Agenda item

In attendance for this item were:

Karen May, CMR for Transformation and Commissioning

Lucy Hodgson, CMR for Communities

Andrew Spice, Strategic Director for Commercial and Change

Michael Hudson, Chief Financial Officer

Steph Simcox, Head of Finance

Hannah Perrott, Assistant Director for Communities

Richard Taylor, Assistant Director for Human Resources, Organisational Development and Engagement.

As part of the Council’s development of the 2021/22 Budget, each of the Overview and Scrutiny Panels had been asked to consider the draft Budget proposals within their remit and the main messages from it, as identified by the Directorate. The Panel’s views would contribute to the Overview and Scrutiny’s overall response to the budget which was being discussed by the Overview and Scrutiny Performance Board the following day.

As part of the regular budget and performance monitoring information updates received by the Panel, the latest financial information for Period 8 and performance information for Quarter 3 had been included as appendices to the Budget report.

Draft Budget 2021/22

The Chief Financial Officer highlighted that the Panel had received a copy of the Council’s detailed draft Budget presented to Cabinet on 7 January.  A revised draft Budget for Cabinet on 4 February had now been issued, but there had been no amendments to the budget areas within the remit of this Panel.

The Chief Financial Officer set out the key issues and changes relating to the proposed 2021/22 net expenditure budget compared to the current year’s budget, as follows:

·         From the position of the 2020/21 net budget, there were significant additional pressures and demands faced by the Council particularly in the areas of social care and cost inflation.

·         The pressures specifically relating to this Panel’s remit were predominantly pay, contract and income related. 

·         The grant increases for this year had totalled £9m, which included the COVID-19 grant of £5.9m received for the first quarter of 2020/21 and a £2.2m social care grant.

·         The overall Budget for 2021/22 was showing a £10m funding gap, which was to be balanced by the use of £7.1m savings and up to £3m reserves. The amount of reserves which would need to be used would depend on the support that was forthcoming from the Government regarding the loss of Council Tax payments.

The Chief Financial Officer confirmed the Budget planning timetable and advised that they were not expecting any changes to the Council’s settlement, although the specifics of some capital grants were still awaited. The Panel was informed that the Government’s Fair funding Review had been deferred until 2021/22,  with more information expected to be forthcoming in the Autumn. The Council would continue to lobby the Government on the case for areas including special needs and adult care.

In response to a question about the timescale for recovering the deficit relating to Council Tax, the Chief Financial Officer explained that any deficit on the Collection Fund had to be repaid, but that the Government was now allowing that repayment to be spread over 3 years. He highlighted that any individual council taxpayers struggling with their payments, should contact their District Council where payment plan options were available to help those in need.  He also referred to the Council’s new hardship relief fund which had recently been established.

The Head of Finance then led the meeting through the key areas within the budget report relating to the Panel’s activities which included for CoaCh, Chief Executives/Finance and Communities:

·         Detailed figures relating to pay inflation, contract inflation and inflation on income generation figures.

·         A pay award of 2% had been budgeted in 2020/21, but a further 0.75% had been agreed, so that was incorporated into the budget for 2021/22 to reflect pay inflation and the impact of spending review protections.

In terms of specific budget areas, the Head of Finance explained details relating to:

CoaCh 

·         An area of growth (£60k) relating to additional cleaning of administrative buildings as a result of the pandemic.

·         An anticipated saving of £400k as a result of the insourcing of the Place Partnership activities.

·         The re-classification of 2 areas of 2020/21 savings now classed as unachievable and written back into the budget for 2021/22. These would be reviewed again in the future for potential efficiency savings.

Chief Executive/Finance

·         A revised savings target had been included for 2021/22 for the cross council Organisational Review, the figure being reduced from £1.692m in 2020/21 to £1.5m.

·         The re-classification of 2 areas of 2020/21 savings now classed as unachievable and written back into the budget for 2021/22. Again, these would be reviewed again in the medium term.

Communities  (extracted from the People Services Budget)

·         It was noted that there were no specific areas of growth or savings required.

The Chairman commented that he had found it really helpful to be focussing specifically on the exceptions within the proposed Budget. He hoped that moving forwards with the new digital ways of working, such as remote working, this would contribute to reducing financial pressures as well as creating better access to services for customers. He felt there was a massive opportunity for the Council to make a significant reduction in its use of paper, with the digital means of  communications readily available. The Strategic Director advised that post-COVID they would be seeking to retain the increased use of digital technology, but they needed to explore ways in which this could be achieved with resilient, productive and safe ways of working.

The Panel congratulated the Finance Team on their hard work to achieve the budget in extremely challenging circumstances with COVID-19 and remote working.  It was a clear Budget that was easy to understand and with a helpful focus on the exceptions. The Panel had no specific comments to feed back to OSPB the following day, but the Chairman would draw attention to a few of the highlights in the budget report and key savings achieved. 

In-Year Budget Monitoring – Period 8

The Head of Finance reported that there was an overall forecasted underspend of £579k for CoaCh and £293k for the Chief Executives Unit, both which showed an improved position since Quarter 2.  She also advised that there was little difference showing in the Period 9 figures currently being worked on. In terms of the Period 8, all headings were showing an underspend, with the exception of one relating to staffing in the Commercial/MIAR team.

The key variances were highlighted to the Panel including a reduction in the estimated exit costs relating to a recent Human Resources restructure. In respect of the underspend on Talent Management, the Chairman asked for further explanation as to the current situation. The Assistant Director for Human Resources, Organisational Development and Engagement  (AD for Human Resources) advised effective use was made of low-cost options available within the apprenticeship strategy and that the apprenticeship levy was being used across all levels of the organisation. Consequently there was less need to draw on the Talent Management funding budget.  He also added that the restructuring of the leadership and operations teams in Human Resources had resulted in some vacant posts being deleted.

With regards to the Communities areas, there was a forecasted underspend of £595k, which was an improved position from Quarter 2.  The key variances related to an underspend in the libraries service and in adult learning.  With the impact of the pandemic, the libraries had been closed for periods during the year which had led to reduced staffing costs, such as agency costs. This was expected to be just a short-term underspend until libraries were able to operate at full capacity again. The Assistant Director for Communities advised that libraries were currently open with a much-reduced offer, such as reserve, click and collect and for use of the computer terminals. The digital service was proving to be very successful as were the online classes for pre-schoolers, STEM and adult learning.

A member queried the underspend on the Gypsy services budget. The Head of Finance advised that there had been a small improvement since the last quarter. The Assistant Director for Communities explained that the figures included other budgets such as green space and gave assurance that the gypsy provision was being maintained to the same standard as pre-COVID.

Performance Indicators

The Chairman commented that many of the performance indicators were ‘green’ and improving which was very positive.  At this meeting the focus would be on those indicators currently shown as ‘red’ or ‘amber’.

A range of issues were raised by Members:

·         Members queried the ‘no status’ listing in the RAG rating column and they were advised that this related to targets which were not currently being monitored.

·         Registration of deaths – the Assistant Director for Communities explained that there was huge pressure on registration staff with 55% more deaths recorded from April to December 2020 compared to the previous year.  She advised that there had been 100 more deaths in December 2020 than the previous December, added to which the bank holidays in December always affected the figures for death registrations.  The Assistant Director commented that she was very proud of the staff and that they were very resilient and supporting each other well through this traumatic period.

·         Complaints - with a report being presented to the Panel in March, it was agreed to leave discussion on this area until that meeting.

·         Children’s Services Improvement Plan – A query was raised as to whether the indicator should be included for this Panel. The Strategic Director advised that the MIAR team produced this report, but with additional work relating to the pandemic, this had not been a priority.  He stressed that importantly the service continued to improve as highlighted in the WCF Annual report.

·         Sickness rates – The AD for Human Resources advised that short term sickness rates had significantly reduced, whilst there had been a slight increase in long term sickness. With long term sickness, there had been some delayed access to treatment as a result of the pandemic.  The Panel was informed that regular staff updates were issued regarding the importance of looking after yourself, safe working, etc. Regular risk assessments were completed and also signposting to external agencies was carried out where appropriate. The Assistant Director was also pleased to announce that an internal mental health first aid scheme, which was nationally accredited, had just been launched within the Council.  Employees had been offered the opportunity to apply for the voluntary role, and if successful, they had been given training and support to enable them to commence their role.  Their services were then available to any member of staff who needed support.  A Member highlighted that some staff might be reluctant to admit that their mental health was suffering with being isolated at home.  The Assistant Director understood this concern and assured the Panel that regular monitoring was taking place and that proactive initiatives were being carried out to reduce the impact on staff from isolation or loneliness.

·         Staff who were self-isolating – In response to a Member’s query, the AD for Human Resources advised that the vast majority of staff who were required to self-isolate were able to work from home for that period either in their usual role or by being redeployed to other duties.  There were only a few cases where staff had been required to record this time as sick leave.

·         Library E-services – The Cabinet Member for Communities advised that a new scheme was being considered for digital newspapers to be introduced into the Council’s libraries. The Assistant Director for Communities explained that the take up of digital services in libraries had continued to grow and therefore they were looking at re-prioritising some of their stock budget to invest in an E-Newspaper system. She added that it was early days, but that she would keep the Panel informed of progress on this initiative.

·         Use of countryside centres – The Panel was informed that increased use of the Council’s green spaces had led to a greater number of issues of wear and tear and littering. January’s weather had meant that the footfall had decreased leading to less immediate issues to contend with. The importance of the message that the public should enjoy the green spaces in a responsible way was reinforced.

The Chairman praised the Teams across all these service areas for their tremendous efforts and commitment during these difficult times, especially where there had been an increased demand for services.