Agenda item

To receive the information, consider the risks arising from the forecast expenditure against the budget, and scrutinise the decisions to be presented to Cabinet regarding budget management by the Council and its departments

DECISION:

·        To accept the end November 2025 report and review of the Revenue Budget

·        To note the latest financial position regarding the budgets of each department / service.

A report was submitted by the Cabinet Member for Finance asking the committee to scrutinise the situation and relevant risks in relation to the Council's budgets and its departments. It was explained that the report detailed the latest review of the Council's revenue budget for 2025/26, and the projections towards the end of the financial year. The Committee was asked to scrutinise the information and offer comments before submitting it for Cabinet approval on 20 January 2026.

Following a review at the end of November it was noted that the forecasts suggested an overspend of £6.5 million by Council departments, which was a slight increase from the August forecast and 76% of which was in adults and childcare. It was explained that, following on from a trend in previous years, there was also significant overspend in waste, highways and municipal, but underspending on corporate budgets, which reduced the overspend forecast as a whole to £2.3 million.

Attention was drawn to the main issues:

·       Adults, Health and Well-being Department - latest projections suggested that with no changes in the actions during the year, there would be a financial deficit of £3m by the end of the year. £3 million’s worth of permanent funding had been allocated to the field for 2025/26, but £1 million’s worth of savings and cuts had not been achieved to date.

In the context of older people services, an increase had been seen in the demand for older people residential care and an unexpected and unusual increase for residential care due to mental health issues; the pressure on the domiciliary care provision also continued.

·       Children and Families Department - projected a budget deficit of £1.8 million, with areas such as out-of-county placements and the provision for children with disabilities in the Derwen and Hafan y Sêr services facing pressure.

·       Byw'n Iach – over the past few years, Byw'n Iach had received annual financial support from the Council that was above the contracted payment of the provider contract, to enable them to sustain their services. It was reported that the financial support continued this year and the forecast of the amount required by the end of the year had increased to £295k.

·       Department for Highways, Engineering and YGC - a budget deficit of £492k was forecast, with savings not realised contributing to the situation. There had been a reduction in the amount of work commissioned by external agencies which as a result had a negative impact on the income of the highways service. In the Municipal Unit, it was highlighted that there was a combination of factors, which included additional pressure on the budgets of street cleaning and public toilets cleaning staff; income losses were land maintenance and public toilets issues.

·       Environment Department – a budget deficit of £685k was forecast, with the annual trend of overspend in waste collection and recycling continuing and accounting for £617k of the overspend. 

·       Housing and Property - a trend of substantial pressure on the emergency accommodation service continued, with expenditure projections of £6.6 million in the field this year, compared with £6 million last year. The financial situation included an additional budget of £3m which had been allocated from the council tax premium and an additional one-off budget allocated as a part of the bids process to assist with the added pressures. It was anticipated that the department as a whole would overspend £248k.

·       Corporate – £4.2 million underspend on a number of corporate headings which included capital costs, return of budgets and bids and grant receipt; additional tax yields were also seen.

It was highlighted that following the end of the 2024/25 financial year, the income from Council Tax and the Premium arising from the tax on second homes and empty properties had been reviewed. The result was that £2 million associated with the 2024/25 Council Tax Premium was to be transferred from the Financial Strategy Support Fund to the Council Tax Premium Fund.

The members expressed their thanks for the report.

In response to a comment that there was a £0.5 million budget deficit, although the impression had been given that the budget was better, it was noted that this was a reference towards the settlement and that the settlement was 'better' than had been envisaged at the End of August 2025 Review. It was reiterated that when setting a budget for 2026/27 it would be necessary to consider the need beyond inflation in some areas due to the expenditure.

RESOLVED:

·        To accept the report on the end of November 2025 review of the Revenue Budget

·        To note the latest financial position regarding the budgets of each department / service.