Agenda item

To consider the level of spending against the Council’s Revenue and Capital budgets for the first five months to 31 August 2018.

Mr Steve Thompson, Director of Resources, presented the Financial Monitoring Report to the Committee.

Members were informed that the Council would be overspent as at the end of month 5 by approximately £4m. This was attributed chiefly to the overspend in Children’s Services, particularly relating to the large number of Looked After Children the Council was responsible for. Work was ongoing to manage the overspend with Children’s Services but it was recognised that it was a complex issue and that Blackpool was currently performing better than the national average. The Committee was informed that an overall overspend of £3m was being targeted by the year end, which would be covered by reserves.

Mr Thompson also informed the Committee that revenue collection rates were positive with an increase in the amounts collected in Council Tax and no decrease in the amount collected from Business Rates despite some successful rating appeals and a couple of large businesses in the town going into administration.

In response to a query from Members it was explained that the Council could not easily predict new demand for children in care when calculating the budget and so based figures on the actual numbers currently looked after. Mr Thompson explained that if the budget was allocated based on an over-estimate funds could go unspent that could have been more effectively deployed on other Council services.