Lead Member – Councillor Roger Evans, Portfolio Holder for Finance

Lead Officer – James Walton, Executive Director of Resources

RESOLVED:

To agree recommendations A – L set out in the report at 3.2  (pages 3 – 4 Financial Outturn 2024/25 Report)  

Cllr Roger Evans, Portfolio Holder for Finance reported that the budget, agreed upon by Full Council in February 2024, showed an overspend of £34.23 million, 52% of the required savings.  Reasons set out in the report included increased costs in the People's Directorate (14.4% overspend) and the Place Directorate (28% overspend) The Council had managed these overspends by using various reserves, but this had reduced the general reserves to £4.8 million and earmarked reserves to £18.8 million, levels considered well below what was appropriate given local circumstances.

Discussion covered the challenges of managing financial pressures while maintaining essential services, particularly in social care, and the need for realistic budget planning in the context of the need for better funding, particularly for rural authorities.  The Portfolio Holder for Social Care emphasised the commitment of the Cabinet and officers to meeting the challenges of supporting and caring appropriately for an ageing population over a large rural area within a context of underfunding and the intention to campaign widely for a better settlement.

The Deputy Leader referred to work underway with Town and Parish Councils to identify services which might be better delivered more locally. 

The Leader reiterated the intention of the Cabinet to lobby government hard for fairer funding, as it would not be possible to wait for the 2028 review of social care.  She thanked staff for all their hard work to date in delivering services in challenging circumstances. 

RESOLVED:

To agree recommendations A – L set out in the report at 3.2:   

In respect of the revenue budget:

a)  Note that the outturn for overall variance in the year is £34.230m above

budget.

b)  Note that the consequent level of the General Fund Balance is £4.823m.

c)  Note the use of £7.726m of Earmarked Reserves and Provisions and the

resulting level of earmarked reserves of £25.455m (£18.762m if the balances

held by schools are excluded).

d)  Note the £47.194m savings delivery achieved over the year

e)  Note that the combination of earmarked and un-earmarked (General) reserves

of £33.275m is below a level that would be regarded as appropriate, taking into

account local circumstances. The MTFS sets out an agreed plan to restore

these balances to safer levels.

In respect of ringfenced funding:

f)  Note the performance of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) - £3.124m

(13%) surplus outturn for 2024/25 on £23.054m turnover, and the resulting

level of the HRA reserve of £14.861m.

g)  Note the outturn for the DSG and the consequent level of the DSG reserve.
h)  Note that the level of school balances has decreased by £0.647m, from

£7.340m in 2023/24 to £6.693m, in the financial year.

In respect of the capital programme:

i)  Approve the net budget variations of £1.946m to the 2024/25 capital

programme (in Appendix 9) and the re-profiled 2024/25 capital budget of

£112.640m.

j)  Approve the re-profiled capital budgets of £152.574m for 2025/26, including

slippage of £4.819m from 2024/25, £72.350m for 2026/27 and £45.212m for

2027/28 as detailed in Appendix 13.

k)  Accept  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7

To scrutinise the Financial Outturn and identify issues that may require further investigation by an overview and scrutiny committee

REPORT TO FOLLOW

The Executive Director of Resources presented the report which provided a review of Shropshire Council's 2024/25 financial performance highlighting an overspend of over £34 million due to pressures in a number of areas including children’s services, school transport and adult social care.  He also set out the impact of the cumulative effect of demand pressures, inflation, funding shortfalls, non-delivery of savings and income generation delays. 

The Executive Director answered questions from members covering a number of areas including: Strategic Management Board costs;’ reasons for overspends and non-achievement and delays in making savings; costs associated with voluntary redundancies; the Dedicated Schools Grant; ringfencing of the Housing Revenue Account and complications around identification of statutory services and discretionary services;

The new Portfolio Holder for Finance said that £47.2m of the £90m of savings identified for 2024 – 25 had been achieved, which meant that £42m had been rolled on to the 2025-26 financial year and a total of £60m of savings would be required.

The Chairman highlighted the need for scrutiny committees to be proactive and look in more depth at areas consistently overspending and at the reasons for non-achievement of savings to ensure scrutiny attention was adding value and best use was made of committee time.