Issue - meetings

·         Noting that there are projections of £8.3 million of overspend by Council departments, with 83% of it relating to adult and child care, to accept the report on the end of November 2024 review of the revenue budget and support the steps the Chief Executive has introduced to address the significant overspend by the Adults, Health and Well-being Department, the Children and Families Department, the Highways, Engineering and YGC Department and the Environment Department.

·         Delegate the right to the Head of Adults, Health and Well-being in consultation with the Head of Finance and the relevant Cabinet Members to make a number of necessary budget transfers, without limitation on the value, within services budgets in the Adults, Health and Well-being Department to reflect the current pressures, including in the field of Learning Disability, Older People, Physical Disability and Mental Health.

·         Approve additional financial support above the £201k contractual payment to Cwmni Byw’n Iach to be funded from the transformation fund, and to delegate the right to the Cabinet Member for Economy in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance, Chief Executive and Head of Finance to agree the amount of final financial support above the contractual payment to Cwmni Byw’n Iach at the end of the financial year. 

·         To approve the transfer of £4,409k of underspend on corporate budgets to the Council's Financial Strategy Reserve. 

·         Exclude clause 16.3.1.(C) of the Financial Regulations and not allow departments to carry any underspend into the next financial year.

The report was submitted by Cllr. ⁠Huw Wyn Jones.

DECISION

·       Noting that there are projections of £8.3 million of overspend by Council departments, with 83% of it relating to adult and child care, to accept the report on the end of November 2024 review of the revenue budget and support the steps the Chief Executive has introduced to address the significant overspend by the Adults, Health and Well-being Department, the Children and Families Department, the Highways, Engineering and YGC Department and the Environment Department.

·       Delegate the right to the Head of Adults, Health and Well-being in consultation with the Head of Finance and the relevant Cabinet Members to make a number of necessary budget transfers, without limitation on the value, within services budgets in the Adults, Health and Well-being Department to reflect the current pressures, including in the field of Learning Disability, Older People, Physical Disability and Mental Health.

·       Approve additional financial support above the £201k contractual payment to Cwmni Byw’n Iach to be funded from the transformation fund, and to delegate the right to the Cabinet Member for Economy in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance, Chief Executive and Head of Finance to agree the amount of final financial support above the contractual payment to Cwmni Byw’n Iach at the end of the financial year. 

·       To approve the transfer of £4,409k of underspend on corporate budgets to the Council's Financial Strategy Reserve. 

·       Exclude clause 16.3.1.(C) of the Financial Regulations and not allow departments to carry any underspend into the next financial year.

DISCUSSION

 Submitted - a report detailing the latest review of the Council's revenue budget for 2024/25, and the projections towards the end of the financial year with details from all departments included in Appendix 1 of the report. ⁠⁠

 It was noted that there were projections of an overspend of £8.3 million from Council departments following the end of November review, with 83% of it in the adults and children care field. In addition, it was noted that current projections suggested that five of the departments would overspend by the end of the year, with substantial overspend for the Adults, Health and Well-being Department, the Children and Families Department, Highways, Engineering and YGC Department and the Environment Department.

The overspend per Department was elaborated upon, noting that the Adults Department was likely to overspend £3.3 million by the end of the year, as a result of a combination of many factors, including an increase in the demand for domiciliary care provision, high staffing costs, sickness levels and high rates of non-contact hours within the internal provision. It was noted that work had already been commissioned by the Chief Executive to look at the department's financial situation with the work being addressed.

It was reported that the Children Department was likely to overspend by £3.7 million, with the situation having worsened since the November report. It was noted that this was mainly as a result of out-of-county placement costs, the complexity of packages and the use of unregistered  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7