Decision details

To approve the Revenue Budget Outturn.

1.       That the net surplus after taxation of £40,000 for Yoo Recruit Limited be retained by the company to enable further business development.

2.       That the write off of eight non-domestic rates totalling £74,802.16 as detailed in Appendix 7 to the report be approved.

3.       That the write off of four sundry debts totalling £40,878.73 as detailed in Appendix 8 to the report be approved..   

4.       That the write off of one council tax account totalling £5,634.54 as detailed in Appendix 9 to the report be approved.

5.       That the 24 virements totalling £39.8 million, for transfer within directorates, as detailed in Appendix 10 to the report be approved.

6.       That it be noted that the revenue outturn position for 2018-2019 for the General Fund; a net underspend of £265,000 (-0.12%) was achieved against the net budget requirement of £229.1 million, after meeting the net cost of redundancy and pension strain, after the use of capital receipt flexibility, and contributions to essential earmarked reserves.

7.       That it be noted that whilst the positive General Fund outturn position during 2018-2019, and the resulting adjustments to reserves, will help to support the Council’s short term financial position, it does not address the challenging financial position that the Council finds itself in over the medium term; namely identifying further projected budget reductions estimated at £27.3 million in 2020-2021, rising to £40-50 million over the medium term to 2023-2024. Cabinet will be presented with a report in July 2019 detailing the progress towards identifying budget reduction and income generation proposals to address the financial challenge.

8.       That it be noted that the General Fund outturn position takes into account a number of proposed transfers to and from reserves and provisions for which approval is sought in the Reserves and Provisions 2018-2019 report to be presented at this meeting.

9.       That it be noted that schools which remain under the control of the City of Wolverhampton Council have drawn down a net £1.8 million of their reserves during 2018-2019 after adjusting for the balance attributable to academies, which takes the total accumulated reserves to £5.1 million at 31 March 2019.

10.   That it be noted that the Housing Revenue Account revenue outturn position for the year was a surplus before allocations of £20.7 million, compared to a budgeted surplus of £15.2 million.

11.   That it be noted that the draft financial statements of Yoo Recruit Limited will be subject to external audit.

12.   That it be noted that as a result of recruitment through Yoo Recruit Limited, the Council has been able to avoid fees which would have otherwise been incurred, including approximately £92,000 in relation to the permanent recruitment of individuals who had been previously employed on a temporary basis through the agency.

13.   That it be noted that the Collection Fund outturned with a £983,000 surplus during 2018-2019; this resulted in an overall surplus of £841,000 to be carried forward.

14.   That it be noted that 67 non-domestic rates accounts totalling £319,386.34 have been approved for write off by the Director of Finance in accordance with the Council’s Financial Procedure Rules.

15.   That it be noted that 1,354 council tax accounts totalling £445,443.79 have been approved for write off by the Director of Finance in accordance with the Council’s Financial Procedure Rules.

16.   That it be noted that 48 sundry debt accounts totalling £594,244.46 have been approved for write off by the Director of Finance in accordance with the Council’s Financial Procedure Rules.

17.   That it be noted that 20 housing benefit debt accounts totalling £16,822.18 have been approved for write off by the Director of Finance in accordance with the Council’s Financial Procedure Rules.

18.   That it be noted that 5 debts relating to Business Improvement District (BID) totalling £580.79, have been approved for write off by the Director of Finance in accordance with the Council’s Financial Procedure Rules.