Issue - meetings

[To provide the Council’s outturn position for 2021-2022 compared with approved budgets and targets and performance update against the Relighting Our City priorities]

The Director of Finance confirmed that the Outturn Report was presented to Cabinet in June, it brought together the performance and financial position for the Council until the end of March.  The Council had strengthened links last year between performance and budget to ensure they were robustly monitoring delivery of Council priorities under pinned by the budget. This was the last report before the Relight our Council Performance and the Our Council Plan Performance framework that had started earlier in the year. The report revealed that 18 out of 29 indicators showed an improvement, a further 10 indicators was showing similar performance and one indicator saw a decrease in performance during the last 12 months.

The Director of Finance stated that the report noted areas where the Council needed to invest to improve performance, such as the £3 million that was put into Wolves at Work to help youth employment in the City. The appendix to the report had considerable detail regarding the budget. Some areas saw improved financial positions at the end of the year and other areas where there were merging pressures. Overall there was an underspend of approximately £2 million and they had been able to protect a lot of the Council reserves as well as part of the Outturn position.  It was however still subject to the external audit which had started in the previous week and these numbers would be validated as part of that process. The level of reserve had been reviewed as part of the of the year end process and would go through the Scrutiny process, as normal, through the Resources and Equalities Scrutiny Panel. Council tax and business rates were better than they had forecasted last year, although collection rates were still below pre-pandemic levels. They were working to understand what this meant for the income during the year and what it might mean for future years.

The Director of Finance commented that they were mindful of the high cost of living which could affect residents’ ability to pay Council tax and the impact of inflation on businesses. The Housing Revenue account had seen a reduction in the level of rent collected last year. They had seen a reduction in expenditure and so overall the revenue account had still come in within budget. The general fund continued to be monitored throughout the year and would refresh the long-term monitoring planning. The schools’ budget was managed by them, but the work of the Council was to make sure that their budgets were being managed well for the education of the children in the City.  They used the financial and performance data from last year to inform in year forecasting to understand what it might mean and how the budgets were linked to the delivery of performance.

An update on the in-year monitoring would be taken to Cabinet which would be the quarter one position, with further reports going through in the Autumn.  When looking at last year and in year  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4

[To provide the Council’s outturn position for 2021-2022 compared with approved budgets and targets and performance update against the Relighting Our City priorities][Report to follow]

1.      That the write-off of two Council Tax debts totalling £13,450.90 as detailed in Appendix 7 to the report be approved.

2.      That the write-off of nine Sundry Debts totalling £111,259.34 as detailed in Appendix 6 to the report be approved.

3.      That it be noted that the Council has once again managed its money well and delivered within budget - despite hugely challenging circumstances.  Overall, the revenue position for 2021-2022 is an underspend of £2.2 million, after meeting the net costs of redundancy and pension strain and contributions to essential earmarked reserves. 

4.      That it be noted that the Housing Revenue Account revenue outturn position for the year was a surplus before allocations of £13.1 million, compared to a budgeted surplus of £13.1 million.  

5.      That it be noted that the capital programme has an outturn position of £82.5 million for the General Fund and £55.9 million for the Housing Revenue Account (HRA).  A summary of the outturn is detailed in section 10 of the report.  A full detailed report on the Capital Outturn 2021-2022 including Quarter One Capital Monitoring 2022-2023 would be reported to Cabinet in July 2022.

6.      That it be noted that 605 council tax accounts totalling £344,368.87, as detailed in paragraph 11.2 and Appendix 5 to the report, have been approved for write-off by the Director of Finance in accordance with the Council’s Financial Procedure Rules.

7.      That it be noted that 19 Non-Domestic Rates (NDR) debts totalling £164,898.52, as detailed in paragraph 11.2 and Appendix 5 to the report, have been approved for write-off by the Director of Finance in accordance with the Council’s Financial Procedure Rules.

8.      That it be noted that 15 housing benefit overpayments totalling £10,085.40 as detailed in paragraph 11.2 and Appendix 5 to the report, have been approved for write-off by the Director of Finance in accordance with the Council’s Financial Procedure Rules.

9.      That it be noted that  212 sundry debt accounts totalling £133,325.24, as detailed in paragraph 11.2 and Appendix 5 to the report, have been approved for write-off by the Director of Finance in accordance with the Council’s Financial Procedure Rules.

10.   That the performance against the key indicators as set out in Appendix 1 to the report be noted.

Councillor Obaida Ahmed presented the report on the Council's outturn position for 2021-2022 compared with approved budgets and targets and a performance update against the Relighting Our City priorities. She reported that the Council had strengthened the links between performance and budget to ensure that it was robustly monitoring delivery of the Council’s priorities, underpinned by its resources. The update on the Relight Our Council performance indicators for quarter four of 2021-2022 would be the last publication of these indicators before the new Council Plan performance framework commenced in quarter one of 2022-2023. The report also showed many areas of strong performance, and the Council’s response to challenges it had faced during 2021-2022.

Resolved:

1.    That the write-off of two Council Tax debts totalling £13,450.90 as detailed in Appendix 7 to the report be approved.

2.    That the write-off of nine Sundry Debts totalling £111,259.34 as detailed in Appendix 6 to the report be approved.

3.    That it be noted that the Council has once again managed its money well and delivered within budget - despite hugely challenging circumstances.  Overall, the revenue position for 2021-2022 is an underspend of £2.2 million, after meeting the net costs of redundancy and pension strain and contributions to essential earmarked reserves. 

4.    That it be noted that the Housing Revenue Account revenue outturn position for the year was a surplus before allocations of £13.1 million, compared to a budgeted surplus of £13.1 million. 

5.    That it be noted that the capital programme has an outturn position of £82.5 million for the General Fund and £55.9 million for the Housing Revenue Account (HRA).  A summary of the outturn is detailed in section 10 of the report.  A full detailed report on the Capital Outturn 2021-2022 including Quarter One Capital Monitoring 2022-2023 would be reported to Cabinet in July 2022.

6.    That it be noted that 605 council tax accounts totalling £344,368.87, as detailed in paragraph 11.2 and Appendix 5 to the report, have been approved for write-off by the Director of Finance in accordance with the Council’s Financial Procedure Rules.

7.    That it be noted that 19 Non-Domestic Rates (NDR) debts totalling £164,898.52, as detailed in paragraph 11.2 and Appendix 5 to the report, have been approved for write-off by the Director of Finance in accordance with the Council’s Financial Procedure Rules.

8.    That it be noted that 15 housing benefit overpayments totalling £10,085.40 as detailed in paragraph 11.2 and Appendix 5 to the report, have been approved for write-off by the Director of Finance in accordance with the Council’s Financial Procedure Rules.

9.    That it be noted that  212 sundry debt accounts totalling £133,325.24, as detailed in paragraph 11.2 and Appendix 5 to the report, have been approved for write-off by the Director of Finance in accordance with the Council’s Financial Procedure Rules.

10. That the performance against the key indicators as set out in Appendix 1 to the report be noted.