Decision
Analysis
outcome: Recommendations were approved, including noting the overspend in the General Fund, capital programme slippage, and outturn positions for the Housing Revenue Account and Dedicated Schools Grant.
summary: The decision involves approving the final financial outturn position for the council's budgets for 2024/25, including an overspend in the General Fund and capital programme, as well as issues with data quality and increased demand in certain areas.
topline: The Cabinet has decided to approve the council's final financial outturn position for 2024/25, including an overspend in the General Fund and capital programme.
reason_contentious: This issue may be contentious as it involves financial management and potential implications for future budget planning, which could impact services and stakeholders.
affected_stakeholders: ["Council members", "Finance department", "Service users", "Taxpayers"]
contentiousness_score: 5
political_party_relevance: There are no explicit mentions of political parties or political influence on the decision.
URL: https://councildecisions.bury.gov.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?ID=4239
Decision Maker: Cabinet
Outcome: Recommendations Approved
Is Key Decision?: Yes
Is Callable In?: No
Purpose:
Content: Councillor Sean Thorpe, Cabinet Member for Finance and Transformation, presented a report which provided an update on the council's final outturn position across the General Fund revenue and capital budgets, Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and DSG (Dedicated Schools Grant). The 2024/25 General Fund outturn position is an overspend of £4.365m, representing 1.94% of the net revenue budget. This compares to the last report to Cabinet at Quarter 3 which forecast an overspend of £2.660m. The increase was largely due to an increase in Adult Social Care, including additional demand and complexity of cases, as well as issues arising from data quality, and had been funded from budget stabilisation reserves which were now no longer sufficient to support the forecast funding gap past 2026/27. Members also noted that 93.88% of the approved savings as set out in the 24/25 budget had been delivered, collection of Business Rates and Council Tax arrears had improved as had the collection rate for in year debt. The outturn position on the capital programme was slippage of £19.360m against the £79.174m approved delivery programme, the HRA showed improvement with an underspend of £0.201m, and the DSG showed an overspend due to increased demand in the high needs block, a trend being seen nationally. Councillor Thorpe provided further detail on the data quality issue which had been identified as part of the year-end reconciliation process and effectively led to expenditure being netted off and understated by c.£4m. Members noted this issue was not widespread across the Council, the error had since been rectified and further staff training was in place. In response to Members’ questions regarding whether the data quality issue has fully resolved, it was noted that the next update would be the Quarter1 report in September, but that the most significant date to know would be the refresh of the MTFS in November. Decision: Cabinet: 1. Noted the 2024/25 revenue outturn position of a £4.365m overspend (1.94%) against a net budget of £224.480m; 2. Noted the General Fund and Earmarked Reserves balance at 31 March 2025 of £63.684m; 3. Noted the overall 2024/25 capital programme outturn position of £59.814m, (76%) compared to the overall 2024/25 capital programme budget of £79.174m; 4. Approved the in-year capital slippage of £19.360m being initially transferred into 2025/26 to enable an in-year review of the deliverability of the capital programme to be undertaken and the programme re-profiled accordingly; 5. Noted the 2024/25 outturn position for the Housing Revenue Account (HRA); and 6. Noted the 2024/25 outturn position for the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG). Reasons for the decision: To note the final financial outturn position for 2024/25 subject to external audit. Alternative options considered and rejected: None.
Date of Decision: July 9, 2025