Issue - meetings

The Chief Operating Officer to present a report which provides details of the council’s overall finance and performance position for the period 1 April 2020 to 31 December 2020, together with an overview of any emerging issues.

Resolved:  That the finance and performance information, and the actions needed to manage the council’s financial position, be noted.

Reason:     To ensure that expenditure is kept within the approved budget.

The Chief Finance Officer presented a report which provided details of the council’s overall finance and performance position for the period 1 April 2020 to 31 December 2020, together with an overview of any emerging issues.

The report highlighted the continuing financial consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as underlying budget pressures across adults’ and children’s social care.  Cost impacts of the recent lockdown and flooding had not been included in the forecasted out-turn.  The financial pressures facing the council were projected at £5.7m.  As a result of work to identify mitigation measures and further action to bring spending under control, it was considered this could be reduced to £3.7m by the end of the financial year.  The position within each directorate was summarised in Table 1 at paragraph 19 of the report and detailed in Annex 1, along with mitigation measures.  Reserves would be reviewed on a quarterly basis this year and released to support the in-year position where appropriate.

With regard to performance, progress was reported against the core set of strategic indicators in the Council Plan.  Indicators with a good direction of travel were listed in paragraph 29, while indicators showing a worsening direction of travel were divided into those directly affected by Covid-19 (listed in paragraph 31), and those affected by wider factors (listed in paragraph 32).  Further details were provided in Annex 2 to the report.  Progress had been made on all of the 8 key outcome areas in the Council Plan, as highlighted in paragraph 35 and detailed in Annex 3.

The Executive Member for Finance & Performance commented that the council’s service delivery performance remained strong despite the impact of Covid and continuing pressures on local authority budgets.

Resolved:  That the finance and performance information, and the actions needed to manage the council’s financial position, be noted.

Reason:     To ensure that expenditure is kept within the approved budget.