Council Monitoring Corporate Summary – Q1 2025/26

Council Plan performance targets

Priority	Red	Amber	Green
Driving sustainable economic growth	0	1	23
Keeping vulnerable people safe	1	0	15
Helping people help themselves	1	0	9
Making best use of resources now and for the future	1	0	6
Total	3	1	53

Performance overview Q1 2025/26	Measures off target by department
	There are 57 measures in the Council Plan. In Q1, 3 departments had measures that were off target. BSD – 1 Red measure CET – 1 Amber measure CSD – 2 Red measures

Final Council Plan outturn summary for year ending 2024/25

6 measures were reported as carry overs at the end of Q4 2024/25. Outturns for these measures are now available and the charts below summarise the final year end position for the 60 council plan targets in 2024/25. Where available, performance improvement relative to 2023/24 is summarised under Direction of travel.

2024/25 – Final	Direction of travel since 2023/24

Direction of Travel key:

No Change: •–, Not Comparable: NC, Carry Over: CO, Worse: ˜, Improved (or at maximum): —

Revenue budget outturn (net £000)

Revenue budget summary (£000) 2025/26

Services:

Divisions	Planned Gross	Planned Income	Planned Net	2025/26 Gross	2025/26 Income	2025/26 Net	(Over)/ under spend Gross	(Over)/ under spend Income	(Over)/ under spend Net
Adult Social Care	422,497	(138,544)	283,953	433,262	(140,327)	292,935	(10,765)	1,783	(8,982)
Public Health	38,185	(38,185)	-	38,326	(38,326)	-	(141)	141	-
Business Services / Orbis	64,668	(33,404)	31,264	65,014	(33,572)	31,442	(346)	168	(178)
Children’s Services	638,290	(480,230)	158,060	664,087	(489,363)	174,724	(25,797)	9,133	(16,664)
Communities, Economy & Transport	174,299	(98,052)	76,247	175,237	(98,897)	76,340	(938)	845	(93)
Governance Services	9,767	(502)	9,265	9,673	(488)	9,185	94	(14)	80
Total Services	1,347,706	(788,917)	558,789	1,385,599	(800,973)	584,626	(37,893)	12,056	(25,837)

Centrally Held Budgets (CHB):

Divisions	Planned Gross	Planned Income	Planned Net	2025/26 Gross	2025/26 Income	2025/26 Net	(Over)/ under spend Gross	(Over)/ under spend Income	(Over)/ under spend Net
Treasury Management (TM)	21,680	(6,900)	14,780	21,680	(7,800)	13,880	-	900	900
Capital Programme	1,450	-	1,450	-	-	-	1,450	-	1,450
Pensions	4,702	-	4,702	4,702	-	4,702	-	-	-
General Contingency	5,650	-	5,650	-	-	-	5,650	-	5,650
Provision for Budgetary Risks	4,039	-	4,039	722	-	722	3,317	-	3,317
Reserves Movts	3,097	(2,307)	790	3,097	(2,307)	790	-	-	-
Apprenticeship Levy	772	-	772	772	-	772	-	-	-
Levies, Grants and Other	162	(70)	92	162	(70)	92	-	-	-
Debt Impairment	-	-	-	561	-	561	(561)	-	(561)
Total Centrally Held Budgets	41,552	(9,277)	32,275	31,696	(10,177)	21,519	9,856	900	10,756

Corporate Funding:

Divisions	Planned Gross	Planned Income	Planned Net	2025/26 Gross	2025/26 Income	2025/26 Net	(Over)/ under spend Gross	(Over)/ under spend Income	(Over)/ under spend Net
Business Rates	-	(102,987)	(102,987)	-	(102,987)	(102,987)	-	-	-
Revenue Support Grant	-	(4,452)	(4,452)	-	(4,452)	(4,452)	-	-	-
Service Grant	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Council Tax	-	(399,222)	(399,222)	-	(399,222)	(399,222)	-	-	-
Social Care Grant	-	(72,437)	(72,437)	-	(72,561)	(72,561)	-	124	124
New Homes Bonus	-	(517)	(517)	-	(587)	(587)	-	70	70
Total Corporate Funding	-	(579,615)	(579,615)	-	(579,809)	(579,809)	-	194	194
TOTAL	1,389,258	(1,377,809)	11,449	1,417,295	(1,390,959)	26,336	(28,037)	13,150	(14,887)

Divisions	Planned Gross	Planned Income	Planned Net	2025/26 Gross	2025/26 Income	2025/26 Net	(Over)/ under spend Gross	(Over)/ under spend Income	(Over)/ under spend Net
Planned one-off Use of Reserves 2025/26	-	(11,449)	(11,449)	-	(11,449)	(11,449)	-	-	-
Use of LGR Reserve to cover operational overspend	-	-	-	-	(4,200)	(4,200)	-	4,200	4,200
Use of Capital Reserve to cover operational overspend	-	-	-	-	(7,187)	(7,187)	-	7,187	7,187
Additional use of Insurance Reserve	-	-	-	-	(2,000)	(2,000)	-	2,000	2,000
Use of Collection Fund surplus	-	-	-	-	(1,500)	(1,500)	-	1,500	1,500
FINAL TOTAL	1,389,258	(1,389,258)	0	1,417,295	(1,417,295)	0	(28,037)	28,037	0

Revenue Savings Summary 2025/26 (£'000)

Service description	Original Target for 2025/26	Target including items c/f from previous year(s)	Achieved in-year	Will be achieved, but in future years	Cannot be achieved
ASCH	7,420	7,420	7,096	269	55
BSD/Orbis	1,060	1,060	980	-	80
CS	3,239	3,239	2,526	611	102
CET	1,553	2,298	2,215	83	-
GS	233	233	233	-	-
Total Savings	13,505	14,250	13,050	963	237
ASCH			55	-	(55)
BSD / Orbis			-	80	(80)
CS			102	-	(102)
CET			-	-	-
GS			-	-	-
Subtotal Permanent Changes ^1			157	80	(237)
Total Savings & Permanent Changes	13,505	14,250	13,207	1,043	0

Memo: treatment of savings not achieved in the year (£'000)	Temporary Funding ^2	Part of reported variance ^3	Total
ASCH	269	-	269
BSD / Orbis	-	80	80
CS	-	611	611
CET	55	28	83
GS	-	-	0
Total	324	719	1,043

¹ Where agreed savings are reasonably unable to be achieved other permanent savings are required to be identified and approved via quarterly monitoring.

² Temporary funding will only replace a slipped or unachieved saving for one year; the saving will still need to be made in future years (or be replaced with something else).

³ The slipped or unachieved saving will form part of the department's overall variance - it will either increase an overspend or decrease an underspend. The saving will still need to be made in future years (or be replaced with something else).

Capital Programme (gross £ millions) – approved projects

Key:

Current budget

Forecast

Actuals

Variance

Capital Programme Summary 2025/26 (£’000)

	Budget 2025/26	Forecast 2025/26	Variation (Over) / under 2025/26 budget	Variation analysis: (Over) / under spend	Variation analysis: Slippage to future year	Variation analysis: Spend in advance
Adult Social Care	1,969	1,969	0	0	-	-
Business Services	38,175	38,180	(5)	(5)	-	-
Children’s Services	2,592	3,071	(479)	(479)	-	-
Communities, Economy & Transport	60,245	52,406	7,839	(244)	8,096	-13
Gross Expenditure (Planned Programme)	102,981	95,626	7,355	(728)	8,096	-13
Corporate Slippage Risk Factor	(18,890)	(10,807)	-	-	-	-
Net Expenditure	84,091	84,819	(728)	-	-	-
Developer Contributions	1,771	1,771	-	-	-	-
Other Specific Funding	21,191	21,191	-	-	-	-
Capital Receipts	1,288	1,288	-	-	-	-
Formula Grants	36,599	36,599	-	-	-	-
Reserves and Revenue Set Aside	9,192	9,192	-	-	-	-
Borrowing	14,050	14,778	(728)	-	-	-
Total Funding	84,091	84,819	(728)	0	0	0

Treasury Management

The Treasury Management Strategy (TMS), which provides the framework for managing the Council’s cash balances and borrowing requirement, continues to reflect a policy of ensuring minimum risk, whilst aiming to deliver secure realistic investment income on the Council’s cash balances. Cash investment balances as at 30 June 2025 have fallen by 36% in one year, from £213.7m at Q1 2024/25 to £137.2M at Q1 2025/26.

The average level of Council funds available for investment purposes during Q1 was £151.9m. The total amount received in short term interest for Q1 was £1.798m at an average rate of 4.74%, compared to £1.742m at an average rate of 4.96% for Q4 2024/25.

The Bank of England Base Rate was cut by 0.25% on the 8 May, the rate at 30 June was 4.25%. The prospect for interest rates is for further reductions into 2025/26 to a 3.75% level by 31 March 2026. Where possible a number of fixed term deposits with local authorities and banks were placed for periods up to 1 year in Q1, this will help secure investment returns into 2025/26.

The investment strategy approach in previous quarters to ‘ladder’ deposits has created a steady maturity profile, this will ensure the Council’s cashflow and liquidity requirements are covered for 2025/26.

Cashflow is monitored on a rolling 18 month forecast and no short-term borrowing was required in Q1.

In Q1 an opportunity was taken to repay a Barclays Market Loan with the assistance of Treasury Advisors (MUFG). A cost-effective early repayment of a £6.45m loan was agreed, securing an appreciable discount of £1m to the Council. The discount can be spread over a 10-year period in line with accounting regulations and generates a saving of around £100k to the Treasury Budget for 2025/26. The repayment was funded by cash on deposit held in liquidity accounts, the original maturity date of the Barclays Market Loan was October 2058.  

The Council’s external debt, totalling £200.1m at Q1, is held as long-term loans and now fully with the PWLB. No long-term borrowing was undertaken in Q1.

The Treasury Management budget is currently forecasted to underspend by £0.9m.This is based on the position outlined above with regard to balances held and investment returns. A reduced in-year capital borrowing requirement alongside an ongoing strategy to delay borrowing in a falling interest rate environment has meant that the council has delayed new external borrowing; and returns on investments in year were greater than anticipated as the Base Rate did not fall as fast as originally anticipated.

The performance of the Council’s treasury management activity, against benchmarks and the key indicators set in the Treasury Management Strategy, as approved by Full Council on 6 February 2024, are set out at Appendix 2.

Reserves and Balances 2025/26 (£000)

Reserve / Balance

Balance at 1 Apr 2025

Forecast net use at Q1

Net use at Q1 *

Movement

Balance at 31 Mar 2026

Statutorily ringfenced or held on behalf of others:

Balances held by schools	16,043	-	-	-	16,043
Public Health	3,998	(2,891)	(2,891)	-	1,107
Other	5,491	(1,414)	(1,414)	-	4,077
Subtotal	25,532	(4,305)	(4,305)	0	21,227

Service Reserves:

Corporate Waste	19,844	(5,109)	(5,109)	-	14,735
Capital Programme	9,060	(9,060)	(9,060)	-	-
Insurance	7,678	(2,000)	(2,000)	-	5,678
Local Government Re-organisation	-	4,200	4,200	-	4,200
Subtotal	36,582	(11,969)	(11,969)	0	24,613

Strategic Reserves:

Priority / Transformation	5,187	(592)	(592)	-	4,595
Financial Management	11,276	(5,670)	(5,670)	-	5,606
Subtotal	16,463	(6,262)	(6,262)	0	10,201
Total Reserves	78,577	(22,536)	(22,536)	0	56,041
General Fund	10,000	-	-	-	10,000
Total Reserves and Balances	88,577	(22,536)	(22,536)	0	66,041

* Currently excludes any transfers relating to Q1 variances.

Changes to Fees & Charges

There are no changes to fees and charges during the quarter.

Outstanding debt analysis (£ millions)

The value of debt aged over 5 months at Quarter 1 has increased by £0.592m to £9.947m compared to the 2024/25 outturn position of £9.355m.

The majority £9.676m (97.27%) of all debt over 5 months old relates to Adult Social Care and Health (ASCH), which has increased by £0.740m compared with the 2024/25 outturn position of £8.936m.                                                          

The debt over 5 months related to income due to other departments has decreased by £0.148m to £0.271m, compared with the 2024/25 outturn position of £0.419m.  

Adult Social Care client contribution income represents most of the Council’s debt collection activity and the recovery process can be lengthy due to the sensitive and often complex nature of individual circumstances. However, the rising level of debt in this area is a high priority area of focus for 2025/26. A strategic review, including establishing a project board, has started to analyse the end-to-end income collection and debt recovery processes with the aim of both reducing existing debt and preventing further debt from being accrued.