Decision details

Reserves Provisions and Balances 2018-2019

Decision Maker: Cabinet (Resources) Panel

Decision status: Recommendations approved

Is Key decision?: Yes

Is subject to call in?: Yes

Purpose:

To approve the Reserves, Provisions and Balances 2018-2019.

Decision:

1.       That the transfers (to)/from earmarked reserves, provisions and general balances as detailed in tables 2, 3 and 4 to the report be approved.

 

2.       That expenditure from provisions for their purposes as set out in Appendix 3 and 4 to the report be approved, up to the value held in each provision as at 31 March 2019.

 

3.       That the continuation of delegated authority to the Cabinet Member for Resources, in consultation with the Director of Finance, to allocate funds from the Budget Contingency Reserve, the Regeneration Reserve, the Efficiency Reserve, the Transformation Reserve, the Development Reserve, the Regional Work Reserve, the Enterprise Zone Business Rates Reserve, the Business Rates Equalisation Reserve, the Treasury Management Equalisation Reserve, the Pension Deficit Recovery Reserve, the Budget Strategy Reserve and the Highways Management Reserve be approved.

 

4.       That authority be delegated to the Cabinet Member for Resources, in consultation with the Director of Finance, to allocate funds from the Community Initiatives and Crowdfund Wolves Reserve.

 

5.       That the level of the Council’s earmarked reserves, provisions and general balances as at 31 March 2019 and the purposes for which they are being held, as detailed in Appendix 1, 2, 3 and 4 to the report be noted.

 

6.       That it be noted that the relevance and adequacy of earmarked reserves and general balances will be reviewed as required by the Constitution during the 2020-2021 budget setting process.

 

7.       That it be noted that allocation of funding from all earmarked reserves will be reported to Cabinet (Resources) Panel in the scheduled quarterly budget monitoring reports.

 

8.       That it be noted that Our Council Scrutiny Panel will scrutinise the use of reserves as part of the budget setting process as in previous years.

 

9.       That it be noted that the Director of Finance considers that the overall level of all reserves, provisions and balances is sufficient to meet the likely level of obligations to be met from reserves, provisions and general balances in the short term.

 

10.   That it be noted that 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, enabling investment in community initiatives.  However, 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.

 

11.   That it be noted that the figures quoted in the report are still subject to statutory audit by Grant Thornton UK LLP as part of the 2018-2019 accounts closedown process.

 

Report author: Mohammed Hasan

Publication date: 18/06/2019

Date of decision: 18/06/2019

Decided at meeting: 18/06/2019 - Cabinet (Resources) Panel

Effective from: 25/06/2019

Accompanying Documents: