, identify further mitigation, and review reserves and other funding to make every effort to reduce this forecast position. However, it is possible that it will not be reduced to the point that the outturn will be within the approved budget. The Council has £6.9m of general reserves that would need to be called on if this were the case. As outlined in previous reports, any use of the general reserve would require additional savings to be made in the following year to replenish the reserve and ensure it remains at the recommended minimum level.
15. The delivery of savings plans continues to be a clear priority for all officers during the year. Corporate Directors and Directors will keep Executive Members informed of progress on a regular basis.
Financial Analysis
16. The Council’s net budget is £149m. Following on from previous years, the challenge of delivering savings continues with c£14m to be achieved to reach a balanced budget. Early forecasts indicate the Council is facing net financial pressures of £3.4m and an overview of this forecast, on a directorate by directorate basis, is outlined in Table 1 below.
|
Service area |
Net budget £’000 |
2024/25 Forecast Variation £’000 |
|
Children & Education |
28,659 |
1,359 |
|
Adult Social Care & Integration |
45,307 |
2,361 |
|
Transport, Environment & Planning |
23,464 |
-547 |
|
Housing & Communities |
6,614 |
792 |
|
Corporate & Central Services |
44,724 |
-69 |
|
Sub Total |
148,768 |
3,896 |
|
Contingency |
500 |
-500 |
|
Target for further mitigation |
|
|
|
Total including contingency |
149,268 |
3,396 |
Table 1: Finance overview
Reserves and Contingency
17. The February 2024 budget report to Full Council stated that the minimum level for the General Fund reserve should be £7.4m. At the beginning of 2024/25 the reserve stood at £7.4m.
18. Should the mitigation outlined in this report not deliver the required level of savings in the current financial year then this reserve is available to support the year end position. However, in light of the ongoing financial challenges being faced by all Councils it is now more important than ever to ensure the Council has sufficient reserves. Therefore, should it be the case that we need to draw down a substantial amount from this general reserve in 2024/25, growth will need to be included in the 2025/26 budget to ensure that reserves can be maintained at an appropriate level.
19. In addition to the general reserve of £7.4m there are a range of other earmarked reserves where funds are held for a specific purpose. These reserves are always subject to an annual review and these funds will again be reviewed on a quarterly basis and where appropriate to do so will be released to support the in-year position. Whilst this is a prudent approach that will ensure the financial resilience of the Council it is not a substitute for resolving the underlying overspends but instead allows time to develop future savings proposals in a planned way.
20. As in previous years a contingency budget is in place, and this is currently assumed to be available to offset the pressures outlined in this report.
Loans
21. Further to a scrutiny review, it was agreed that these quarterly monitoring reports would include a review of any outstanding loans over £100k. There is one loan in this category for £1m made to Yorwaste, a company part owned by the Council in June 2012. Interest is charged on both loans at 4% plus base rate therefore interest of 9.25% is currently being charged. All repayments are up to date.
Directorate Analysis
Children and Education
22. The forecast directorate outturn position is an overspend totalling £1,359k and the table below summarises the latest forecasts by service area.
|
|
2024/25 Budget |
Forecast Outturn Variance £’000 |
Forecast Outturn Variance % |
|
Children’s Safeguarding |
24,479 |
1,396 |
5.7 |
|
Education & Skills |
16,056 |
3 |
0.0 |
|
School Funding & Assets |
-7,641 |
-19 |
-1.2 |
|
Director and Central Budgets |
-4,235 |
-22 |
-0.5 |
|
Total Children and Education |
28,659 |
1,359 |
4.7 |
23. As previously reported, the number of Children Looked After (CLA) in York has consistently been at a higher level than the budget was built to accommodate. The number at the beginning of the financial year was 243, at the end of May it was 246. Placement budgets are predicted to be overspent by a total of £1,363k. The pressure on this budget is partly due to the limited market for children’s placements and the statutory requirements placed on local authorities to meet children’s needs, coupled with inflationary pressures which could continue to worsen the position. Total growth of £1,647k has been allocated to the placements budgets in 2024/25.
24. Safeguarding Interventions is predicted to underspend by 59k due to staffing vacancies. In addition, legal fees are predicted to overspend by £135k.
25. An overspend in Disabled Children’s Services of £473k is mainly overspends on direct payments. A specific project for direct payments is being carried out, and this is predicted to clawback some of previous payments made and reduce ongoing costs.
26. Innovation and Children`s Champion is predicted to underspend by -£187k (-£137k in 2023/24). This is due to the ability to fund some expenditure from the Family Hubs grant & Family Seeing Grant.
27. The Home to School Transport budget, which has been in an overspend position for a number of years, has been allocated £730k of growth for demographic pressures and contract inflation.
28. At this point in the financial year, no variance is predicted, however, the projected outturn includes an estimate of likely contractual inflation from 1st September 2024, and the final increase will be dependent on the relevant indices at that point. In addition, at this point in the financial year, the financial impact of changes for the new academic year are not known until all eligible pupils have their travel arrangements confirmed in September so this position could change once all new academic year information on cost is available.
29. Staff resourcing issues and turnover in the SEND Statutory Services Team, and the need to resource work to progress the Safety Valve targets have continued and resulted in the need to appoint a number of agency staff and also increase supporting resources, resulting in a predicted overspend of £52k based on current staffing assumptions.
30. The Educational Psychologists Service is predicted to underspend by £65k, mainly due to continuing vacancies in the team.
31. The Effectiveness and Achievement Service is predicted to overspend by £18k in 2024/25 (+£125k in 2023/24) mainly due to unachieved vacancy factors.
32. An overall underspend of £12k is predicted within the Virtual School and Inclusion service, due to a vacancy and one-off savings in non-staffing expenditure.
33. The Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) is currently ahead of the target position set out in the Safety Valve recovery plan agreed with the DfE. The local authority is now in the third year of this four year agreement and has exceeded the financial targets for the first two years.
34. The main pressure continues to be experienced within the High Needs Block and is due to the continuing increase in High Needs numbers, and increasing complexity, requiring expensive provision, especially in Post 16 and Post 19 provision and the education element of Out of Authority placements. This third year is likely to be the most challenging to date as further increases in EHCPs and the complexity of individual needs of some young people have the potential to increase costs.
35. The Safety Valve agreement commits the local authority to bring the DSG into an in-year balanced position by 2025/26. Further payments are conditional on the local authority meeting the targets set out in the Management Plan, and reporting quarterly to the DfE on progress, with the eventual aim of eliminating the in-year deficit by the target date, with additional payments by the DfE eliminating the historic deficit at that point.
Adults
36. The projected outturn position for Adult Social Care is an overspend of £2,361k and the table below summarises the latest forecasts by service area. This projection is based on customer numbers and costs in the first two months of the year. The projection assumes that £2,188k of previously agreed savings will be made by the end of the year.
|
|
2024/25 Budget £’000 |
Forecast Outturn Variance £’000 |
Forecast Outturn Variance % |
|
Direct Payments |
4,841 |
1,096 |
22.6 |
|
Home and Day Support |
1,234 |
61 |
4.9 |
|
Supported Living |
15,689 |
2,123 |
13.5 |
|
Residential care |
12,664 |
255 |
2.0 |
|
Nursing care |
5,149 |
220 |
4.3 |
|
Short term placements |
1,251 |
0 |
0 |
|
Staffing (mostly social work staff) |
7,313 |
316 |
4.3 |
|
Contracts and Commissioning |
2,214 |
-98 |
-4.4 |
|
In House Services |
4,881 |
-28 |
-0.6 |
|
Be Independent & Equipment |
982 |
468 |
47.7 |
|
Other |
-10,850 |
122 |
1.1 |
|
Recharges |
-61 |
14 |
23.0 |
|
Savings to be delivered |
|
-2,188 |
|
|
Total Adult Social Care |
45,307 |
2,361 |
5.2 |
37. The forecast position for Adult Social Care is an overspend of £2,361k. This is based on customer numbers and costs in the first two months of the year. The projection assumes that agreed savings of £2,188k will be made by the end of the year.
38. ASC has received total growth of £7m in 2024/25. £1.4m of this growth has been allocated to fund inflationary pressures, £800k to reducing growth needed by managing demand and £500k has been allocated to fund savings which are unlikely to be achieved this year. In addition to this £300k has been set aside to fund Preparing for Adulthood (PFA) customers coming through from Children’s Services and £200k to tackle the current review backlog where it is expected that there are savings to be crystalised.
39. The Council has received several requests from providers for higher rates of inflation than have currently been agreed. These requests will be considered on a case by case basis, and if agreed, will put further pressure on the budget. This possibility needs to be balanced by the risk of provider failure / withdrawal from the market which would incur costs on finding new placements for customers, etc.
40. The projected overspend is largely due to the incomplete delivery of prior year savings targets carried through from previous years’ budgets.
41. The directorate is taking the following action to improve the financial position;
· The reablement contract has been retendered and is starting to be implemented. This is designed to support more people to go through the reablement service in a shorter time frame, at lower cost, resulting in more people with lower or no care needs. Contract monitoring arrangements are being put in place to make the most of the contractual arrangements that promote good performance and enable the reduction in payment should the provider not deliver. Occupational Therapy expertise has a key role to play in maximising independence and reducing level of need: Therapy led reablement is known to be effective and additional occupational therapy is planned to be deployed to support this.
· The provision of support to people overnight by internal adult social care provision is under review with a view to remodelling support and reducing costs while ensuring we continue to meet our duty to meet eligible needs.
· Further work is being undertaken in relation to continuing health care funding. This includes developing a consistent approach with other local authorities in the ICB, improved engagement in the process by CYC including developing joint training and processes to support resolution of disputes.
· The Adult Social Care practice assurance process continues to be developed with an emphasis on embedding the strength-based approach to practice and supporting decision-making at the earliest opportunity. This process will be linked with our Workforce Development colleagues to assure any learning identified informs future practice. The Assurance Forum will look to ensure that Community and individual networks and community based resources have been considered. This also gives consideration of a range of issues including: alternatives to high cost provision, the prevention of expensive off- framework provision, ensures full use of in house and block provision, the use of equipment and technology, and where possible, the reduction of proposed paid for care.
· A working group has been established to carry out a detailed review of Direct Payments which should lead to a reduction in the overspend on these budgets.
42. The following sections describe any significant variations to budgeted costs, customer numbers and income. The variations are generally due to not fully meeting previous years’ savings targets plus significant price pressures in the market. Some variations are large due to having small numbers of individuals within those budgets whose individual needs can vary significantly.
Direct Payments (£1,096k overspend)
43. The main overspend is on the Learning Disability (LD) direct payments budget, which is expected to overspend by £1,172k. This is due to the average cost of a direct payment being £108 per week more than in the budget (£685k), and the average cost of transport for direct payment being £38 per week more than budget (£214k). In addition the average weekly health income received per customer is less £546 less than in the budget (£256k).
44. A working group has been established to carry out a detailed review of Direct Payments which should lead to a reduction in the overspend on these budgets.
Supported Living (£2,123k overspend)
45. Supported Living are settings where more than one customer lives, with their own tenancy agreements, where their needs are met by a combination of shared support and one to one support. Supported Living providers received a mid-year inflationary increase in 2023/24 which was covered by the MSIF grant and the pressures shown below are in part due to the full year effect of this increase.
46. The Learning Disability Supported Living budget is projected to overspend by £1,402k. The average cost of a placement is £87 per week more than in the budget (£843k), there are four more customers than budgeted for (£368k) and expenditure on voids is expected to be around £159k this year.
47. The Physical & Sensory Impairment Supported Living schemes budget is projected to overspend by £497k. This is due to the average cost of a placement being around £270 per week higher than in the budget (£689k), partially offset by having 4 fewer customers in placement than assumed in the budget.
48. The Mental Health Supported Living schemes budget is projected to overspend by £224k. This is due to the average cost of a placement being around £215 per week higher than in the budget (£236k).
Residential care (£255k overspend)
49. Mental Health permanent residential care is projected to underspend by £200k. There is one less customer in an OP placement than assumed in the budget (-£72k) and the average cost of an OP placement is £206 per week less than assumed in the budget (-£129k). In addition, the average weekly health income has increased compared to budget (-£89k). This is offset by having one more customer in a working age placement than was assumed in the budget.
Nursing Care (£220k overspend)
50. LD Permanent Nursing Care budgets are expected to overspend by £112k. This is due to having 3 more customers OP nursing placements than was allowed for in the budget.
51. Mental Health Nursing Care budgets are expected to overspend by £320k. This is due to having 4 more customers in placement than was allowed for in the budget (£564k), partially offset by having 3 more customers receiving health income.
52. OP Permanent Nursing Care is projected to underspend by £301k. This is due to the average cost of a placement being £204 a week less than in the budget (-£1,214k). This is offset by having 2 more customers in placement (£70k), a reduction in the average weekly customer contributions received of £87 (£410k), and a reduction in weekly average health income received per customer of around £2k per week compared to the budget (£462k).
53. The P&SI Nursing budget is expected to overspend by £88k. This is largely due to the average weekly cost per customer being higher than assumed in the budget.
In House Services and Staffing
54. The Council employs a variety of staff to advise and assess residents’ and customers’ social care needs. We also directly provide care and support to individuals and have teams which provide home care both overnight in the community and in our Independent Living Schemes as well as running day support activities for those with a learning difficulty and those experiencing poor Mental Health. We also operate short stay residential care for the same customer groups.
Staffing (£316k overspend)
55. There are staffing overspends in the Hospital Discharge Team, Mental Advocacy Team, and the Social Work Team. Mostly due to these teams being over establishment and using agency staff. This is partially offset by vacancies elsewhere in the service.
Contracts and Commissioning (£98k underspend)
56. Based on activity to date there is likely to be an underspend on the Carers commissioned services budget by the end of the year.
In House Services (£28k underspend)
57. There is projected to be an overspend on Yorkcraft of around £188k, due to savings which are not likely to be achieved this year (£124k), together with an underachievement of income. This is offset by staffing underspends on the PSS service.
Be Independent & Equipment (£468k overspend)
58. Be Independent provide equipment to customers to allow individuals to remain independent and active within their communities. They also provide an alarm response service means tested as to whether a customer pays for it.
59. There is still a budget gap of £180k arising from when the service was originally outsourced which has yet to be fully addressed. Staffing is expected to overspend by £120k largely due to an unfunded regrade of some of the posts in the team and to having a review manager post above establishment. The vehicle hire budget is projected to overspend by £30k and there has been an increase in rental costs for the premises which will be fully absorbed by the service and not recharged to Mediquip this year (£50k). In addition, there is expected to be an underachievement of income based on current customer numbers (£21k) and the decision to end equipment sales (£49k).
Transport, Environment and Planning
60. The directorate is forecasting an underspend at quarter 1 of £547k and the table below summarises the latest forecasts by service area.
|
|
2024/25 Budget £’000 |
Forecast Outturn Variance £’000 |
Forecast Outturn Variance % |
|
Transport |
7,278 |
-554 |
-7.6 |
|
Fleet |
-127 |
36 |
28.3 |
|
Highways |
5,258 |
-200 |
-3.8 |
|
Parking Services |
-8,348 |
-65 |
-0.8 |
|
Waste |
15,033 |
-654 |
-4.4 |
|
Public Realm |
3,422 |
-20 |
-0.6 |
|
Emergency Planning |
145 |
0 |
0 |
|
Planning Services |
39 |
10 |
25.6 |
|
Public Protection |
809 |
0 |
0 |
|
Community Safety |
715 |
0 |
0 |
|
Directorate Savings |
-900 |
+900 |
-100 |
|
TOTAL |
23,324 |
-547 |
-2.3 |
61. The Transport. Environment and Planning Directorate is projecting a gross underspend of £1,447k after the first quarter which reduces to £547k once the directorate savings target of £900k is considered. The primary reason for the underspend is continued strong performance from income particularly relating to parking. The two main areas of savings are across Transport and Waste Services. These are detailed further in the paragraphs below.
62. Within Transport there was an underspend of £0.5m across the service. There is a forecast underspend against the Concessionary Fares budget of £520k as numbers of concessionary passengers have not fully returned to pre pandemic levels although the saving is lower than 2023/24.
63. Car park income for the first quarter is within 1% of budget as transactions have reduced by 5% but income per transaction increased by 12%. The has meant total income is c5% higher than 2023/24 in line with budget. This will continue to be monitored closely as the budget is c £2m higher than last year.
64. There is a forecast underspend of (£654k) across waste disposal and collection. Income from selling spare capacity at Allerton Waste Recovery Plan is forecast to be £200k higher than forecast as overall council waste tonnages remain relatively static. There is also additional forecast income from recycling rebates, HWRC commercial waste fees bulky waste fees and gas sales of c £500k.
65. Across Waste Collection operational costs are forecast to be £360k below budget as vehicle repairs and the cost of hire was below budget as the fleet is relatively new.
66. The garden waste subscription service is being introduced from August which is resulting in a reduced charge for the service for the financial year. There is potentially a shortfall of £500k in the year but this will be updated when total subscriber numbers are known. There have been c.30,000 subscribers to end of July.
67. Within the Highways area there is an anticipated underspend of £200k as electricity prices have reduced for unmetered supply to a lower level than assumed in the budget.
68. As part of the budget process a saving of £900k was identified to be delivered across the former Place Directorate. It is proposed that permanent budget reductions are made to the following budget areas reflecting current costs.
|
|
£’000 |
Description |
|
Highways |
200 |
Reduced Street Lighting Costs |
|
Waste Collection |
300 |
Reduced vehicle hire and maintenance costs |
|
Waste Disposal |
200 |
Reduced Yorwaste fixed price charges for Materials Recycling Facility |
|
Transport |
200 |
Reduced concessionary fare payments |
|
Total |
900 |
|
69. Further service reviews will be undertaken in this area in order to deliver savings through future budget rounds.
Housing and Community Services
70. The directorate is forecasting an overspend at quarter 1 of £547k and the table below summarises the latest forecasts by service area.
|
|
2024/25 Budget £’000 |
Forecast Outturn Variance £’000 |
Forecast Outturn Variance % |
|
Housing Services |
-126 |
+1 |
0.8 |
|
Healthy & Sustainable Homes |
352 |
-11 |
-3.1 |
|
Building Services |
-523 |
0 |
0.0 |
|
Communities |
6,783 |
+333 |
4.9 |
|
Customer Services |
-229 |
-2 |
-0.9 |
|
Policy & Strategy |
357 |
+471 |
131.9 |
|
TOTAL |
6,614 |
+792 |
11.2 |
71. The Housing and Community Services Directorate is forecasting an overspend of £792k after the first quarter. The primary reason for the overspend relates to the delivery of two key savings across the Directorate. These are detailed further in the paragraphs below.
72. Within Communities the main potential pressure relates to the £300k library saving. The council is undertaking due process to work with Explore to consider options that can be included into the contract that will deliver a saving. The process does require time to review provision levels as well as consultation and agreement from the partners. There remains an aspiration to gain a full saving from the process but the timeline and level of in year saving is in question.
73. Within Policy and Strategy, Executive (9th May 2024) approved an extension to the current Advertising contract to 31st December 2025 which means that the agreed saving of £500k is now not going to be delivered. Officers are seeking to identify mitigations against the saving but at present are reporting a pressure.
74. Elsewhere in the Directorate it is expected that expenditure will be broadly delivered within budget.
Housing Revenue Account
75. The Housing Revenue Account budget for 2024/25 was set as a net surplus of £2,023k prior to debt repayment at February 2024. There were carry forwards of £2,293k agreed as part of the outturn report meaning the revised budget stands at £8,670k deficit (including £8,400k debt repayment).
|
|
2024/25 Budget £’000 |
Forecast Outturn Variance £’000 |
Forecast Outturn Variance % |
|
Repairs & Maintenance |
10,867 |
0 |
0 |
|
General Management |
7,777 |
-26 |
-0.3 |
|
Special Services |
3,912 |
-232 |
-5.9 |
|
Other Expenditure |
19,870 |
+1,092 |
5.5 |
|
Dwelling rents |
-37,877 |
-78 |
0.2 |
|
Non-Dwelling Rents |
-582 |
-35 |
6.0 |
|
Charges for Services |
-2,379 |
+249 |
-10.5 |
|
Other Income |
-1,318 |
-1,026 |
77.8 |
|
Total |
270 |
-56 |
-20.7 |
|
Debt Repayment |
8,400 |
0 |
0 |
|
Revised Position |
8,670 |
-56 |
-0.6 |
76. At the early stage of the year, it is assumed that repairs will be within budget although there have been delays in delivering a number of the projects particularly the painting contract. Any underspends in the area are planned to be diverted to dealing with the backlog in aids and adaptations.
77. There is a forecast underspend across special services primarily due to savings from Glen Lodge as the refurbishment scheme is delivered. This is offset from reduced income in the Charges for Service line.
78. Across other expenditure there is a forecast increase in the depreciation charge (£700k) which provides the Major Repairs reserve. There is also increased interest costs following a loan being taken out in 2023/24 to fund Housing Delivery projects (£293k).
79. General rents are forecast to be slightly better than budget at this stage in the year as are garage rents and shared ownership rents (£-113k).
80. Within other income given the continued level of interest rates remaining at 5% it is estimated that interest earned will be c £1m above budget which will fund the depreciation and interest payment overspends.
81. The high level of working balance is available to start repaying the £121.5m debt that the HRA incurred as part of self-financing in 2012. The first repayment of £1.9m was paid in 2023/24 and a second payment on £8.4m is due to be repaid at 31st March 2025. These are to be funded from general HRA reserves.
82. The HRA working balance position as at 31st March 2024 was £30.0m and are forecast to reduce to which is higher than assumed when the budget was set. The latest forecast balance at 31st March 2025 is estimated to reduce to £21.4m.
83. The government has announced additional flexibility around the uses of right to buy receipts for 2024/25 and 2025/26 and it is anticipated that there will be further announcements made as part of the budget which will be held on 20th October 2024. This may impact HRA opportunities and implications will be reported back to members in due course.
Corporate & Central Services
84. The forecast outturn position for the remaining areas of the Council is a net underspend of £69k and the table below summarises the latest forecasts by service area.
|
|
2024/25 Budget £’000 |
Forecast Outturn Variance £’000 |
Forecast Outturn Variance % |
|
Director of Finance |
3,654 |
0 |
0 |
|
CO HR & Support Services |
11,271 |
-75 |
-0.7 |
|
Director of Governance |
3,795 |
6 |
-0.2 |
|
City Development |
710 |
0 |
0 |
|
Public Health |
13 |
0 |
0 |
|
Other Corporate & Treasury Mgt |
25,280 |
0 |
0 |
|
Contingency |
500 |
-500 |
-100 |
|
Total |
45,224 |
-569 |
-1.3 |
85. Within the corporate services directorates it is forecast at Monitor 1 that expenditure can be broadly contained within budgets.
86. Within the Director of Finance area there are forecast shortfalls in income within Property Services as areas of West Offices remain unlet. The service is working with a number of potential tenants to reduce this value and it is hoped that the building will be fully let for future years however there remains a shortfall of £600k for 2024/25.
87. It is envisioned that this overspend can be mitigated by additional income from DWP relating to unclaimed reimbursement of benefits regarding hostels. This is subject to audit and an updated position will be provided at Monitor 2.
88. There remains £500k set aside as a contingency and this is assumed to be used to offset other financial pressures across the council.
Performance – Service Delivery
89. This performance report is based upon the city outcome and council delivery indicators included in the Performance Framework for the Council Plan (2023-2027) which was launched in September 2023. Wider or historic strategic and operational performance information is published quarterly on the Council’s open data platform; www.yorkopendata.org.uk
90. Progress against priority actions contained within the Council Plan has been published here: https://www.york.gov.uk/CouncilPlanProgress and will be updated every 6 months to regularly provide details of activity, as the council works to deliver the Council Plan.
91. The Executive for the Council Plan (2023-2027) agreed a core set of indicators to help monitor the Council priorities and these provide the structure for performance updates in this report. Some indicators are not measured on a quarterly basis and the DoT (Direction of Travel) is calculated on the latest three results whether they are annual or quarterly.
92. A summary of the city outcome and council delivery indicators by council plan theme are shown in the paragraphs below, and the latest data for all of the core indicator set can be seen in Annex 1.
93. Local government continues to be in challenging times, with worsening performance in a number of sectors nationally. The majority of performance indicators chosen to support and monitor the Council Plan in York, continue to show a generally positive and stable trend against this difficult financial picture and shows the hard work from staff, partners and the city to tackle these challenges .The Council plan indicators are the high level measurable element of our performance framework, and underneath there has been positive direction in wide variety of business areas such as staffing, with a significant reduction in temporary staffing in key areas, our major projects continue to report good progress, and the Council has introduced large business changes such as the Garden Waste subscription scheme for eligible residents; introduced at the end of Q1 and to date of report writing, more than 33,000 households in the city have signed up to the scheme.
94. A summary of the city outcome and council delivery indicators that have an improving direction of travel based on the latest, new, available data are as follows:
· Number of children in temporary accommodation (paragraph 96)
· GVA per head (£) (paragraph 116)
· % of dwellings with energy rating in A-C band in the EPC register (paragraph 129)
· Net Additional Homes Provided (paragraph 132)
· Number of homeless households with dependent children in temporary accommodation (paragraph 134)
· % of repairs completed on first visit (paragraph 140)
· Number of Void Properties – Major Works (paragraph 141)
· % of Talkabout panel who give unpaid help to any group, club or organisation (paragraph 147)
· Number of Trees planted (CYC) (paragraph 148)
· FOI & EIR - % of Requests responded to in time (YTD) (paragraph 151)
95. Indicators that have a worsening direction of travel based on the latest, new, available data are;
· Percentage of household waste sent for reuse, recycling or composting (paragraph 143)
· % of 4Cs Complaints responded to in-time (paragraph 152)
Performance - Health and Wellbeing: A health generating city
97. %pt gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers achieving 9-4 in English and Maths at KS4 – The gap at age 16 widened in York and Nationally to 43% in summer 2023. A legacy of Covid-19 is that school attendance of disadvantaged groups has been slower to recover, and has been worse than for the same group nationally. The work currently being undertaken through the Attendance Graduated Response is seeing improvements in attendance. Data for 2023-24 will be available in December 2024.
98. % of reception year children recorded as being overweight (incl. obese) – The participation rates for the National Child Measurement Programmes (NCMP) in York for 2022-23 were 97.2% for reception aged children and 95.1% for Year 6 pupils. Data for 2023-24 will be available in November 2024.
· The 2022-23 NCMP found that 19.9% of reception aged children in York were overweight (including obese), compared with 21.3% in England and 22.5% in the Yorkshire and Humber region. York has the second lowest rate of overweight (including obese) for reception aged children in the Yorkshire and Humber region.
· Of Year 6 children in York, 32.5% were overweight (including obese) in 2022-23 compared with 36.6% in England and 38.1% in the Yorkshire and Humber region. York has the lowest rate of overweight (including obese) for Year 6 children in the Yorkshire and Humber region.
99. % of adults (aged 16+) that are physically active – The latest data from the Adult Active Lives Survey for the period from mid-November 2022 to mid-November 2023 was published in April 2024. Data for 2024-25 will be available in April 2025. In York, 515 people aged 16 and over took part in the survey, and they reported higher levels of physical activity, and lower levels of physical inactivity, compared with the national and regional averages. Positively:
· 69.8% of people in York did more than 150 minutes of physical activity per week compared with 63.4% nationally and 61.7% regionally. There has been no significant change in the York value from that 12 months earlier.
· 18.8% of people in York did fewer than 30 minutes per week compared with 25.7% nationally and 27.7% regionally. There has been no significant change in the York value from that 12 months earlier.
100. Percentage of people who use services who have control over their daily life – Disabled People – In 2022-23, 78% of all York’s respondents to the Adult Social Care Survey said that they had “as much control as they wanted” or “adequate” control over their daily life, which was the same as the percentage in the Y&H region as a whole. It is higher than the corresponding percentage who gave one of these responses in England as a whole (77%). It has slightly decreased in York from the 2021-22 figure (79%). Data for 2023-24 will be available in December 2025.
101. Percentage of people who use services who have control over their daily life – Older People – In 2022-23, 77% of older people in York that responded to the Adult Social Care Survey said that they had “as much control as they wanted” or “adequate” control over their daily life. This is higher than the corresponding percentages experienced by older people in the Y&H region and in England as a whole (both 74%). It has also increased in York from the 2021-22 figure (71%). Data for 2023-24 will be available in December 2025.
103. Health Inequalities in wards – The ‘health gap’ indicators show the difference between the wards with the highest and lowest values. A lower value is desirable as it indicates less variation in health outcomes based on where people live within the City. Trend data for these indicators helps to monitor whether the gaps are narrowing or widening over time. New data will be available in December 2024.
· Absolute gap in % of Year 6 recorded overweight (incl. obesity) between the highest and lowest York ward (3 year aggregated) - The value for this indicator for the 3 year period 2020-21 to 2022-23 was 24.7% (the gap between 43.4% in Westfield and 18.8% in Heworth Without). The trend in this gap indicator shows a widening in the difference between the values in the highest and lowest ward over time (12.6% in 2011-12 to 2013-14 to 24.7% in the most recent 3 year period).
· Absolute gap in % of children who reach expected level of development at 2-2.5 years of age between highest and lowest York ward (4 yr aggregated) - The value for this indicator for the 4 year period 2019-20 to 2022-23 was 13.7% (the difference between 96.6% in Bishopthorpe and 82.9% in Fulford & Heslington). At present there is only one previous value for this indicator (13.1% for the period 2018-19 to 2021-22) so it is not yet possible to identify a trend.
· Absolute gap in % of children totally or partially breastfeeding at 6-8 weeks between highest and lowest York ward (4 year aggregated ward data) - The value for this indicator for the 4 year period 2019-20 to 2022-23 was 40% (the gap between 79.8% in Heworth Without and 40.8% in Westfield). There is not a long trend history for this indicator but there has been slight widening of the gap from the 4 year period 2017-18 to 2020-21 (36.5%) to the most recent 4 year period (39%).
105. Children subject to a Child Protection Plan – 138 children were the subject of a Child Protection Plan at the end of June 2024. As a rate per 10k population, York is currently below the most recently released National average. The number of children subject to a Child Protection Plan in York has been within our expected range (133-150 for 2024-25) for over a year.
Performance - Education and Skills: High quality skills and learning for all
107. % of working age population qualified to at least L4 and above – In 2023-24, 53.8% of the working age population in York were qualified to at least L4 and above (certificate of higher education or equivalent), which is higher than the national and regional figures (47.3% and 41.2% respectively). This result ranks the city of York fourth regionally. The 2023-24 figure is a decrease from 2022-23 (60.3%) but higher than in previous years. Data for 2024-25 will be available in May 2025.
108. % of pupils achieving 9-4 or above in English and Maths at KS4 – DfE data shows strong performance for York pupils when compared with National averages. In 2022-23, 70.2% of York’s Year 11s achieved grades 9-4 in English and Maths (considered a standard pass), compared to 65.3% Nationally. Data for 2023-24 will be available in December 2024.
109. % of children who have achieved a Good Level of Development at Foundation Stage – In 2022-23, 69.7% of our 5-year-olds achieved a Good Level of Development compared to 67.2% Nationally, and 66.2% in Yorkshire and Humber. Data for 2023-24 will be available in December 2024.
Performance - Economy: A fair, thriving, green economy for all
110. Universal Credit Claimants – At the end of June 2024 there were 13,387 people, in York, on Universal Credit. This is the highest figure to date, surpassing the previous high of 13,236 in February 2021. The figures dropped to a low of 11,054 in May 2022 but they have steadily increased since then. This is a mixture of increased claimants and people who have been converting over from other schemes, with this picture becoming clearer in 2024-25 as DWP predicts/plans for all people to have moved over to Universal Credit. This represents 10% of the working population in York, compared to 18.9% regionally and 16.8% nationally.
111. There are two types of claimant: those in employment and those not. Both types have been gradually increasing in the last 12 months with the number of those not in employment increasing as claimants of health-related legacy benefits (e.g. Employment and Support Allowance) are migrated across to Universal Credit. The increase in the number of those in employment may be attributed to a higher percentage of part time workers (29.1% in York, 26.5% regionally and 23.7% nationally).
112. Earnings gap between the 25 percentile and the median (£) – In York, the latest figures show that this gap has reduced by 7.3%, in 2023, to £152.20. This is the lowest gap since 2018-19. Nationally, there has been an increase of 1.4% to £163.20 and regionally an increase of 4.7% to £139.50. Data for 2024-25 will be available in December 2024.
114. % of vacant city centre shops – Whilst acknowledging that a number of city centre streets and prime commercial locations seem to be experiencing higher vacancy levels than York's average, overall at the end of June 2024, there were 53 vacant shops in the city centre (four more than the number at the end of June 2023), which equates to 8.4% of all city centre shops. This is much lower than the national benchmark in 2022-23 of 13.8%. The York figures have remained stable for a number of years.
115. Business start ups – Figures for 2022-23 showed 870 new business start-ups for York, which is higher than in the previous year (746 in 2021-22). The York figure is at only a slightly lower level to that seen before the pandemic (932 in 2019-20). The year to date figure up to the end of February 2024 of 767 new start ups is at a similar level to last year. The monthly figures for business start ups in York came from a regionally paid for dataset but this has now come to an end. Alternative sources of this information are being sought.
117. % of working age population in employment (16-64) – In 2023-24, 78% of the working age population were in employment, which is higher than the national and regional figures (75.5% and 73.1% respectively) and the York performance gives the city a ranking of second regionally. The figure for 2023-24 in York remains fairly high overall but is lower than the figures seen for the previous two years.
118. % of Total Employees working for an Accredited Living Wage/Good Business Charter employer – 16% of employees worked for an Accredited Living Wage employer and 13% worked for an Accredited Good Business Charter employer in 2022-23, which are both higher than in the previous year (14% and 12% respectively). Data for 2023-24 will be available in October 2024.
119. Survival of Newly Born Businesses post 1 year – In York, 175 businesses were created in Q3 2023-24, up 6% on a year ago. There were 160 business closures in the same quarter, down 8% on the year before. The survival rate post 1 year has been consistently above 94% in York for the last 4 years, with the latest figure of 94.4%. The York figures have been consistently higher than the National and Regional rates. Data for 2023-24 will be available in November 2024.
Performance - Transport: Sustainable accessible transport for all
121. Area Wide Traffic Levels – Between 2011-12 and 2016-17, the number of vehicles on the city’s roads increased year on year to a high of 2.2 million. Following this, the numbers decreased to a low of 1.75m in 2020-21. However, the covid pandemic brought with it numerous national lockdowns and local restrictions so the decrease in traffic levels was to be expected. Since then, figures have been increasing again to the latest figure of 2.08m in 2022-23. Data for 2023-24 will be available in Summer 2024.
122. Index of Cycling activity – Prior to the pandemic, cycling levels in the city were around 41% (2019) above the baseline taken in 2009. The latest data shows that cycling levels in 2023 were 13% above the baseline. The pandemic had a huge effect on how people travel around, and how much they travel. Other cities with high levels of cycling have also seen falls in activity. In York, cycling levels appear to have fallen because of a decline in commuting (as a result of more working from home), although travel patterns are still settling down. York has a strong walking and cycling heritage, but if we are to achieve our climate and traffic reduction targets and see a long-term, sustainable increase in rates of cycling, we need to enable more people to choose the bicycle as the primary way of getting around. There is much more to be done to encourage even more people towards riding, wheeling and walking in the future, and we have recently carried out an extensive consultation to better understand what changes we can make to help support residents to make the change to cycling, and how we can support our cycling communities. Data for 2024 will be available in early 2025.
123. Index of pedestrians walking to and from the City Centre – From a baseline in 2009-10 (37,278), there has been a 23% increase in the number of pedestrians walking to and from the city centre in 2022-23. This is 19 %pts higher than in 2021-22 and the highest increase seen for a number of years. Data is gathered on an annual basis over the course of one day; it is a count of pedestrians crossing an inner cordon set just beyond the inner ring road and includes off-road routes such as riverside paths. Data for 2023 will be available in Summer 2024.
124. % of customers arriving at York station by sustainable modes of transport – In 2023, 78% of customers arrived at York station by sustainable modes of transport which is an increase from 60% in 2022 (the survey was delayed in 2022 so didn’t take place until January 2023 which may have affected the result, and in addition, two of the usual counting locations were missed which may explain the lower than usual percentage). The data is usually gathered by an annual survey which takes place for a five-hour period in seven locations around the station. Members of the public are asked how they arrive at the station and the results are flow weighted to take into account the split of people arriving at each entrance.
126. % of Principal/Non-principal roads where maintenance should be considered – In 2023-24, the percentage of principal roads in York where maintenance should be considered was 11% (the same as in 2021-22). This is considerably higher than the latest benchmarks in 2022-23 (National average 4% and Regional average 3%). The percentage of non-principal roads in York where maintenance should be considered was 25% in 2023-24 (slightly higher than 23% in 2021-22). This is also considerably higher than the latest benchmarks in 2022-23 (National average 6% and Regional average 3%).
Performance - Housing: Increasing the supply of affordable housing
127. Number of new affordable homes delivered in York – During 2023-24, affordable housing completions have been significantly below the identified level of need with 122 homes delivered (109 in 2022-23). National scale challenges are facing many areas with buoyant housing markets such as a shortage of sites for affordable housing and labour and supply chain constraints, and these have affected delivery in York. The council itself is maximising delivery opportunities currently, and has accessed a range of funding opportunities for direct delivery in addition to securing over half of the total completions during 2023-24 through Section 106 planning agreements.
128. There remains a significant future pipeline of affordable homes with planning permission in place across the council's own newbuild development programme and section 106 planning gain negotiated affordable housing. Inclusive of applications with a resolution to approve from Planning Committee, there are over 1,000 affordable homes identified in approved planning applications. The progress ranges from sites that are being built out currently to others with substantial infrastructure or remediation challenges to resolve prior to development. Over 600 of these have progressed through detailed planning, either as a Full application or Reserved Matters. The remainder are at Outline stage, with more uncertainty on timescales and final delivery levels, including the York Central affordable housing contribution. Data for Q1 2024-25 will be available in September 2024.
129. % of dwellings with energy rating in A-C band in the EPC register – An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) gives a property an energy efficiency rating from A (most efficient) to G (least efficient) and is valid for 10 years. Apart from a few exemptions, a building must have an EPC assessment when constructed, sold or let. Whilst the EPC register does not hold data for every property, it can be viewed as an indication of the general efficiency of homes. The rating is based on how a property uses and loses energy for example through heating, lighting, insulation, windows, water and energy sources. Each area is given a score which is then used to determine the A-G rating. In 2023, the median energy efficiency rating for a dwelling in England was Band D and a rating of A-C is generally considered to be good energy performance.
130. The % of properties on the register for York with an EPC rating of A-C at the end of June was 45.1%. This measure has increased incrementally month on month since CYC began reporting on the information 16 months ago when 42% of properties were rated A-C. The largest changes continue to be in the middle categories with around 3% less properties rated D-E and around 2.5% more rated C. The median grade for York as at June was band D which follows the latest national benchmark. Data is based on the last recorded certificate for 60,218 properties on the register for York, some of which will have been last assessed more than ten years ago.
· There has been a total of 529 net housing completions. This represents 69 more completed homes compared to the previous twelve-month monitoring period. The main features of the housing completions that were carried out are:
o 480 homes (90.9%) were completed on housing sites (Use Class 3). Of this, 390 were new build homes (81%).
o 8 homes were demolished during the monitoring period.
o Individual sites that saw the construction of five or less dwellings during the monitoring period contributed just 56 (10.6%) homes.
o Significant sites providing housing completions (Use Class C3) over the monitoring period have been Germany Beck (117), The Cocoa Works, Haxby Road (Phase 1 Blocks B and C) (107), Former Civil Service Club, Boroughbridge Road (79) and the Former Vacant Site, Eboracum Way (62).
o A net total of 29 (5.5%) off campus, privately managed student ‘cluster flats’ were completed at Aubrey House Foss Islands Road.
o 143 (27.1%) net additional homes were a result of changes from other uses to residential homes.
· A loss of 66 net equivalent homes resulted from the closure of three care homes within the authority area during the twelve-month monitoring period.
132. Net Housing Consents – Planning applications determined during the full monitoring period of 1st April 2023 to 31st March 2024 resulted in the approval of 658 net additional homes. This compares to 1,559 net approvals granted the previous year. However, a further 513 homes were approved at Planning Committee during the monitoring period and are still awaiting legal agreement sign off.
133. The main features of the housing approvals are:
· 577 of all net homes consented (87.7%) were granted on housing sites (Use Class C3).
· Significant sites granted approval for housing (Use Class C3) includes Land at New Lane, Huntington (300), Os Field South of & Adjacent to 1 Tadcaster Road, Copmanthorpe (158), Land East of Middlewood Close, Rufforth (21) and Clifton Without County Junior School, Rawcliffe Drive (15).
· 59 homes were approved on sites of 5 or less homes.
· A net total of 33 new homes across three sites were granted ‘prior approval’, the most significant of which was at Gateway 2, Holgate Park Drive (31).
· 44 net new retirement homes were allowed on appeal at 11 The Village, Wigginton.
· A further 513 homes have been approved through a resolution to grant consent at Planning Committee over the last twelve months and are currently subject to the execution of a section 106 legal agreement. These sites include:
o Land to the East of Millfield Industrial Estate, Main Street, Wheldrake (139).
o Enterprise Rent-a-car, 15 Foss Islands Road (133).
o Paddock lying between Park Lodge and Willow Bank, Haxby Road (117).
o Land to the South-East of 51 Moor Lane, Copmanthorpe (75).
o Tramways Club, 1 Mill Street (35).
135. Of the 29 households with children in temporary accommodation at quarter end, 27 were recorded as accommodated in hostels and two within Local Authority or Housing Association housing stock. York continues to report no households with children housed in Bed and Breakfast accommodation at quarter end.
136. During 2023-24, an upward trend in overall numbers can be seen both nationally and regionally, however York has been moving in the opposite direction. When looking at the total number of households in temporary accommodation per households in area (000s), York continues to perform positively compared to benchmarks (0.71 in York compared to 4.9 Nationally, 1.4 Regionally and 17.8 in London). It should be noted that these figures are snapshot figures and therefore may fluctuate between the snapshot dates.
137. Number of people sleeping rough – Every Thursday, Navigators carry out an early morning street walk checking known rough sleeping hot spots and responding to intel or reports of rough sleepers. The monthly figure is based on the number of rough sleepers found bedded down on the last Thursday of each month. The latest figure shows that there were 22 people sleeping rough in York in June 2024, which is a slight decrease from 23 people at the end of 2023-24.
138. % of dwellings failing to meet the decent homes standard – Provisional data submitted through the Local Authority Housing Statistics Return shows that at the end of 2023-24, 140 council properties were considered to be non-decent which is 1.9% of council housing stock. This return is awaiting sign off by the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities but is not expected to change. The 2023-24 figure is a slight increase from 1.6% of properties at the end of 2022-23 but is below the regional and national benchmarks for that year (2.4% properties in Yorkshire and the Humber and 8.4% in England). The latest benchmarking is awaited.
139. An increase in the number of non-decent properties for York was anticipated following the commissioning of a Full Stock Condition Survey to be carried out on HRA housing stock during 2024. The extensive survey provides a range of information on the internal, external and communal safety and condition of each property. By the end of 2023-24, 36% of stock had been inspected and whilst strengthening the information held on housing, has surfaced further properties requiring work. Survey information received has highlighted in particular an increase in the number of properties with a category 1 hazard which causes an instant fail against the decent homes criteria, these are being responded to by the service as a matter of priority.
140. % of repairs completed on first visit – The percentage of repairs completed on the first visit was 86% in Q1 2024-25, which is 6 percentage points higher than at the end of 2023-24.
141. Number of void properties – Numbers of standard void properties reduced throughout 2023-24 from 73 at the start of the year to 52 in March 2024. This has increased slightly to 59 at the end of Q1 2024-25. There were 3 major works voids at the end of June 2024 which is a large decrease on the 18 major works voids in June 2023.
142. % of tenants satisfied that their landlord provides a home that is well maintained – In 2023-24 in York, 64% of tenants were satisfied that the landlord provides a well maintained home. There are no national benchmarking figures available, as yet, however Leeds have released their results and they have a 67% satisfaction rate. Data for 2024-25 will be available in February 2025.
Performance - Sustainability: Cutting carbon, enhancing the environment for our future
143. Percentage of household waste sent for reuse, recycling or composting – The latest provisional data for the amount of household waste sent for reuse, recycling or composting was 34.3% within Q4 2023-24, which is an increase from 33.4% during Q4 2022-23, however the annual rate is 40.7% which is a small decrease from 41.3% in 2022-23. Whilst there has been a small increase in the total household waste collected to 883kg per household from the same time last year (857kg), the amount sent for reuse, recycling or composting has only increased to 359kg (from 354kg in 2022-23) which means that there has been an increase in residual (approx. non-recycling) household waste – now around 524kg per household (504kg last year).
144. This continues the national trend from 2022-23 which DEFRA suggested was primarily due to weather conditions reducing plant growth coupled with increases in the cost of living reducing expenditure on food and the home and rises in the number of people returning to a place of work maybe further reducing waste generation in the home.
146. % of Talkabout panel satisfied with their local area as a place to live - The first biannual resident satisfaction survey taken by the Talkabout panel took place during Q1 2024-25. Results from the Q1 2024-25 Talkabout survey showed that 85% of the panel were satisfied with York as a place to live, up 5% from the previous survey. 81% were satisfied with their local area, consistent with results from Q3 2023-24. A slight decline in satisfaction with the local area can be seen over recent years but York continues to perform well against the latest national figure of 76% (Community Life Survey 2021-22).
147. % of Talkabout panel who give unpaid help to any group, club or organisation - Results from the Q1 2024-25 Talkabout survey found that 64% of panellists had given unpaid help to any group, club or organisation within the last 12 months. This is a slight increase from Q3 2023-24 (60%), and higher than the latest national figure of 55% taken from the government's Community Life Survey 2021-22.
149. Full year data for 2024-25 will not be available until May 2025, but numbers are likely to be comparable to last year as York Green Streets planted c1,800 trees (whips and standards) in April 2024.
Performance - How the council will operate
151. FOI and EIR – % of requests responded to in-time (YTD) – 98% of requests were responded to in-time during Q1 2024-25 which is the highest figure seen for a number of years.
152. % of 4Cs complaints responded to in-time – In 2023-24, there had been a large decrease in the number of corporate complaints received compared to 2022-23 (1,310 in 2023-24 compared to 1,866 in 2022-23). This decrease has continued into 2024-25 with 278 corporate complaints received in Q1 (compared to 479 in Q1 2023-24). However, there has been a large reduction in performance for the percentage of corporate complaints responded to in time (85.5% in 2023-24 but only 51.8% in Q1 2024-25).
154. Average sickness days per full time equivalent (FTE) employee – At the end of May 2024, the average number of sickness days per FTE (rolling 12 months) had increased slightly to 11.44 days from 11.34 in May. Recently released benchmarks show that the CIPD public sector benchmark is 10.6 days per FTE, putting us in line with national trends.
155. York Customer Centre average speed of answer – Phones were answered, on average, in 42 seconds during Q1 2024-25 by the York Customer Centre. This remains low, although is slightly higher than the average of 13 seconds during 2023-24.
Consultation Analysis
156. Not applicable
Options Analysis and
Evidential Basis
157. Not applicable
Organisational
Impact and Implications
158. The recommendations in the report potentially have implications across several areas. However, at this stage
· Financial implications are contained throughout the main body of the report. The actions and recommendations contained in this report should ensure the continued financial stability and resilience of the Council both in the current year and in future years.
· Human Resources (HR), there are no direct implications related to the recommendations.
· Legal The Council is under a statutory obligation to set a balanced budget on an annual basis. Under the Local Government Act 2003 it is required to monitor its budget during the financial year and take remedial action to address overspending and/or shortfalls of income.
· Procurement, there are no specific procurement implications to this report.
· Health and Wellbeing, there are no direct implications related to the recommendations.
· Environment and Climate action, there are no direct implications related to the recommendations.
· Affordability, there are no direct implications related to the recommendations.
· Equalities and Human Rights, there are no direct implications related to the recommendations.
· Data Protection and Privacy, there are no implications related to the recommendations.
· Communications, there are no direct implications related to the recommendations.
· Economy, there are no direct implications related to the recommendations.
Risks and
Mitigations
159. An assessment of risks is completed as part of the annual budget setting exercise. These risks are managed effectively through regular reporting and corrective action being taken where necessary and appropriate.
160. The current financial position represents a significant risk to the Council's financial viability and therefore to ongoing service delivery. It is important to ensure that the mitigations and decisions outlined in this paper are delivered and that the overspend is reduced.
Wards Impacted
161. All.
Contact details
For further information please contact the authors of this report.
Author
|
Name: |
Debbie Mitchell |
|
Job Title: |
Chief Finance Officer |
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Service Area: |
Finance |
|
Telephone: |
Ext 4161 |
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Report approved: |
Yes |
|
Date: |
2/9/24 |
Co-author
|
Name: |
Ian Cunningham |
|
Job Title: |
Head of Business Intelligence |
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Service Area: |
Governance |
|
Telephone: |
Ext 5749 |
|
Report approved: |
Yes |
|
Date: |
2/9/24 |
Annexes
Annex 1: Annex 1 - Q1 Performance Tables - City Outcomes and Council Delivery Indicators 2023-2027