Agenda item

Report of the Chief Operating Officer (Section 151 Officer)

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Operating Officer (Section 151 Officer) which outlined the final revenue and capital outturn position for 2022/23 and which reviewed treasury management activity and 2022/23 Prudential Indicators reported under the Prudential Code for Capital Finance.

The report had also been considered by Cabinet (their Minute 13/23 refers) and Council (their Minute 35/23 refers).

The overall financial position included the following headline items:

·  An overspend of £6.7m, balanced by a contribution from legacy COVID reserves.

·  Capital Programme expenditure of £146.9m

·  A reduction in the level of available Council revenue reserves from £140m to £123m

Further detail included:

·  An overspend of £9.4m within Streetscene and Regulatory Services includes the combined impact of the refuse drivers’ strike, strike mitigation costs and the loss of commercial refuse service income as a result of the strike.

·  An overspend of £4.1m within Childrens’ Services reflecting high placement costs and social worker recruitment and retention pressures.

·  An overspend of £2.7m in Adults’ Social Care reflecting an increased number of high-cost complex cases.

·  An overspend of £2.7m on Business & Investment Culture which represents significant energy inflationary pressure, as well as running costs and business rates for the Collection Centre in advance of construction start dates.

·  A net underspend of £13.5m within central budgets including lower superannuation costs, interest income from loans and higher than budgeted investment income, and a surplus from the Coventry and Warwickshire Business Rates Pool.

The underlying revenue position has improved by £1.8m since Quarter 3 when an overspend of £8.5m was forecast. In particular the improved position relates to improvements within Contingency and Central budgets which were set out in the report.

The prudent management of the Councils financial position throughout the Covid crisis enabled the Council to retain some resources to manage any legacy issues. £6.7m of this has been used to balance the position at the end of 2022/23. Although the Covid crisis is no longer a significant threat to the Councils service delivery and financial position, the cost-of-living crisis and growing levels of inflation have had tangible impacts on demand for both Childrens and Adults services. The complexity of need, support required and sufficiency of the external market to provide for this has directly impacted the Councils financial outturn reported up to 31^st March 2023 and will be an ongoing financial challenge in 2023/24.

In considering the report, the Committee asked for further information in relation to:-

a)  Details of loss of commercial income (£1.3m) resulting from the Refuse Service dispute

b)  A breakdown of information in relation to the Council’s Reserves, including an understanding of what is included in the Innovation and Development Fund and how much has been spent. The Committee noted that consideration of the City Council’s Reserves was included in the Work Programme for the Finance and Corporate Resources Scrutiny Board (1) for 2023/24.

RESOLVED that the report be noted and that officers be requested to provide the Committee with the information requested in a) and b) above.