Issue - meetings

That having considered the Cabinet report on the latest budget position, the comments raised by the Committee be noted.

The Chief Executive introduced a report on the latest position for the Council Fund Revenue Budget 2023/24 including an update on the key headlines and financial impacts of the Welsh Local Government Provisional Settlement and feedback from the recent Overview & Scrutiny meetings.  The update detailed changes and risks to the additional budget requirement for 2023/24 and work being undertaken on the solutions available to enable the Council to set a legal and balanced budget.

In highlighting the main areas of the report, the Corporate Finance Manager gave a reminder that in November 2022, the additional budget requirement for the 2023/24 financial year was estimated to be £32.448m.  Following a rigorous review by Overview & Scrutiny committees, all portfolio cost pressures had been accepted with no new cost reduction areas identified.  A summary of the main themes from those sessions was appended to the report.  The provisional Aggregate External Finance (AEF) for 2023/24 represented an increase of 8.4% which compared favourably with other Welsh authorities.  This reflected a cash uplift of £19.568m over the 2022/23 AEF of £232.179m however Flintshire’s funding allocation per capita remained ranked 20^th out of the 22 Welsh authorities.  An increase in the indicative all-Wales revenue allocation for 2024/25 equated to an increase of 3.1% in 2024/25 compared with the previous indicative increase of 2.4%.

Whilst the increased Settlement for 2023/24 was welcomed, this equated to around 60% of the Council’s estimated cost pressures identified.  In addition, the report detailed changes which increased the additional budget requirement to £32.978m along with a number of ongoing risks which could further impact the position.  As the Provisional Settlement was unlikely to change significantly, a combination of the remaining budget solutions would need to contribute to the remaining gap of £13.410m to enable a legal and balanced budget to be set.  Following review by Overview & Scrutiny committees, the portfolio cost reduction options totalling £6.166m would need to be considered to decide which would be taken forward as part of the final budget proposals.  Other budget considerations would include the impact of the reduction in Employers’ National Insurance, the outcome of the Triennial Actuarial Review of the Clwyd Pension Fund, delegated schools budgets and the level of Council Tax.

On reserves and balances, it was being recommended to Cabinet that the additional Revenue Support allocation of £2.4m received at the end of 2022/23 be transferred to the Contingency Reserve to enhance the level remaining and safeguard the Council against risks.

The Chairman referred to unresolved points raised by Overview & Scrutiny committees on the Housing and Environment portfolio options which were not included in the appendix.  The Corporate Finance Manager explained that the appendix summarised the main themes from the sessions with Cabinet Members in attendance and that feedback would be reported to Cabinet.

On the Overview & Scrutiny sessions, Councillor Bernie Attridge said that information requested on the homelessness service, currently being progressed by officers, would need to form part of the budget considerations.  He raised a number of queries on the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 68