Issue - meetings

Purpose of report

To present the Council’s forecasted 2025/26 financial position as at the end of July 2025. The report covered the General Fund Revenue Budget, Housing Revenue Account Budget, and the Capital Programmes for the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account.

Decision

Cabinet noted the forecasted 2025/26 outturn position for the General Fund, HRA Revenue and Capital budgets as at the end of July 2025.

Alternative options considered and rejected

None.

Reasons for the decision

A similar report would be presented to the Finance and Economic OSC on 23 September 2025, and that Committee were urged to take note of the Cabinet proceedings in advance of their meeting.

There were several variances at Table 2 of the report, which would be monitored through the year. Emerging concerns on level of spend on repairs and maintenance would be managed by members and officers. Expenditure needed to be within approved budgets; maintenance was a significant cost to both the General Fund and HRA. There was a backlog of maintenance, which had been added to the Finance Risk Register.

One significant variance to the HRA was new builds, which was below budget for a number of reasons. Work continued to find potential housing development sites.

Staff salaries were the biggest single biggest cost to the Council, so it paid for the Council to make savings here where it was possible to do so. Spend levels within service areas would be monitored, and where there was natural turnover of staff, the Finance department would work to explore other ways in which that vacancy could be filled. Recruitment of that vacancy may be held back for a period of time to allow savings to be made if this was a viable option. Agency staffing was an area that the Council looked to minimise spending. The vacancy factor within the budget had always been achieved in previous years, and there was confidence that this would be the case again this year.

Members should be kept updated on the financial position of the Authority, as effective budget management was critical to ensuring financial resources were targeted towards the Council’s priorities. Monitoring enabled early identification of variations against the plan and timely corrective action.