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Appendix 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part A: Executive Summary & Overview                                 Page 2     

 

Part B: Revenue Budget Q2 2021/22

B1)    Revenue Budget                                                             Page 5

 

Part C: Capital Budget Q2 2021/22

C1)     Capital Budget                                                                Page 9 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part B

 

This report provides members with the financial position as at 30 September 2021, covering activity for both the Council as a whole and this committee’s revenue and capital accounts for the second quarter of 2021/22.

Members will be aware of the significant uncertainty in the 2021/22 budget estimates arising from the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, both in relation to demands on the Council to respond and the speed of local economic recovery.  Financial support from central government received during 2020/21 continues to support specific activities, and the unringfenced Covid-19 grant of £860,000 will be used to support recovery and renewal activities.

In addition, the Council will shortly be applying for the final round of funding under the government’s sales, fees and charges compensation scheme covering income losses between April – June 2021 measured against the 2020/21 income budget.  This is expected to be the final allocation of unringfenced Covid-19 funding from central government.

The headlines for Quarter 2 are as follows:

Part B: Revenue budget – Q2 2021/22

·         Overall net expenditure at the end of Quarter 2 for the services reporting to this committee is   £1.606m, compared to the approved profiled budget of £2.153m, representing an underspend of £0.546m.

Part C: Capital budget – Q2 2021/22

·         Capital expenditure at the end of Quarter 2 was £2.202m against a total budget of £27.166m. Forecast spend for the year is £10.440m.

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B2)  Revenue Budget 

B1.1  The table below provides a detailed summary on the budgeted net income position for CHE services at the end of Quarter 2. The financial figures are presented on an accruals basis (e.g. expenditure for goods and services received, but not yet paid for, is included). 

CHE Revenue Budget & Outturn – Quarter 2

 

 

B1.2  The table shows that at the end of the second quarter overall net expenditure for the services reporting to CHE is £1.606m, compared to the approved profiled budget of £2.153m, representing an underspend of £0.546m.

B1.3  The table indicates that in certain areas, significant variances to the budgeted income levels have emerged during the second quarter of the year. The reasons for the more significant variances are explored in section B2 below.

 

B2)  Variances

B2.1  Income from the Crematorium continues to be high due to the ongoing demand for the service, other than that are there are no other significant issues in any of the other operational areas for this Committee.                                                                           

 

	Positive Variance Q1	Adverse Variance Q1	Year End Forecast Variance
Communities, Housing & Environment Committee	£000
Crematorium – Demand for the service continues to be high. This has led to the need to realign the cremator, and surplus income is being used to fund these works.	58		58
Homeless Temporary Accommodation – Costs have reduced due to the increase on the Council’s own properties that were specifically purchased to deal with homeless families. Use has also been made of other Council and Maidstone Property Holdings properties.	30		55
Homelessness Prevention – There are a number of budgets in this area that are not being fully utilised, the most significant ones being those for the guaranteed rent scheme and the homefinder scheme.	45		98
Food & Safety Section - A number of Covid-related grants are held in this section that have yet to be spent. These are Test & Trace Support, Compliance & Enforcement and Test & Trace Door Knocking Service.	133		0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

B1)  Capital Budget: Communities, Housing & Environment Committee (CHE)

B1.1  The position of the 2021/22 CHE element of the Capital Programme at the Quarter 2 stage is presented in Table 3 below. The budget for 2021/22 includes resources brought forward from 2020/21.

CHE Capital Programme 2021/22 (@ Quarter 1)

B1.2  Comments on the variances in the table above are as follows:

Granada House Extension and Refurbishment Works – The rooftop extension is no longer going ahead. Some of this budget may be required for the refurbishment works should the cost of the works be greater than currently anticipated. These works are not scheduled to commence until towards the end of the year.          

Private Rented Sector Housing and Affordable Housing Programmes – The housing team are working on various projects which are currently at different stages. Expenditure is very much indicative at this stage and expected to increase during the last two quarters of the year once schemes have progressed further and new ones are potentially secured.

Acquisitions Officer Social Housing Delivery Partnership – The overspend is due to an extra resource being required with two acquisition officers now being in post to help deliver the housing capital programme, both of which have had contract extensions. Furthermore, the Leader of the Council has recently proposed a scaling up of the Council’s investment in housing, and so this additional staffing capacity will support this ambition and will be feature in the imminent capital programme proposals for the next Medium-Term Financial Strategy.

Gypsy & Traveller Sites Refurbishment – The tenders for work have come in at £1.8m, which is significantly above the budget for the scheme. The additional funding for this work was approved by Policy & Resources Committee in October.