Customer and Corporate Services Scrutiny Management Committee	7 December 2020
Report of the Chief Finance Officer

Finance Update and Budget Setting

Summary

1. This report provides an update on the Councils financial position, the latest Government announcements  and outlines the council’s approach to budget setting.

Recommendations

2. Members are asked to note the information in this report

        Reason: To keep the Committee informed of any financial issues.

Finance Update

3. The gross financial pressures facing the council are projected at £8.6m.  Whilst this is a significant overspend, a great deal of work has been done to identify mitigation and further action needed to bring current spending under control.  It is therefore considered that this can be brought down to £2.8m by the end of the financial year through a number of measures. 

4. As outlined in a previous report, the Government has partly recognised the financial impact of the pandemic on local government and has, to date, provided £12m of general grant funding.  Some additional support is also being provided for the loss of income from fees and charges, along with other specific grants.  In a best case scenario this would leave a further £2m direct COVID costs unfunded in the current financial year over and above the existing budget pressures.  There are also other indirect costs and implications on the achievement of savings that are contributing to the overall position. 

5. It is also expected that there will be an impact on the collection of both council tax and business rates income.  However, it is unlikely that the full impact of this will be known until the furloughing scheme ends.  Due to the way in which the Collection Fund operates, this will not impact until 2021/22 and therefore further consideration of this will be determined as part of the budget strategy. 

6. This report highlights a number of known pressures that need to be actively monitored and managed, with mitigating actions agreed and regularly monitored across all directorates.  Through ongoing monitoring and identification of mitigation alongside a review of reserves, the Council will continue to make every effort to reduce this forecast position but it remains a possibility that it will not be reduced to the point that the outturn will be within the approved budget. The Council has £7.4m of general reserves that would need to be called on if this were the case. 

7. A number of measures have been introduced to ensure that there are additional expenditure controls in place, particularly around vacancy management and the use of temporary staff.  In addition, measures are being introduced to reduce any non-essential expenditure.

8. A cost control board has been created specifically to look at all adult and children’s social care packages, SEND support costs and the effectiveness of our commissioning and review functions.   The Board will  track spend on a weekly basis to ensure savings and mitigation plans are on track.  If any plans are not on trajectory then recovery plans will be required and where necessary escalated to CMT.  Schemes of delegation have also been reviewed across the People Directorate to ensure decision making is clear and at the correct level to challenge and manage costs.  

9. Work is also underway with health colleagues to ensure we have effective joint care pathways, commissioning and brokerage processes in place which maximises any additional central government funding and opportunities which arise from the integration and place agenda.

10. All areas of the Council are currently considering where further efficiencies and reductions in spend can be achieved in order to support the overall financial position.

11. These actions demonstrate that the council is maintaining both sound financial management, and delivering priority services to high standards, during a period of significant challenge for local government.  In particular, key statutory services continue to perform well, having seen investment in recent years. Whilst the Council’s track record of delivering savings and the robust financial management provides a sound platform to continue to be able to deal with these future challenges there remains a significant risk to ongoing service delivery and achievement of Council priorities that needs to be managed effectively.

Financial Analysis

12. The Council’s net budget is £127m. Following on from previous years, the challenge of delivering savings continues with £4m to be achieved in order to reach a balanced budget.  Forecasts indicate the Council is facing net financial pressures of £2,898k (after mitigation) and an overview of this forecast, on a directorate by directorate basis, is outlined in Table 1 below. 

	20/21 net budget	20/21 M1 net forecast (after mitigation)	20/21 Monitor 2 net forecast Variation
	£’000	£’000	£’000
Children,  Education & Communities	30,432	2,006	2,595
Economy & Place	24,727	0	0
Customer & Corporate Services	3,399	0	0
Health, Housing & Adult Social Care	55,394	2,630	2,831
Central budgets	13,270	-900	-900
Sub Total	127,222	3,736	4,526
Contingency		-128	-128
Target for review of reserves		-900	-1,500
Total including contingency	127,222	2,708	2,898

Table 1: Finance overview

Reserves and Contingency

13. The February 2020 budget report to Full Council stated that the minimum level for the General Fund reserve should be £6.4m (equating to 5% of the net budget).  At the beginning of 2020/21 the reserve stood at £7.4m and, as part of the budget report, approval was given to maintain this level of reserve in 2020/21 thus giving some headroom above the minimum level to take account of the continued risks facing the council, in particular the scale of future reductions on top of those already made.

14. 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 but during this year these funds will be reviewed on a quarterly basis and where appropriate to do so will be released to support the in year position. In light of the continued financial challenge ahead an increased target of £1,500k has been set for this review. 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.

Financial impact of COVID-19

15. Previous reports to this Committee have outlined the scale of the financial challenge as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the level of additional expenditure incurred.  There was also a substantial reduction in income from fees and charges during the first quarter of the year, and forecasts for the remainder of the year remain below budgeted levels.  Whilst the impact of the pandemic is being felt across all Council services the following paragraphs highlight the main issues.

16. The Waste Collection service continued to provide a grey bin and recycling service throughout the lockdown period and the green bin was reintroduced in May 2020 (a month behind original plans). There was a need to employ additional staff across the first quarter of the year as staff were unavailable due to quarantining, shielding and greater numbers were required in order to provide the service within social distancing guidelines. The service also required significantly higher levels of PPE in order to provide the service safely. In order to complete rounds in the first months it also proved necessary to collect more recycling as comingled which has a greater cost to process as well as impacting income levels.  As well as the extra cost of providing suitable PPE for our own front line staff, the Council also incurred some costs on the provision of PPE for staff working in private care homes.

17. The closure of markets, attractions and visitor accommodation has had an impact on the financial position of Make It York as income levels are below those forecast. The decision to cancel the Christmas Market also strongly impacts on Make It York’s trading position. Executive will be asked to consider a support package to Make It York at the December Executive.

18. Community Hubs were set up at the beginning of lockdown and have transitioned into a new method of working.  The cost for 2021/21 is currently estimated to be in the region of £131k.

19. The number of people seeking help from adult social care, the number who go on to receive support and the amount of support they receive have all increased as a result of the pandemic. Social care services were also required to respond swiftly and effectively to the pandemic in order to both protect vulnerable citizens and NHS capacity. In effect this mean that staff were reallocated from business as usual work to undertake tasks such as ensuring people could be discharged safely and quickly from hospital, establishing short term intensive community and residential support services for COVID-19 positive people, supplying and delivering PPE, supporting care providers, those in receipt of direct payments and establishing new virtual and mobile ways of supporting citizens whose usual sources of support were interrupted.

20. Lockdown has placed significant pressure on many families where children have special educational needs and we have seen a similar rise to many other Councils of requests for statutory assessment in this area.  We have not seen a significant spike in demand for children’s social care which other areas have seen and believe this is because we have had a steady and significant increase in demand for early help.  We have however experienced the higher level of complexity in children’s social care referrals that has been seen across the country.

21. The Council also experienced significant downturns in income as many income streams, particularly car parking, virtually shut down in the first quarter of the year.

22. To 30th September there has been a £2m shortfall in parking income. April and May saw virtually no income (down over 90%) as the City was in full lockdown. Income started to recover in June where income was 74% below budget and July where income was 40% below budget. August and September have been better with income only 20% below budget.  Assuming these improved income levels continue through the remainder of this year this will result in a total shortfall of £2.8m. In addition there is a forecast shortfall on PCN income of £380k. It should be noted that the increases in parking charges agreed at the budget in February were not implemented, following an urgent decision which has also impacted total income. There have also been a number of parking incentives to support local businesses including free parking through RingGo app and reductions in Minster Badge charges agreed over the remainder of the year.

23. There is a forecast shortfall in income on commercial waste of £689k. During the lockdown a large number of the service’s customers were not trading and therefore were not charged. The service is currently working with its customers to determine the level of service and charges going forward through the remainder of the year. If restrictions tighten further the forecast shortfall in income may worsen.

24. Whilst planning applications have continued into the council since April there has been a reduction in schemes and value of c 50% since that date. It is anticipated that levels will increase as the economy rebounds however an estimate of c66% of budget to the end of the year is currently anticipated.

25. Rent invoices in respect of commercial property are now sent on the normal timetable following a deferral for quarter 1 bills.  Since that time officers in the Asset and Property Management Team have been working with tenants to agree revised payment plans in order that the council can continue to collect its revenue and the tenants can be supported in difficult trading circumstances. To date these conversations have been very successful and the majority of rents are being paid and still assumed to be collected. It is likely, however, that some businesses going forward may not be able to continue to trade and an assessment of the shortfall totalling £0.5m is currently estimated.

26. The pandemic has not only resulted in shortfalls in income across those outlined above but also a large number of other income budgets including the Mansion House and Registrars (due directly to the lockdown) licencing (where there was a fee holiday), bereavement services (where the charges were reduced) building control (when construction activity was on hold), land charges (when the housing market was on hold), green bin subscriptions (as the service was suspended). There are also shortfalls across Public Transport Fees (Park and Ride) and Network Management. Given the continued uncertainty and the potential for further restrictions, it remains difficult to have significant confidence in these estimates and they are being closely monitored and updated on a monthly basis.

Children, Education & Communities

27. The placements budgets are predicted to overspend by a total of £3,025k in 2020/21.  This includes variances of £692k on Fostering (including Independent Fostering Agencies), £461k on adoption and other allowances and £1,128k on Out of City Placements.  The fostering projection is based on all local foster carer positions being filled, so where a child reaches 18 or a foster placement ends, then it is assumed that this is filled.  The IFA and Out of City Placement projections have taken account of the placements expected to end in 2020/21, with a further reduction expected in 2021/22.

28. At the time of this monitor the Children & Young People in Care (CYPIC) number is 285 and within the next 3 years 24.8% of these will leave local authority care. A Reducing Service Costs Board has been established in Specialist Services chaired by the Assistant Director which will review arrangements to reduce CYPIC numbers safely, the effectiveness and impact of the Edge of Care Service, current Family Group Conference activity and progress on foster care recruitment. In addition a Strategic Overview of Permanence Group has been established, chaired by the Assistant Director to monitor the new Permanence Strategy through tight oversight of children with a plan of permanence and ensuring rigorous use of trackers in order to prevent delay and manage demand in the system.

29. A Track and Challenge exercise is also being undertaken on all young people in high cost residential placements which will also ensure education and health costs contributions where applicable are met. A Pathway for funding will be set up to include Health and Continuing Care funding.   Children in residential are also being reviewed and those who need to be assessed with a view to returning nearer to York or 52 week placements in residential school to reduce to 38 are assessed.

30. Safeguarding Interventions are predicted to overspend by approximately £1,139k, mainly due to increases in the Court and Child Protection Teams who are dealing with the increase in cases.  Legal fees are predicted to overspend by approximately £220k.  Children protection numbers, following a recalibration spike, have now returned to national average levels.

31. Staffing budgets with Children’s Social Work Services are also predicted to overspend by approximately £269k.  This is mainly due to temporary staffing across the service, which the directorate has worked hard to eliminate with permanent appointments.  Use of agency staff is at a last resort. This could be for example to back fill maternity leave however managers must evidence that they have attempted to backfill with fixed term contract in advance of any agency staff being agreed.  A revised structure which reduced the need for agency costs had been agreed just before lock down but has not been able to be taken forward during the initial phase of the pandemic.  This is now being re activated.

32. Home to School Transport budgets are currently projected to overspend, although, due to the complications and uncertainties created by the requirements for school transport and social distancing from September, it is extremely difficult to estimate the size of the overspend at this stage.  Discussions are currently ongoing with schools and bus and taxi companies about potential arrangements and costs.  This issue is common to all Councils with Home to School Transport responsibilities, and the Government has recognised this with the announcement of a grant to assist in funding these additional costs.  City of York Councils allocation of this grant is £119k and we are committed to not spend beyond this

33. In addition to the effects of Covid-19, the Home to School Transport budget was already in a historic overspend position of approximately £200k.  The savings targets for the SEN element of home to school transport have not been achieved because of a growth in the number of pupils/students requiring transport and the specialist requirements of that transport.  The main increase in numbers have been at post 16/19 where because of the city now being able to provide more specialist education provision for this group of students more locally, subsequently we have had to provide more transport to the likes of York College, Askham Bryan, Choose 2 and Blueberry Academy.  The changes in legislation to allow Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) to ages 19-25, resulting in significantly more students accessing this option, has significantly increased our transport spend accordingly.  At this stage an estimate of a £200k overspend has been included in the directorate projection, reflecting the effects of the historic overspend, although this is subject to change as guidelines alter.

34. The DSG budgets within Education and Skills are predicted to overspend by £1,876k, mainly due to the high number of Out of Authority placements, which is partially responsible for the deficit position on the DSG.

35. The DSG position at 1st April 2020 was a deficit of £4.865m.  Current predictions on High Needs and Central Services Block expenditure indicate that this deficit could grow to £10m by the end of this financial year, due to the continuing increase in High Needs numbers, and increasing complexity, requiring expensive provision.  The main pressures are in Post 16 and Post 19 provision and the Out of Authority placements highlighted above.  We are developing a DSG recovery plan which will provide options to bring this back to a balanced budget over the next 3 years. We are also part of national lobbying for the SEND review to move forward to address the funding gaps in this area which are experienced across the country

Health, Housing & Adult Social Care

36. A net over spend of £2,831k is forecast for the directorate, mainly due to pressures within Adult Social Care.  The majority of the overspend relates to the continuation of existing 2019/20 pressures that have been previously reported. 

37. Permanent residential care is forecast to overspend by £315k based on current customer numbers. This is mainly due to the average cost of working age Physical & Sensory Impairment placements being around £13k higher than was planned for in the budget.  The policy of using short term placements to support people to return home has resulted in fewer admission to residential care and nursing.  Older People residential care is currently projected to be on budget having overspent in 2019/20 due to a reduction in the number of residential customer care packages over the first quarter of 2020/21.  Permanent nursing care is forecast by underspend by £471k based on current customer numbers. We are actively working with health colleagues to ensure we have effective brokerage, commissioning, review and market management in these areas. 

38. Home care is projected to overspend by £1,236k mainly due to the weekly number of hours for homecare contracts being more than was assumed when the budget was set.  There have been a number of new customers needing home care packages either due to their carer being unable to provide care because of Covid or as a result of the customer’s condition deteriorating during lockdown.  Systems are in place to track and code these increases due to covid separately, reclaiming costs from the NHS funding stream.

39. There are a number of workstreams in place to reduce the long term impact on the home care budget including improving the capacity of the reablement service, introducing short term rapid response support for covid positive people, an improved approach to reviewing peoples care to make the best use of non-council resources and additional work to draw in NHS income.

40. Physical and Sensory Impairment Supported Living schemes are forecast to overspend by £647k due to there currently being five more customers in schemes than assumed in the budget, and in addition the net cost is £10k per annum higher than budgeted for.  This is offset by a projected underspend of £294k in direct payments.

41. Learning disability residential budgets are forecast to overspend by £991k. The numbers placed are in line with budget, however the net cost per placement is currently £15k more than budget.  This is partially due to ongoing issues of customers no longer qualifying for 100% continuing health care (CHC) funding and responsibility passing across from Health to ASC.  This involves small numbers of people with very high costs. In response to this the council has employed and trained specialist CHC workers and established a project to work on these highest costing care packages. Joint work is underway with the NHS to adopt a better joint approach to gain better value from the market and also to review existing care pathways in this area to ensure the most effective demand management is in place.

42. Supported Living for Learning Disability customers is forecast to overspend by £282k.  This is due to having 8 more customers than in the budget, and also the average amount of CHC funding per customer is  £7k less than was assumed when the budget was set.

43. Direct Payments for Learning Disability customers is forecast to overspend by £523k as the average direct payment per customer is around £3.4k more than in the budget. A number of these are under review as part of the high cost packages and review work

44. Mental Health budgets are forecast to overspend by £1,130k, predominantly due to an increase in the number of residential care placements needed.  The mental health accommodation programme is on track to deliver lower cost local alternative provision.

45. Be Independent is currently projected to overspend by £182k. The financial position of the service has been recovered significantly since being transferred back to the Council, but there is still work to be done in order to balance the budget.

46. There is a projected overspend of £350k on Haxby Hall.   Transfer of the service to an external provider has been delayed due to COVID-19 and there is a substantial overspend on staffing due to the use of Work with York and external agency staff to cover staff vacancies pending the transfer going ahead.   In addition income is down due to there being a reduced number of customers currently being placed in the home. 

47. Due to the pandemic Yorkcraft is currently projected to overspend by £175k.  This is due to a £62k saving from review of the service which is not likely to be achieved in 2020/21, together with an underachievement of income on external contracts and office collections due to the Covid pandemic.

48. Mitigation work is being focussed on reducing admissions to care, reducing the hospital length of stay and improving reablement potential.  Further work is ongoing to improve business processes and upskilling frontline teams in strengths based conversations along with improving the efficiency of placements in Independent Living Schemes, improved access to information and advice, and maximising the uptake of community capacity to tackle isolation and improve resilience.  We are working with regional colleagues to undertake a peer review of our services to ensure we have effective demand management pathways in place, market management and brokerage and commissioning processes.  This will report in January.

Housing Revenue Account

49. The Housing Revenue Account budget for 2019/20 is a net cost of £286k. Overall, the account continues to be financially strong and is forecasting a net overspend of £70k. 

50. Repairs & Maintenance is currently forecasting a nil variance for 20/21. All non-urgent repairs were suspended for the entirety of Q1 in response to COVID-19 and void works were reduced.  All of the work streams have now recommenced and it is evident through increased call volumes, demand for voids work, and heating and electrical repairs that a notable backlog has built up. As this build-up of work is dealt with and we move in to the higher demand winter period, it is forecast that the full repairs budget will be spent.

51. There are a number of staffing vacancies that are forecast to save £205k.  This is offset by the increasing costs of the independent external advice for the James House project which are now forecasted to be £120k above the budget, resulting in a net underspend of £85k.

52. Rent arrears have increased by c£60k per month in quarter 1 against a forecast of £30k per month.  The new financial assistance scheme will provide financial support and assistance to HRA tenants with their rent arrears. 

53. There is a forecast shortfall relating to rents of £251k.  The opening of James House was delayed by 10 weeks at the start of the year and Lincoln Court is expected to have a small delay of around 8 weeks, however the majority of the shortfall in income relates to voids. The average void days have increased by 11 days compared to the same period last year, this is due to the lack of moves during lockdown and the slower turnaround of the properties due to works being completed in line with social measures. All teams across Housing are working together to improve the re-let of the properties.

54. Due to the delay in the courts re-opening, legal recharges are forecast to be extremely reduced by c£84k, with other small underspends of £7k, the overall under achievement of income in this area is forecasted to be in the region of £89k.

55. The interest receivable on the HRA credit balances is forecast to be higher than the budget this year due to the holding of large balances pending the large scale investment in to new council house building, as such an over achievement of income of £200k is projected at quarter 2.

56. As previously reported the HRA will not receive any financial assistance from the government relating to the pandemic  and as such the underspend from 2019/20 of £539k was set aside to fund COVID-19 and other pressures. 

57. The working balance position at 31 March 2020 was £26.4m. The projected outturn position means the working balance will increase to £27.08m at 31 March 2021. This compares to the balance forecast within the latest business plan of £25.58m.

58. The working balance is increasing in order to start repaying the £121.5m debt that the HRA incurred as part of self-financing in 2012.  The current business plan assumes that reserves are set aside to enable to the debt to be repaid over the period 2023/24 to 2042/43

Corporate Budgets

59. These budgets include Treasury Management and other corporately held funds.  It is anticipated that overall a £900k underspend will be achieved, predominantly as a result of reviewing capital financing assumptions.

Spending Review 2020

60. On the 25^th November the Chancellor announced the conclusion of the 2020 Spending Review.  However, we need to await the detailed Local Government Settlement for individual Council allocations, which is expected in mid-December.  The following paragraphs outline the key announcements that are relevant to Local Government. 

61. The Government has announced another £1.55bn of unringfenced grant for COVID-19 pressures that are expected to emerge in the first few months of 2021-22.  The current Sales, Fees and Charges scheme (which refunds 75% of eligible income loss beyond a 5% threshold) is being extended on a pro-rata basis into the first three months of the next financial year.  In addition, councils will receive £670m of unringfenced grant funding to enable them to continue reducing council tax bills for those least able to pay, including households affected by COVID-19. 

62. A new reimbursement scheme, the Tax Income Guarantee Scheme, for 2020-21 local tax losses, will be launched to compensate councils for 75% of irrecoverable losses. 

63. The Government is proposing that authorities can increase council tax levels for 2021-22 by up to 2% without holding a referendum, with a further 3% increase specifically for ASC services.   Further details on the proposed package of referendum principles will be announced over the coming weeks.

64. There will also be further consultation on distribution options for allocating an additional £300m social care grant - which is made up of £150m of new, non-baselined grant and £150m of funding identified from within existing resources - through the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement in December.

65. The Spending Review also included announcements on the following policies and programmes that are relevant to local authorities

· £16m to support modernisation of local authorities' cyber security systems;

· £15bn for NHS test and Trace;

· £2.1bn for PPE next year;

· £254m of additional resource funding to support rough sleepers and those at risk of homelessness during COVID-19, including £103m announced earlier this year for accommodation and substance misuse support;

· £98m of additional resource funding, bringing total funding to £125m, to enable local authorities to deliver support to victims of domestic abuse and their children in safe accommodation in England;

· £165m for Troubled Families;

· Over £70m for additional school transport capacity;

· £24m in capital funding to start a new programme to maintain and expand provision in secure children's homes;

· £60m for Social Housing Decarbonisation;

· £1.7bn in 2021-22 for local roads maintenance and upgrades to tackle potholes, relieve congestion and boost connectivity. This includes £500m for the Potholes Fund and £310m for upgrades to larger local roads;

· £257m for cycling, which will fund thousands of miles of safe, continuous and direct cycling routes;

· £621m to regenerate high streets, town centres and communities through the Towns Fund; and

· The £4bn levelling up fund, which will invest in local infrastructure that has a visible impact on people and their communities and will support economic recovery.

66. Full details of the 2020 Spending Review can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spending-review-2020-documents

67. This report was published just days after these announcement were made and officers are still working through the details and the potential impact on York.

Budget Setting Process

68. Every council must have a balanced and robust budget for the forthcoming financial year and also a Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) which projects forward likely income and expenditure over the next 3 years. Due to income constraints and the pressure on service expenditure through increased demand and inflation, projected expenditure is usually higher than projected income.  Whilst such budget gaps are common in years two and three of the MTFS, the requirement to approve a balanced and robust budget for the immediate forthcoming year means that efforts need to be made to ensure that any budget gap in the next financial year is closed. This is achieved by making proposals to reduce expenditure and/or increase income. Clearly all stakeholders will be concerned with any potential effect that these financial decisions have on service delivery.

69. There is a significant amount of legislation around local authority financial planning and budgeting.

70. The Local Government Act 2000 states that it is the responsibility of the full council, on the recommendation of the Executive, to approve the budget and related council tax demand.

71. The Local Government Act 2003, section 25 requires the council's Section 151 officer to report to the council on the robustness of the estimates made and the adequacy of the proposed financial reserves assumed in the budget calculations.

72. The Local Government Finance Act 1988, section 114 requires the Section 151 officer to report to all of the authority's councillors if there is or is likely to be unlawful expenditure or an unbalanced budget. The council must meet within 21 days to consider the report and during that period the authority is prohibited from entering into new arrangements that will cause money to be spent.

73. Failure to set a legal budget may lead to intervention from the Secretary of State under section 15 of the Local Government Act 1999.

74. The following paragraphs outline the annual budget setting process.  Due to the ongoing pandemic, the timings have been slightly different this year but the principles remain the same.

April to July

· Estimate revenue income and expenditure over at the next 3 years, updating for previous years outturn position and any other information available.

July to September

· Identify any new budget pressures

· Calculate forecast budget gap (difference between forecast expenditure and forecast income)

· Chief Officers and Heads of Service start detailed work to identify new efficiencies and savings proposals

· Consider any capital projects needed

· Begin discussions with Executive Members as to the level and type of savings required

October to December

· Finalise budget proposals with the Executive, including potential impacts and risks

· Review budget in light of spending review and Local Government Provisional Settlement  and update budget assumptions for any Govt announcements

January

· Executive Member Decision Sessions publish budget proposals and allow for wider discussion with residents and other stakeholders, including local businesses

February

· Revenue and capital budgets considered by Executive and debated at Full Council. Council Tax is set.

75. Once the year starts, actual spending and income will be monitored against the approved budgets with regular reports to Executive highlighting any variations.

Risk Management

76. 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.

Contact Details

Author: Debbie Mitchell Chief Finance Officer Tel: 01904 554161	Chief Officer Responsible for the report: Debbie Mitchell Chief Finance Officer Tel: 01904 554161
Report Approved	x	Date		26.11.20
Wards Affected:  List wards or tick box to indicate all				All		x
For further information please contact the author of the report

Abbreviations

MTFS Medium Term Financial Strategy

SEND Special Educational Needs & Disabilities

CMT Council Management Team

PPE Personal Protective Equipment

NHS National Health Service

HRA Housing Revenue Account

PCN  Penalty Charge Notice

IFA Independent Fostering Agency

CYPIC Children & Young People in Care

DSG Dedicated Schools Grant

SEN Special Educational Needs

CHC Continuing Health Care