Members received and considered the report of the Chief Finance Officer on the Revenue Budget and Capital Programme Monitoring Quarter 3 2021/22. The report contained details of the significant variations of the Revenue Budget, updated Capital Programme and a brief update on the Collection Fund performance.

There had been two reportable virements since the previous financial update to Members. The first related to the Audio-Visual system maintenance (£13,000), which had been transferred from the Corporate Core budget to the Acquisitions, Transformation and Regeneration budget. The second was the transfer of a property from Acquisitions, Transformation and Regeneration that was no longer used as a commercial let, but was instead used as storage space by Housing, Community and Neighbourhood Services.

The Revenue Budget forecast indicated a surplus of £128,000, against the approved budget drawdown from Reserves of £2.7m; this represented an improvement of £222,000 since the Quarter 2 forecast.  The main reasons for the variations since the previous monitoring report were detailed in the report, which included a reduction in the cost of support from Capita Business Services to clear the planning applications backlog, reduction in potential judicial review costs, additional income from the administration of Community Infrastructure Levy receipts, additional salary costs, small increase in cost of Housing Benefit claims, additional IT systems operations costs, predicted overspend of the Housing Needs and Rough Sleeping Initiative budgets now anticipated to achieve a ‘break even’ position, car parking income expected to exceed the budget and receipt of further Central Government grants.

Members raised concerns that there had been no changes to the Financial Stability Programme since the last forecast.  A report would be taken to Cabinet in due course.

The Capital Programme forecast as at 31 December 2021 was £15.348m, which was £47.345m lower than the approved revised budget. As previously reported, this was mainly due to the continued impact of the pandemic. The position was summarised in Appendix B to the report, the main change related to the purchase of the Mount View site.  Where schemes were forecast to underspend, it was still expected that they will be completed in future years. A revised programme was approved by Cabinet on  7 February 2022 as part of the Council’s Capital Strategy and future cashflows would continue to be monitored and reported until scheme completion.

The forecast impact on Reserves was a drawdown of £3.118m against the planned use of £3.319m. This was a decrease of £277,000 from the previous forecast. 

The collection rate at the end of Quarter 3 for the Council Tax part of the Collection Fund was 84.51% of the collectable debit and 87.14% of the budgeted yield. Both figures were higher than the corresponding figures for 2020/21 by 1.35% and 1.20% respectively.

The collection rate at the end of Quarter 3 for the Business Rates part of the Collection Fund was 77.72% of the collectable debit, which was 0.49% higher than the corresponding figure in 2020/21. This represented a considerable improvement from the previous quarter when the collection rate was 6.30% down on the 2020/21 figure.

The Council currently provided funding of £85,00 per annum to Rother District Citizens Advice (CAB).  This had been agreed from 1 April 2020 for a four-year period with a review after two years. Members were keen to retain the Council’s connection with the CAB and it was recommended and agreed that it would be appropriate to continue the funding for a further one-year period while the arrangement and service levels were reviewed following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Council also provided funding of £8,500 per annum to Bexhill Museum, which had also been agreed for a four-year period from 1 April 2020, with a review after two years.  Discussions were ongoing  with Bexhill Town Council over services they might wish to provide, therefore it was recommended to continue with the funding for a further one-year period to allow those discussions to develop.  Members raised concerns that as the Museum was of considerable importance to the district that the Council should continue to provide funding.  Currently, the £8,500 grant per annum was funded from the Bexhill Special Expenses; the Council provided additional funding to the Museum through other means.

The revenue forecast for Quarter 3 showed a deficit of £2.571m, which was £128,000 lower than the approved planned use of Reserves. The Chief Finance Officer would continue to work closely with Heads of Services and Members to reduce further the planned drawdown from Reserves.

The Council’s Capital Programme was forecast to underspend by £47.345m in 2021/22, but this was due to timing differences and the approved five-year programme was still on target to be delivered.

RESOLVED: That:

1)         the report be noted; and

2)         Cabinet be requested to approve the continuation of two Service Level Agreements in respect of Rother District Citizen’s Advice and Bexhill Museum, and agree to the extension of funding of £85,000 for Rother Citizens Advice and £8,500 for Bexhill Museum for a further one-year period.

(Councillor Gray declared a Personal Interest in this matter as the Council’s appointed representative on the Board of the Rother District Citizens Advice Bureau and in accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct remained in the meeting during the consideration thereof).