Agenda item

Report to follow.

The Committee considered a report from the Chief Accountant on the quarter four revenue outturn as at 31 March, including an addendum. The Chief Accountant recommended the underspend be allocated to reserves ahead of the predicted future budget deficit. The addendum had been provided as after agenda publication, it was identified that there was a reduced surplus due to a coding issue.

The Committee noted that it appeared a significant portion of the underspend related to staff vacancies, and queried if services had been affected. The Chief Accountant confirmed that temporary staff were being used to fill vacancies so that there was minimal, if any, impact on services. Further information was provided to the Committee on recruitment incentives and measures being considered to address staff vacancies. The Chief Accountant confirmed that if the Committee approved the transfer to reserves, the funds were not earmarked for specific projects, but the expectation was the funds would be used to cover future deficits.

The Committee resolved to

1.    Note a reduction in the surplus at outturn from £10,875k to £10,604k, a difference of £271k for the year to 31 March 2024,

2.    Approve a reduction of £271k in the transfer to the Sinking Fund Reserves

3.    Approve the following transfers to reserves

a.    £3,000k to Business Rates (National Non-Domestic Rates) Equalisation Reserves

b.    £6,604k to the Sinking Fund Earmarked Reserve

c.    £1,000k to the General Fund Reserve

d.    £1,400k S106/Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) income received to reserves

e.    £1,600k to Earmarked Revenue Reserves in respect of the unspent Afghans support grants