Issue - meetings

Purpose of Report

To provide the Shared Revenues and Benefits Joint Committee with the third quarter’s (ending 31 December 2022) performance for the Revenues and Benefits Shared Service for 2022/23, as detailed at Appendix 1 to the report.

Decision

That the actual position as detailed within the report be noted.

Alternation Options Considered and Rejected

None.

Reason for Decision

The approved budget for 2022/23 was agreed by the Shared Revenues and Benefits Joint Committee on 8 February 2022, which set a budget of £2,516,830 for the service.

At Quarter 1 the budget was increased to reflect New Burdens grants totalling £22,115, giving a revised budget of £2,538,950.

Financial performance for the third quarter of 2022/23 as detailed at Appendix 1 of the officer’s report resulted in an overspend against the approved budget of £73,440, a deterioration of £76,040 since quarter two.

The forecast outturn for 2022/23 predicted that there would be an overspend against the approved budget of £107,405, a deterioration of £74,635 from quarter 2, as detailed at Appendix 2 of the officer’s report.

The main forecast year-end variations against the approved budget for 2022/23 were noted within the table at paragraph 4.5 of the officer’s report:

The key factor behind the deterioration in the forecast outturn at quarter three was the impact of the pay award, paid in December 2022, which was significantly higher than the budgeted pay award of 1.75% assumed within the base budget. The total impact across the shared service was £87,100.

The other key driver of the forecast overspend within the Revenues Local Taxation team was due to additional postage and IT costs as a result of administering the Council Tax Energy Rebate payments. Each Council had received a grant to compensate them for this, along with other administration costs associated with these payments, however these grants sat outside of the shared service budget.

For the period 1st April 2022 to 31^st December 2022, new burdens grants had been received from Central Government as follows – City of Lincoln £59,673 and North Kesteven £64,514. These additional grants should be taken into consideration when assessing the forecast overspend.

It was noted that financial pressure was felt across the whole board with all local authorities feeling the extreme strain on resources in the budgetary process.

Purpose of Report

To provide the Shared Revenues and Benefits Joint Committee with the second quarter’s (ending 30 September 2022) performance for the Revenues and Benefits Shared Service for 2022/23, as detailed at Appendix 1 to the report.

Decision

That the actual position as detailed within the report be noted.

Alternation Options Considered and Rejected

None.

Reason for Decision

The approved budget for 2022/23 was agreed by the Shared Revenues and Benefits Joint Committee on 8 February 2022, which set a budget of £2,516,830 for the service.

At Quarter 1 the budget was increased to reflect New Burdens grants totalling £22,115, giving a revised budget of £2,538,950.

Financial performance for the second quarter of 2022/23 as detailed at Appendix 1 of the officer’s report resulted in an underspend against the approved budget of £2,600, a deterioration of £7,780 since quarter one.

The forecast outturn for 2022/23 predicted that there would be an underspend against the approved budget of £10,326, as detailed at Appendix 2 of the officer’s report.

The main forecast year-end variations against the approved budget for 2022/23 were noted within the table at paragraph 4.4 of the officer’s report:

One of the main reasons for the forecast overspend within the Revenues Local Taxation team was due to additional postage and IT costs as a result of administering the Council Tax Energy Rebate payments. Each Council had received a grant to compensate them for this cost, along with other administration costs associated with these payments, however, these grants sat outside of the shared service budget.

For the period 1 April 2022 to 30 June 2022, New Burdens Grants had been received from Central Government of £59,673 for City of Lincoln Council and £64,514 for North Kesteven District Council.