On 14 February 2023, Cabinet:-
(i) Noted that the Council faces a number of
challenges in 2022/23. However, the Council is in a strong robust position with
strong financial control processes in place. Reserves are healthy and within
recommended limits;
(ii) Noted that it is now forecast that there
is a forecast year end overspend of £11.0m. This is an improvement of £26.7m
compared to the risk of overspend reported at Month 8. Work will continue to
try to reduce this further. The financial resilience reserve will remain at
more than adequate levels to meet our financial risks;
(iii) Approved an increase in the Capital Budget
for 2022/23 of £5.1m as set out in paragraph 4.7 of the report resulting in a
revised capital budget of £728.6m;
(iv) Noted the forecast Capital spend is
£581.9m. There is an increase in slippage of £86.7m from Month 8, as set out in
paragraph 4.8 of the report;
(v) Noted the Treasury Management and Investment
Portfolio Reports that are included in Appendix A at Annex 2 and 3;
(vi) Approved the use of £0.2m of General
Policy Contingency as set out in paragraph 4.14 of the report;
(vii) Approved the writing off of debts over
£0.025m as described in paragraph 4.15 of the report;
(viii) Noted that the Government has announced
additional funding for local authorities to support the most vulnerable
households in England with their Council Tax. This funding will allow councils
to deliver up to £25 additional support to households already receiving council
tax support. The reduction is expected to be applied to 2023/24 council tax
bills. Birmingham’s allocation is £3,035,699;
(ix) Approved this spending using its
discretionary powers under s13A(1)(c) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992;
(x) Noted that there will be an excess after
these payments have been made. The Government has asked councils to use their
discretion on using this by ‘using a proportion of their allocation to
establish their own local approach to helping economically vulnerable households
with council tax bills’;
(xi) Approved for the agreement of this
approach to be delegated to the Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources for
approval.
THE
DEADLINE FOR CALL IN IS 1600 HOURS ON MONDAY 20 FEBRUARY 2023.