Minutes:
Gary Fielding, Corporate Director for Strategic Resources gave a presentation on NYCC’s latest Budget & Mid Term Financial Strategy Forecasts, together with the associated risks and issues, which highlighted:
· 2021/22 would be balanced mostly through one-off Government funding and Reserves – Gary Fielding provided a breakdown of where those reserves would come from, confirming that some reserves were ring-fenced e.g. insurance reserves. Members noted the use of Reserves would allow the time to produce the necessary plans.
· No Spending Review was expected beyond 2021/22;
· It was not a sustainable option to balance 2022/23 through the use of Reserves, so a strong and credible plan was needed;
· Funding and Net Service Pressures;
· The legacy of Covid – a breakdown of the post Covid pressures;
· The latest forecast for the next 3 years was projecting a £82m cash shortfall at the end of the MTFS, with a recurring £30m shortfall thereafter;
· Whilst there was a great deal of uncertainty at this stage, the Local Government Review may deliver part of the solution;
· Council Tax consideration and Adult Social Care Precept Options – it was confirmed that the Council had the option of taking advantage of the 3% ASC precept now or retaining the flexibility of doing so in the future. Members noted that the ASC precept would be built in to the base budget;
· The proposed locality budget per annum for 2021/22 and 2022/23£ was 10k per member, at a total cost of £1,440k;
He went on to outline the Council’s budget plan, which included the option of an intermediate Budget later in 2021, and the next steps in the Budget process.
Finally, Gary Fielding highlighted some specific financial issues affecting the Scarborough & Whitby constituency area, which included:
· Projections for maintained schools, including that 115 LA maintained schools (49%) were projecting an in-year deficit in 2020/21;
· A breakdown for schools across the constituency e.g. the number of schools expected to be in deficit over the next 3 years and the value of that deficit, which was expected to rise to £18.3m by 2022/23. Members noted that the average deficit figures provided often masked some serious problems for some individual schools;
· The Scarborough & Whitby constituency area covered one ASC budget area
· The expected HAS Directorate overspend for 2020/21 of £10.3m, made up of COVID-19 related budget pressures of £13.9m and non-COVID net underspends of £2.7m, related to business-as-usual activity;
· Detailed examples of reduced ‘business-as-usual’ activity, as a result of COVID e.g. a 30% reduction in Living Well referrals and a 25% reduction in reablement activity etc. Members raised concern about the likely impact of a growing backlog of need in those areas;
· In Scarborough & Whitby 38% of existing residential and nursing care contracts were being paid above NYCC rates;
· Overall, 94.7% of the new residential and nursing payments since April 2020 cost more than the Council’s official rate;
Looking forward,it was confirmed that it might be possible for Area Constituency Committees to have more say on Highways maintenance budgets as part of the development of their role.
The Chair thanked Gary Fielding for his informative presentation and it was
Resolved – That the presentation and update be noted.