Council’s spend to be discussed at Cabinet

A report which outlines Shropshire Council’s spend during the first three months of the financial year will be discussed at a meeting of Cabinet today (Monday 17 September 2018).

The Financial Monitoring Report – Quarter 1 2018/19 sets out the council’s projected day-to-day spend (revenue expenditure) for the whole of 2018/19 as at Quarter 1, and projected spend for big investments (capital expenditure) up to the end of Quarter 1.

Produced quarterly, the monitoring reports track progress against agreed budget decisions, consider any budget changes, forecast any significant changes and enable corrective action to be taken to ensure a balanced budget at the end of the financial year.

Being the first monitoring report of the year, the Quarter 1 report offers an estimate which will change as further financial information becomes available.

A key issue highlighted within the report includes a projected overspend of £6.8 million, which is mainly due to pressures on the budgets for essential services such as children’s services, and place.

David Minnery, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for finance, said:

“This is the first monitor of the year, based on figures to end of June. It will always be a prudent estimate which is closer to worst case than best case, and sets the scene for what needs to be done to achieve a balanced budget this year.

“We’d like to reassure people that we are carefully managing our spend via the introduction of a recruitment freeze and the consideration of short-term spending decisions. We’re confident that we’ll see the benefits of this in later monitoring reports.

“It’s also worth noting that ‘place’, an area which is currently showing as overspent, includes the repair of potholes. Quite rightly we’ve concentrated our resources on ensuring that our roads are safe after a particularly challenging winter, but this has obviously had an impact on our budget.”

Since 2013/14 the council has delivered a balanced budget at year end, despite facing reductions in funding and significant pressures on spend.

David added:

“Each year a projected overspend position has resulted in management action to balance the budget overall, and we are focussing on continuing that approach so that we can continue to deliver the services that people want and need.”

Shropshire Council has a gross budget of £561.95 million.