Agenda item

The Committee heard from the Financial Services Manager regarding the quarter three Budget and Treasury Monitoring report for 2025/26, for the period ending December 2025. It was explained that in relation to revenue budgets, the forecast outturn position was a net contribution to reserves (or underspend) of £387,000, which was an increase of £210,000 from the forecast position reported at quarter two. The increase from the quarter two position was due to the following changes in forecast against expenditure budgets:

·         Salary underspend had increased by £20,000

·         Hire of street cleansing sweepers was a saving of £75,000 in the current year due to a change in how the council was required to account for the hire of equipment. From 1 April 2025 the council was required to treat leases as a council asset and the cost of this impacted on the revenue accounts from next year. This had been reflected in the MTFP for 2026/27

·         The underspend against fuel budgets had decreased by £12,000 due to an increase in fuel price from December

The movement in significant variances against income budgets included:

·         An increase in net interest receivable forecast of £134,000 due to slightly higher base rates than those forecast at the time of budget setting

·         Property rent reviews had resulted in increased income of £27,000

·         Planning fee income was forecast to be £95,000 above budget due to the expected completion of a number of large applications

·         Crematorium income was forecast to be £69,000 below target, partly due to an increase in direct cremations and farewell services,

·         Housing Standards income was forecast to be £32,000 below budget. This was mainly due to £25,000 being built into the base budget for income from the selective licensing scheme which did not proceed.

·         Land charges search fee income was forecast to be £14,000 below budget

·         The forecast pressure on housing subsidy income had reduced by £17,000 due an increase in ad hoc admin grants received to offset that pressure.

Members heard that any reported variances which had been identified as ongoing had been reflected in the Medium Term Financial Plan from 2026/27.

In relation to the capital programme, Members were advised that £5.148m was forecast to be carried forward into next year, and there was a reported net underspend of £0.052m. It was explained that £0.017m for member ICT equipment was to be moved to revenue budgets due to the low value of the purchases. These movements would be reviewed and actioned through the final outturn report presented to the Committee in June 2026.

Members were directed to section 2.3.2 of the report, where it was requested for the Committee to approve the amendment to the fees and charges schedule for 2026/27 to include a new line relating to the Animal Welfare (Primate Licenses) which would come into force on 1 April 2026.

The Financial Services Manager concluded by advising that the treasury management activities during the reporting period were disclosed in the body of the report, and there had been no breaches of treasury or prudential indicators during the period.

Note:              Councillor J McGhee returned to the Chamber at 7.59pm

The Chairman thanked the Financial Services Manager for a detailed and well-presented report. With no comments or questions, the recommendations contained within the report were duly proposed, seconded, and voted upon. It was unanimously

            RESOLVED that

REVENUE

a)    the forecast out-turn position of a £0.387m net contribution to reserves as of 31 December 2025 (see Section 2) relating to revenue activity, be accepted; and

b)    the use of Earmarked Reserves approved by the Chief Finance Officer using Delegated powers (Section 2.4.1) be accepted; and

c)    the contribution to Earmarked Reserves (2.4.2) be accepted; and

d)    the amendment to the fees and charges schedule for 2026/2027 be approved and RECOMMENDED to Full Council for approval and inclusion within the 2026/2027 Revenue Budget (2.3.2).

CAPITAL

e)    the current projected Capital Outturn position of £8.757m (Section 3) be accepted; and

f)     the variances to the Capital Schemes as detailed in 3.2 be noted, with any amendments to be actioned at year end.

TREASURY

g)    the report, the treasury activity and the prudential indicators (Section 4) be accepted.