Agenda item

The report provides Cabinet with a full overview of both the service delivery performance and budget position across the Authority as at 31 January 2024.

Councillor Johnson introduced the Performance and Financial Management Report for the current financial year. 

Cabinet noted that the report sets out the key areas of service delivery and the performance metrics that are driving the forecast financial position based on the position as at 31 January.

Service delivery across the Authority remains strong, although the Authority continues to manage high levels of demand in a number of areas including education, children’s services and adult social care. 

Cabinet noted that particular areas of strength include the policy priorities of the Our North Tyneside Plan 2021-2025.  

·        The Authority is on track against its commitment to become carbon net-zero by 2030.  Carbon reduction in council service operations has decreased by 58% against the baseline year of 2010/11. 

·        The ambition to deliver 5,000 Affordable Homes is on track against the profiled target, with 2,213 homes delivered at the end of quarter three.

·        Council Tax and Business Rates collection remains strong and comparable with national performance.  

·       Fewer than 80 of the Authority’s homes are empty and available for letting, maximising the rental income to invest deliver a range of improvements to meet tenants’ needs and maintain their homes to the decent homes standard.  

·         The Ambition for North Tyneside Programme is progressing regeneration projects across all four areas of the borough.

In line with previous reports, the Authority’s Safety Valve Management Plan is forecast to reach a positive in year balance by the end of 2027/28 in relation to high needs education.  At the end of December 2023 there are 2,161 EHCPs and the Authority continues to manage the high volume of requests received for assessment, mediations and tribunals.  The authority is managing 27 more EHCPs than the safety valve target.

Cabinet will remember that our progress in this area secured additional funding of £19.5m from the Department for Education.   A condition of this funding was for regular performance reports to the DfE -  three submissions have been made, confirming the Authority is on track against the agreed performance measures.

Home to School Transport Service has a reported pressure of £3.2m partly due to increased inflationary costs, but mostly attributable to the significant increase in the number of pupils with complex needs who need support with transport.  The number of pupils in receipt of home to school transport has increased by a third in just five years.

Children’s Services in particular is an area of increased demand for the Authority leading to financial pressures.  The number of children in care remains higher than the 330 children budgeted for with 370 children in care in January.  Along with the placement mix of children in care this has led to a worsening of the financial position.  There is further detail on performance contained within Annex 1 to this report. The number of children in need decreased to 1,639 from 1721 in November, but remains higher than the core 1,600 budgeted for.

Councillor McMullen summarised the financial position and advised that as has been discussed in previous meetings, it is known that there continues to be significant pressures in 2023/24 and into the medium term.

It was noted that driven by our current performance information, as summarised by Councillor Johnson, the forecast net pressure for the General Fund is £8.4m, an improvement of £0.2m since the position reported in November but an improvement of £3.3m from the position initially reported to Cabinet in July.  Many of the pressures in the current year are consistent with those faced in recent years.  This includes the impact of inflation, on both in-house delivery and externally commissioned services, as well as rising demand and increased complexity for services within both adults and children’s social care.  Further detail on each service area is contained within Annex 2 to this report.

Cabinet will note that a programme of work is in place to both manage and mitigate the in-year pressures and the Senior Leadership Team has worked with Senior Officers in across the Authority to consider a range of in-year mitigations that could be explored to support the 2023/24 position. These are included in the forecast position and have helped contribute to the £3.3m improvement since the first budget monitoring report in July.

In terms of Schools, the projected year end deficit position is £5.680m. This is after application of £0.4m of School’s in Financial Difficulty funding and £1.9m of DFE funding to further support schools in financial difficulty. 

It was reported that it is good to note that there are no material issues in respect of the HRA with regards to its normal activity, however, increase energy costs has seen the HRA position worsen slightly to a £0.1m pressure.

Moving onto the Investment Plan - there are no areas of concern in terms of delivery against our plans, and over £59m has been invested in the Borough so far this financial year.  Officers have carried out a further review of the plan, resulting in variations of £0.4m and reprogramming of £10.7m for 2023/24.

Cabinet RESOLVED that 1) the update provided on the Performance of the Authority including updated data on the key pressures facing the Authority and progress against the Our North Tyneside Plan 2021-2025 be noted; 2) the forecast budget monitoring position for the General Fund, Housing Revenue Account (HRA), schools finance and Treasury Management together with the service delivery performance position across the Authority as at 31 January 2024 be noted; 3) the Authority’s Investment Plan spend of £59.769m to 31 January 2024 and the proposed financing of the Plan to the end of the year be noted; 4) reprofiling of £10.737m from 2023/24 into future years, and variations of £0.411m within the 2023-2028 Investment Plan be approved and the current position with Developers’ Contributions be noted; 5) the receipt of £0.180m new revenue grants and, £0.441m of new capital grants  be approved; and 6) the receipt of capital grant funding offers amounting to £0.677m as outlined in the report, which will be reflected in the Investment Plan following discussion at Investment Programme Board be approved.

(Reason for the Decision:  the proposals set out in section 1.2 of the report is important in order that Cabinet continues to monitor performance against the Budget, especially given the current level of financial pressures faced by the public sector. It is also important that Cabinet agrees to receive the revenue and capital grants referred to in the report.)