Subject:

Families, Children & Learning

Revenue Budget Summary

Forecast		2020/21	Forecast	Forecast	COVID	Forecast	2020/21	Savings	Savings
Variance		Budget	Outturn	Variance	Variance	Variance	Savings	Achieved/	At
Month 2		Month 5	Month 5	Month 5	Month 5	Month 5	Proposed	Anticipated	Risk
£'000	Service	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	%	£'000	£'000	£'000
0	Director of Families, Children & Learning	102	97	(5)	4	-4.9%	0	0	0
1,965	Health, SEN & Disability Services	42,450	44,487	2,037	1,479	4.8%	1,376	474	902
1,953	Education & Skills	7,729	8,940	1,211	547	15.7%	206	155	51
(706)	Children's Safeguarding & Care	40,748	39,306	(1,442)	346	-3.5%	1,362	1,268	94
(13)	Quality Assurance & Performance	1,447	1,435	(12)	0	-0.8%	38	30	8
3,199	Total Families, Children & Learning	92,476	94,265	1,789	2,376	1.9%	2,982	1,927	1,055
(98)	Further Financial Recovery Measures (see below)	-	(40)	(40)	0	-	-	-	-
3,101	Residual Risk After Financial Recovery Measures	92,476	94,225	1,749	2,376	1.9%	2,982	1,927	1,055

The COVID variances shown in the tables above and below are included wihin the “Forecast Variance” and “Key Variances” columns.

Explanation of Key Variances (Note: FTE/WTE = Full/Whole Time Equivalent)

Key	COVID
Variances	Variances
£'000	£'000	Service Area	Variance or Financial Recovery Measure Description
Further Directorate Financial Recovery Measures
(40)		Adult LD Provider Services	Seeking efficiencies in provider services particularly focussing on running / premises costs but this has been impacted by the Covid pandemic
Director of Families, Children & Learning
	4	Minor Variances.
Health, SEN & Disability Services
895	0	Demand led - Children's Disability Placements	The number of placements and unit costs are forecast to be 40% in excess of budget with particular pressure on external residential provision. There have been five separate residential placements in the current financial year
252	129	In-house disability services	There is an underlying budget pressure in in-house respite provision and additional staffing requirements due to COVID-19
902	1,293	Adults LD - community care	The overspend is attributable to COVID-19: £0.811m of planned savings are not achievable and it is estimated that additional payments to providers in support of COVID-19 will be £0.482m.
(12)	57	Other	Minor variances.
Education & Skills
1,122	339	Home to School Transport	For 2020/21 the forecast overspend is £1.122m, of which £0.339m relates to additional costs as a result of COVID-19. Excluding COVID-19 related costs, the forecast overspend for 2020/21 has reduced from the initial estimate of £1.200m to £0.783m. It must be stressed that the forecast of COVID-19 costs is subject to a number of unknown variables and may significantly change. The forecast has improved significantly following the route planning work undertaken by the Home To School Transport Team for the new accademic year. The figures include the impact of supplier relief payments and the additional costs from social distancing measures from September. The forecast does not include any assumption at this stage re the Government Grant for home to school and college transport as details have not been finally agreed with the City Transport team.
163	133	Council Nurseries and Children's Centres	There are underlying budget pressures relating to the council nurseries in 2020/21 equating to £0.060m. This has been significantly compounded by the impact of COVID-19 and the consequent loss of fee income. The loss of fee income has been estimated as £0.440m. The service is using the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention (CJRS) and income reimbursement scheme. This will mean anticipated reimbursement of £0.307m to offset the overspend. There is also an estimated £0.030m underspend relating to the council's children’s centres.
(74)	75	Other	Minor variances on other budgets. The COVID-19 costs relate to delays in implementing savings within the Skills & Employment service.
Children's Safeguarding & Care
(937)	152	Demand-Led - Children's placements	The underspend relates to a number of different factors. There has been an increase in the level of grant available for care leavers and overall the numbers of children being placed in high cost placements is below the budgeted level. The average unit costs for placements, particularly in residential homes has increased in recent months but overall it still results in the underspend of £0.937m.
(151)	55	Preventive/S17	There is a significant underspend projected across the Preventive budgets. It is anticipated that, with continued scrutiny and current controls on spending, a year-end underspend will be realised in 2020/21 despite the additional costs relating to COVID-19.
70	0	Legal Fees	There has been a significant increase in demand for child protection legal work in recent weeks. Cases are taking longer for a number of reasons and new cases need to be allocated. It is, therefore anticipated that there will be additional costs incurred by the in-house legal team resulting in the overspend of £0.070m
(141)	28	Social Work Teams	The underspend is primarliy due to the difficulty in recruitiing psychologists in the Partners in Change hub and the recharge of costs from Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust.
(75)	47	Contact Service	Activity levels are down from previous years and this has resulted in the forecast underspend. However, this may be, in part, an impact of COVID-19 and may not continue for the second half of the year.
(123)	0	Adolescent service	The underspend in the adolescent service reflects the difficulty in recruiting to various vacant posts across the service.
(85)	16	Other	Minor variances.
Quality Assurance & Performance
(12)		Other	Minor variances.

Health & Adult Social Care (HASC)

Revenue Budget Summary

Forecast		2020/21	Forecast	Forecast	COVID	Forecast	2020/21	Savings	Savings
Variance		Budget	Outturn	Variance	Variance	Variance	Savings	Achieved/	At
Month 2		Month 5	Month 5	Month 5	Month 5	Month 5	Proposed	Anticipated	Risk
£'000	Service	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	%	£'000	£'000	£'000
9,538	Adult Social Care	35,304	41,110	5,806	7,300	16.4%	0	0	0
2,061	S75 Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust (SPFT)	18,354	18,720	366	2,169	2.0%	0	0	0
2,489	Integrated Commissioning	10,604	15,192	4,588	4,567	43.3%	0	0	0
0	Public Health	404	404	0	39	0.0%	0	0	0
14,088	Total Health & Adult Social Care	64,666	75,426	10,760	14,075	16.6%	0	0	0
(576)	Further Financial Recovery Measures (see below)	-	0	0	3,046	-	-	-	-
13,512	Residual Risk After Financial Recovery Measures	64,666	75,426	10,760	17,121	16.6%	0	0	0

The COVID variances shown in the tables above and below are included wihin the “Forecast Variance” and “Key Variances” columns.

Explanation of Key Variances

Key	COVID
Variances	Variances
£'000	£'000	Service Area	Variance or Financial Recovery Measure Description
Further Directorate Financial Recovery Measures
0	3,046	Further Financial Recovery Measures projection	The initial recovery measures have now been incorporated into the forecast above. The Directorate is working on additional measures and confirming plans to further mitigate the current forecast.
Adult Social Care
4,975	6,770	Demand-Led Community Care - Physical & Sensory Support	The forecast number of placements/packages is 2,304 WTE, which is below the budgeted level of 2,321 WTE placements. The average unit cost of a placements/package is higher than the budgeted level at £219 per week (£41 per week above budget per client). The combination of the number of adults placed being 17 WTE below the budgeted level and the increased unit costs result in the overspend of £4.975m. Therefore, the overall activity is in-line with the budget however the unit costs are 23% above budget and causing a significant pressure. This is due to increasing numbers of placements (many of which are hospital discharges) being made at high unit costs as a result of COVID-19. A significant portion of the overspend is attributable to COVID-19 - £6.770m for the ongoing costs for increased demand for care packages and care home placements, and additional payments to providers in support of COVID-19, net of NHS England funding.
276	0	Demand-Led Community Care - Substance Misuse	There are relatively small numbers of clients within this service and this is in line with the budgeted demand. The average unit cost is higher than the budgeted unit cost resulting in the overspend of £0.276m.
(249)	147	Assessment teams	This is due to a number of temporary vacancies across the Assessment teams.
784	380	In house services	There is an underlying budget pressure in in-house provision. There are also additional staffing requirements and income pressures due to COVID-19.
20	3	Other
S75 Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust (SPFT)
327	1,726	Demand-Led - Memory Cognition Support	The unit cost is higher than had been anticipated resulting in the overspend projection of £0.327m (before applying the agreed risk-share with Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust). The forecast number of placements/packages is 405 WTE which is above the budgeted level of 397 WTE placements. The average unit cost is above the budgeted level at £350 per week (£9 per week above budget). Therefore, the overall activity is 8 WTE above budget and the unit costs are 3% above budget and causing a significant pressure. A significant portion of the overspend is attributable to COVID-19: £1.726m for the ongoing costs for increased demand for care packages and care home placements, and additional payments to providers in support of COVID-19.
178	431	Demand-Led - Mental Health Support	The number of forecast placements are higher than budgeted and this results in the overspend projection of £0.178m (before applying the agreed risk-share with Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust). There is an increasing need and complexity within this client group and the forecast number of placements/packages is 492 WTE, which is above the budgeted level of 418 WTE placements. The average unit cost of a placements/package is lower than the budgeted level at £316 per week (£49 per week less than the budget per client). A significant portion of the overspend is attributable to COVID-19 - £0.431m for the ongoing costs for increased demand for care packages and care home placements, and additional payments to providers in support of COVID-19.
111	12	Staffing Teams	This is due to an increase in overtime hours within the AMHP Service as a result of COVID-19.
(250)	0	SPFT Risk Share	Agreed risk-share with Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust.
Integrated Commissioning
361	0	External Funding	£0.361m is the net pressure to the council following recurrent reductions in funding from Brighton & Hove CCG. The council has allocated re-investment funding to mitigate this however a pressure of £0.361m remains.
4,210	4,517	Contracts	The overspend is attributable to Covid-19 and reflects the forecast statutory costs to support ‘verified’ rough sleepers. The government has recently awarded the council £3.429m towards the costs of continued housing of verified rough sleepers and this funding will reduce the forecast overspends in both Housing, Neighbourhoods & Communities and the Health & Adult Social Care directorates once allocated.This will done when the exact split of costs across the two service areas has been determined but at this time the grant is shown under ‘Corporately-held Budgets’.
17	50	Other
Public Health
0	39	Other

Economy, Environment & Culture

Revenue Budget Summary

Forecast		2020/21	Forecast	Forecast	COVID	Forecast	2020/21	Savings	Savings
Variance		Budget	Outturn	Variance	Variance	Variance	Savings	Achieved/	At
Month 2		Month 5	Month 5	Month 5	Month 5	Month 5	Proposed	Anticipated	Risk
£'000	Service	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	%	£'000	£'000	£'000
14,248	Transport	(2,644)	2,031	4,675	4,902	176.8%	3,877	2,109	1,768
1,900	City Environmental Management	32,211	32,377	166	166	0.5%	265	234	31
941	City Development & Regeneration	3,524	3,798	274	449	7.8%	155	126	29
7,088	Culture, Tourism & Sport	3,934	6,416	2,482	2,583	63.1%	260	233	27
1,680	Property	2,170	3,847	1,677	1,533	77.3%	447	273	174
25,857	Total Economy, Environment & Culture	39,195	48,469	9,274	9,633	23.7%	5,004	2,975	2,029

The COVID variances shown in the tables above and below are included wihin the “Forecast Variance” and “Key Variances” columns.

Explanation of Key Variances

Key	COVID
Variances	Variances
£'000	£'000	Service Area	Variance or Financial Recovery Measure Description
Further Directorate Financial Recovery Measures
		Whole Directorate	The impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on the directorate's income streams is significant and material. All areas of activity are under review with the aim of mitigating the income losses.
Transport
11,400	11,400	Parking Services	Parking Services is now forecasting £11.4m under-generation of income against budget (compared to £14m at Month 2). The improvement is substantially the result of much faster than expected recovery of off-street car parks income and Penalty Charge Notice Income (which this forecast assumes will remain at close to budget levels for the rest of 2020/21). This income recovery has been offset by a forecast reduction in on-street parking income (£0.500m compared to Month 2) as a direct result of Transport Active Plan and other local management measures (for example the ongoing closure of Madeira Drive). Parking income is a demand-led activity which can be difficult to predict and may also be negatively impacted by the latest COVID-19 infection control measures (limiting social groups to a maximum of six). The income losses are therefore mainly Covid-19 related, however, there were objections to the fees and charges for changes to permits which required Committee approval to take forward and also significant IT&D work was required for some of the fees and charges agreed for 2020/21. Therefore, this may constitute a small part of the parking losses and these agreed changes will not be operational until the Autumn. The overall parking income position is being kept under constant review and may potentially deteriorate if lockdown measures remain.
450	450	Transport Projects and Engineering	Payments to Bus Operators are forecast to exceed budget by £0.276m. This is net of additional funding from the DfT and the DfE. Bus Shelter Advertising Income is expected to be short of budget by £0.160m (COVID-19 related) and a National Trust voluntary contribution towards Breeze up to the Downs is not forecast to be received (£0.015m).
80	307	Traffic Management	Reduced Road Work Permit Fees Income forecast £0.128m (COVID-19 related). Partially offset by forecast reduced Permit Scheme staff costs (£0.100m). Highways Licensing income is forecast to under-achieve due to waived Tables and Chairs licence fees of £0.101m and reduced forecast Skip income of £0.074m, and A-Board Income of £0.004m (both COVID-19 related). However, this is partially offset by Hoarding Licence income (£0.186m) and Scaffold Licence income (£0.026m) both forecast to exceed budget.
(7,255)	(7,255)	Sales, Fees and Charges Grant	This is the estimated value of the grant due to be claimed based on the latest eligible forecast losses of income driven by the COVID-19 outbreak.
City Environmental Management
1,100	800	City Clean	£0.800m of the forecast overspend is waste collection and street cleansing agency costs substantially driven by COVID-19 staffing related shortfalls. A further £0.300m is the COVID-19 related net forecast loss of commercial income (garden and trade waste after reduced disposal costs). Service delivery is under review and measures are being put in place to reduce costs (for example; service improvement plans, rationalisation of bin/box deliveries, a mobile collection team to more efficently support rounds). However there are cost pressures which cannot be mitigated (for example: city clean-ups).
0	300	Waste Disposal	The £0.300m forecast overspend is the estimated impact of COVID-19 on the waste disposal contract (for example: increased volume of household waste during lockdown). This has reduced since Month 2 (from £0.600m) and is assumed to be funded from the waste PFI reserve.
100	0	City Parks	A new in-year spending pressure of £0.100m for emergency tree maintenance (Dutch Elm disease related) is forecast within the Park Services. This is the cost of essential public health and safety works to remove dead trees.
(200)	0	Fleet & Maintenance	Fleet & Maintenance are forecast to be under budget by £0.200m (with additional COVID-19 related costs contained within existing budgets). Progress has been made in Fleet & Maintenance to control and reduce costs which has now delivered results (for example: vehicle hire costs are lower than at the same point last year).
100	0	Head of City Environmental Management	There is a £0.100m management/service improvement team pressure (was funded from the Modernisation Fund in 2019/20). This team are working to deliver the service improvements and operational reviews to deliver cost reductions going forward.
(934)	(934)	Sales, Fees and Charges Grant	This is the estimated value of the grant due to be claimed based on the latest eligible forecast losses of income driven by the COVID-19 outbreak.
City Development & Regeneration
937	987	Development Planning	Loss of Planning and Building Control income due to COVID-19. Some assumptions have been made for Planning income to start returning to normal levels from October onwards.
(53)	0	Planning Policy and Major Projects	Principal Planning Officer post forecast to be vacant for eight months and part time Waste planning post vacant.
(72)	0	Economic Development	Delay in recruiting for Bio Diversity Offcier and a post within City Wide Food projects.
24	24	Sustainability & International	Additional expenditure on Brighton & Hove Economic Partnership due to COVID-19.
(562)	(562)	Sales, Fees and Charges Grant	This is the estimated value of the grant due to be claimed based on the latest eligible forecast losses of income driven by the COVID-19 outbreak.
Culture, Tourism & Sport
3,169	3,169	Royal Pavilion and Museums	Loss of income due to closure of all buidings from COVID-19. Some overspend offset by reduced expenditure on some costs such as building maintenance and staff costs.
1,887	1,914	Sport and Leisure	Loss of income due to COVID-19, including rent reductions on seafront properties and assumed closure of Volks Railway for the whole year.
1,874	1,821	Venues	Loss of income from cancelled events due to COVID-19 and assumes venues will remain closed until March 2021. Some loss of income is offset from reduced staff and building costs.
203	330	Tourism and Marketing	Loss of income due to result of reduced visitor/tourist numbers and cancellation of conferences due to COVID-19. Also includes £0.100m overspend for Partnership Fees waived (Policy & Resources sub-committee 29th May 2020).
(4,651)	(4,651)	Sales, Fees and Charges Grant	This is the estimated value of the grant due to be claimed based on the latest eligible forecast losses of income driven by the COVID-19 outbreak.
Property
1,690	1,546	Property	During the first quarter of the year, the fast changing impact of COVID-19 has put increasing pressures on many Property budgets. Increased cleaning specifications, deep cleans requested and specific cleaning materials in increased volumes has led to pressures within the Building Cleaning Service. Increased need for Security for many areas, the need to secure sites where work was paused due to COVID-19 plus cover for staff in isolation has resulted in a large pressure within the Premises/Concierge Service. Many building projects have been put on hold and delayed resulting in much uncertainty around fee income to the Technical Services Team who are currently expecting an income shortfall of around £0.240m. The Energy Team have reviewed expected gas prices and have now been able to reduce the expected full year costs accordingly. COVID-19 has put pressure on some council tenants particularly those dependent on the travel industry and Estates have been liaising with tenants who are struggling with their rental payments to negotiate and conclude alternative payment arrangements, deferral or reduction on a case by case basis. A process for considering these cases has been implemented and currently there have been some improvements in the predicted level of income loss but this presumes that all defered income will eventually be paid in full so will need to be tightly monitored.
(13)	(13)	Sales, Fees and Charges Grant	This is the estimated value of the grant due to be claimed based on the latest eligible forecast losses of income driven by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Housing, Neighbourhoods & Communities

Revenue Budget Summary

Forecast		2020/21	Forecast	Forecast	COVID	Forecast	2020/21	Savings	Savings
Variance		Budget	Outturn	Variance	Variance	Variance	Savings	Achieved/	At
Month 2		Month 5	Month 5	Month 5	Month 5	Month 5	Proposed	Anticipated	Risk
£'000	Service	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	%	£'000	£'000	£'000
5,456	Housing General Fund	6,106	14,600	8,494	7,055	139.1%	500	150	350
475	Libraries	4,770	4,948	178	178	3.7%	89	89	0
185	Communities, Equalities & Third Sector	2,948	3,133	185	185	6.3%	11	11	0
170	Safer Communities	2,697	2,761	64	64	2.4%	170	170	0
6,286	Housing, Neighbourhoods & Communities	16,521	25,442	8,921	7,482	151.5%	770	420	350
(2,760)	Further Financial Recovery Measures (see below)	-	(4,193)	(4,193)	(2,537)	-	-	-	-
3,526	Residual Risk After Financial Recovery Measures	16,521	21,249	4,728	4,945	28.6%	770	420	350

The COVID variances shown in the tables above and below are included wihin the “Forecast Variance” and “Key Variances” columns.

Explanation of Key Variances

Key	COVID
Variances	Variances
£'000	£'000	Service Area	Variance or Financial Recovery Measure Description
Further Directorate Financial Recovery Measures
(3,043)	(1,442)	Temporary Accommodation (TA)	Financial Recovery measures include: · Flexible Homelessness Support Grant (FHSG) use. The use of £2.300m to offset overspends on homelessness. This will pay for the overspend on normal activity as well as a contribution of £0.800m towards the additional costs of homelessness caued by COVID-19. · The forecast assumes that £0.075m of the £0.300m new investment funding for new service level in TA will be required from January due to the delays in the procurement of new short term emergency accommodation. If this was delayed further to the new financial year, then this could save a further £0.075m to reduce the financial pressure caused by COVID-19. · Extra Housing Benefit (HB) collectable from new spot purchase accommodation could result in £0.569m income to reduce COVID-19 pressures. Housing will need to ensure they are fully staffed to deal with the new volumes of households in TA. · Use of £0.098m reserves following review of the Damage Deposit Guarantee Scheme Reserve.
(800)	(800)	Rough Sleeper HB	This is the current estimate of HB collectable from rough sleepers/homeless in hotels to reduce COVID-19 pressures up to March 2021. The team have endeavoured to complete HB forms with residents wherever possible. Working remotely has made this difficult in many cases and once people are in accommodation, the incentive to communicate with the council is lost. The service is starting send staff out on site to pick up issues, and will keep this under review as restrictions due to COVID-19 change.
(50)	(50)	Private Sector Housing	Current assumptions in the forecast are that £0.050m of the £0.150m new investment funding for Private Sector Housing will be spent (staff in post from December 2020). Thos could be left vacant to the end of March 2021 saving a further £0.050m to reduce financial pressure caused by COVID-19.
(235)	(235)	Libraries	There are a range of measures (£0.035m) to help offset a small proportion of estimated losses of income due to COVID-19. Also by managing the Library PFI contract very closely and through effective management, improved performance and projected low inflationary increases, the Library Service will be able to reduce future PFI costs by at least £0.200m, based on current PFI Unitary Payments to offset income losses idenitifed below. This continues to be explored and if further savings are confirmed to be possible, these will come through future budget TBM monitoring reports.
(55)	0	Seaside Homes	Use of previous year’s revenue reserve to aid the current overspend.
(10)	(10)	Licensing	There is £0.010m to be met from general licensing reserves to cover part of the income losses on licensing.
Housing General Fund
3,818	2,348	Temporary Accommodation	£3.818m overspend as follows: £1.695m overspend due to higher levels of households using spot purchase accommodation than budgeted. The budget assumes an average of 36 units of spot purchase accommodation through the year and at the end of the August there were 217 in use. The forecast assumes this will continue to increase by a further 30 to November and then level off as there are limited move on options at this time. Continued similar levels of overspending as in 2019/20 on other areas of TA such as repairs and income collection mean that £0.350m of savings are unlikely to be met. Forecast underspend of £0.225m on the new investment funding of £0.300m for new level of service for Emergency short term accommodation. Assume new contract in place from January 2021. Forecast £2.348m overspend from higher levels of households using spot purchase accommodation as a result of COVID-19 which is assumed to rise as private sector residents are evicted from homes for non-payment of rent. This includes a forecast reduction in income collected, especially from those not in receipt of Housing Benefit.
4,300	4,300	Rough Sleeper Accommodation	This relates to the cost of hotel and University accommodation and move on costs for housing rough sleepers to 31 March 2021. Note that income from HB is shown in financial recovery measures above. The costs of support, security costs etc. are shown in the forecast for the HASC directorate. The government has recently awarded the council £3.429m towards the costs of continued housing of verified rough sleepers and this funding will reduce the forecast overspends in both Housing, Neighbourhoods & Communities and the Health & Adult Social Care directorates once allocated.This will done when the exact split of costs across the two service areas has been determined but at this time the grant is shown under ‘Corporately-held Budgets’
(40)		Private Sector Housing	A net underspend on the private sector housing service due to an underspend of £0.100m on the new investment funding of £0.150m for the new enforcement work with private sector landlords. This forecast assumes service in place from December 2020. This underspend is offset by a forecast overspend of £0.060m relating to Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard fine income which is not achievable.
326	260	Seaside Homes	Forecast overspend is mainly due to a possible reduction in rent payments from self-payers and those in receipt of Universal Credit facing more hardship as a result of COVID-19. Shortfalls in income collection of £0.066m, in part, due to the impact of Universal Credit.
147	147	Housing Options	Additional staffing costs to undertake assessments of rough sleepers and other newly accommodated households under COVID-19 provision. The contracts for these staff have been extended to end of December in line with authority by P&R committee to continue to support rough sleepers until then, pending the funding from the MHCLG.
(100)		Travellers	Underspend due to staff vacancies, recruitment due from January. Also underspends on rubbish clearance and legal costs.
43		Various	Other minor variances.
Libraries
178	178	Loss of Libraries Income	The underlying Libraries budget is currently forecast to break-even with all savings met, however, there is an estimated loss of income due to COVID-19 from shop sales, meeting space bookings, fines and charges of £0.475m. The service is currently assuming very little income for the whole financial year. This has been mitigated by the assumed Sales Fees and Charges compensation grant of £0.297m. Mitigating actions of £0.235m have also been identified to cover some of the shortfall and this is shown in the financial recovery measures.
Communities, Equalities & Third Sector
185	185	Vulnerable People cell	The underlying budget is currently forecast to break even with all savings met. The overspend relates wholly to an estimate of the extra Food Partnership costs as a result of COVID-19.
Safer Communities
64	64	Loss of licensing income	The underlying budget is currently forecast to break-even with all savings met. However, the estimated impact of COVID-19 on Licensing income are: Taxi Licensing shortfall (£0.110m); Licensed Premises (£0.050m); Street Trading (£0.010m). This is offset by the assumed level of Sales, Fees and Charges compensation grant of £0.106m. The service has also identified further mitigating actions to cover £0.010m of the pressure and this is shown in the financial recovery measures.

Finance & Resources

Revenue Budget Summary

Forecast		2020/21	Forecast	Forecast	COVID	Forecast	2020/21	Savings	Savings
Variance		Budget	Outturn	Variance	Variance	Variance	Savings	Achieved/	At
Month 2		Month 5	Month 5	Month 5	Month 5	Month 5	Proposed	Anticipated	Risk
£'000	Service	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	%	£'000	£'000	£'000
0	Finance (Mobo)	272	206	(66)	0	-24.3%	0	0	0
100	HR & Organisational Development (Mobo)	1,101	1,202	101	24	9.2%	0	0	0
0	IT&D (Mobo)	4,426	4,426	0	17	0.0%	225	225	0
0	Procurement (Mobo)	(253)	(253)	0	1	0.0%	0	0	0
78	Business Operations (Mobo)	(185)	(88)	97	12	52.4%	0	0	0
893	Revenues & Benefits (Mobo)	5,358	5,688	330	223	6.2%	250	250	0
0	Housing Benefit Subsidy	(751)	(604)	147	0	19.6%	0	0	0
265	Contribution to Orbis	10,909	11,139	230	35	2.1%	477	477	0
1,336	Total Finance & Resources	20,877	21,716	839	312	4.0%	952	952	0

Mobo = Budgets held by Orbis and Managed on behalf of the relevant partner i.e. they are sovereign, non-partnership budgets.

The COVID variances shown in the tables above and below are included wihin the “Forecast Variance” and “Key Variances” columns.

Explanation of Key Variances

Key	COVID
Variances	Variances
£'000	£'000	Service Area	Variance or Financial Recovery Measure Description
Finance (Mobo)
(66)	0		A predicted underspend of £0.066m. The vacant post of the Executive Director is anticipated to save £0.130m this year, net of acting up costs. This will be partially offset by higher external audit costs of £0.035m and other additional contractual costs of £0.029m including FirstCare.
HR & Organisational Development (Mobo)
101	24	Human Resources	The service is declaring an overspend of £0.101m at Month 5. There remains a pressure against the funding of union time of £0.049m, income pressures within the service of £0.037m and other net costs elsewhere of £0.015m. Within these forecast figures, the service has incurred costs relating to COVID-19 of £0.024m.
Business Operations (Mobo)
97	12	Business Operations	The service is predicting a pressure of £0.097m due mainly to extra BHCC system costs in 2020/21, including significant ICON system hosted implementation costs. This figure includes covid-19 costs of £0.012m, mostly for costs of overtime.
Revenues & Benefits (Mobo)
384	223	Court Costs income for council tax and business rates	Forecast shortfall in net court costs income predominantly due to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19.
62	0	Supplies and Services	This is mainly from increased computer system costs and bank charges.
(116)	0	Staffing	Staffing costs are being offset on a one-off basis from a combination of new burdens and grant funding resulting in net saving of £0.116m.
Housing Benefit Subsidy
147	0	Housing Benefit Subsidy	The overall forecast is for a pressure of £0.147m. Within this there is a projected surplus of £0.080m relating to the collection of over-payments of former Council Tax Benefit. There is an overspend of £0.227m on the main subsidy budgets. Within this there is a pressure of £0.434m relating to a particular benefit type for vulnerable tenants which is not fully subsidised. This is partially offset by the net position on the collection of overpayments being £0.225m better than budget and there are other minor adverse variances of £0.018m.
F&R Contribution to ORBIS
230	35	Contribution to Orbis	This is forecast to overspend by £0.230m mainly due there being a £0.750m pressure in the base budget for Business Operations. There are other pressures reported for the structure costs within Finance and staffing costs and income shortfalls within HR.

Strategy, Governance & Law

Revenue Budget Summary

Forecast		2020/21	Forecast	Forecast	COVID	Forecast	2020/21	Savings	Savings
Variance		Budget	Outturn	Variance	Variance	Variance	Savings	Achieved/	At
Month 2		Month 5	Month 5	Month 5	Month 5	Month 5	Proposed	Anticipated	Risk
£'000	Service	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	%	£'000	£'000	£'000
0	Corporate Policy	642	642	0	0	0.0%	27	27	0
60	Legal Services	1,540	1,490	(50)	10	-3.2%	103	103	0
0	Democratic & Civic Office Services	1,798	1,798	0	0	0.0%	12	12	0
422	Life Events	93	293	200	285	215.1%	8	0	8
0	Performance, Improvement & Programmes	670	664	(6)	0	-0.9%	49	49	0
83	Communications	650	680	30	84	4.6%	44	0	44
565	Total Strategy, Governance & Law	5,393	5,567	174	379	3.2%	243	191	52

The COVID variances shown in the tables above and below are included wihin the “Forecast Variance” and “Key Variances” columns.

Explanation of Key Variances

Key	COVID
Variances	Variances
£'000	£'000	Service Area	Variance or Financial Recovery Measure Description
Legal Services
(50)		Legal Services	£0.050m underspend at Month 5 compared to a £0.045m pressure last month, an improvement of £0.095m due mostly to income overachievement. There is a small pressure from COVID-19 relating to fee income of £0.010m (within the above figures).
Life Events
200	285	Life Events	There were income pressures of £0.641m (reduced to £0.285m after accounting for funding for income losses) arising from COVID-19 restrictions, as follows: · Registrars - £0.344m (reduced to £0.119m) as a result of all Registration services being suspended and telephone death registration only. This forecast has been recast with the extra pressures due to income from ceremonies. · Bereavement - £0.103m (reduced to £0.096m). Memorials, Cemetery and Mortuary income pressure accounted for £0.178m, where the resources within the service had to work flexibly with adherence to safe distancing, so priority had been to provide cremations and burials and it was unable to resource other services. This was partly offset by an £0.075m overachievement in burials and cremations themselves as a result of increased funerals. · Land Charges - £0.194m (reduced to £0.070m) a further small improvement this month due to stamp duty relaxation. However the large pressure is the result of the major slump in activity due to closure of housing market, and ongoing uncertainty in this area of the economy. There are expected vacancy savings of £0.129m, from the Elections Team (£0.056m), Bereavement (£0.040m) and Registrars (£0.033m). Elsewhere in the service there are expected pressures in the Public Funerals service of £0.048m, and other overspends generally of £0.014m, but this is partly offset by expected furlough funding of £0.018m for Registrars staff.

Performance, Improvement & Programmes
(6)	0	Performance Team	Minor variances.
Communications
30	84	Communications	The service is forecasting an overspend of £0.030m this month. There are £0.084m pressures attributable to COVID-19, being unachievable restructuring savings (£0.044m), and extra advertising and distribution costs (£0.040m). These costs are partially offset however by underspends in staffing (£0.024m), supplies and services (£0.012m) and also in the Graphic Design Team (£0.018m).

Corporately-held Budgets

Revenue Budget Summary

Forecast		2020/21	Forecast	Forecast	COVID	Forecast	2020/21	Savings	Savings
Variance		Budget	Outturn	Variance	Variance	Variance	Savings	Achieved/	At
Month 2		Month 5	Month 5	Month 5	Month 5	Month 5	Proposed	Anticipated	Risk
£'000	Service	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	%	£'000	£'000	£'000
0	Bulk Insurance Premia	3,107	3,107	0	0	0.0%	0	0	0
0	Capital Financing Costs	7,329	6,879	(450)	0	-6.1%	0	0	0
0	Levies & Precepts	211	211	0	0	0.0%	0	0	0
(250)	Unallocated Contingency & Risk Provisions	1,338	1,121	(217)	0	-16.2%	0	0	0
(15,905)	Unringfenced Grants	(29,190)	(51,120)	(21,930)	(21,891)	-75.1%	0	0	0
4,261	Other Corporate Items	9,753	12,679	2,926	2,800	30.0%	340	0	340
(11,894)	Total Corporately-held Budgets	(7,452)	(27,123)	(19,671)	(19,091)	-264.0%	340	0	340

The COVID variances shown in the tables above and below are included wihin the “Forecast Variance” and “Key Variances” columns.

Explanation of Key Variances

Key	COVID
Variances	Variances
£'000	£'000	Service Area	Variance or Financial Recovery Measure Description
Capital Financing Costs
(1,140)		Interest Payable and Minumum Revenue Provision (MRP)	Reduction in cost of financing debt and MRP due to pause in Capital Programme.
690		Interest receiveable	Lower Investment income as a result of reduction in interest rates
Unallocated Contingency & Risk Provisions
(175)	0	Release of risk provision	The general risk provision of £0.750m has £0.575m earmarked against pay award and the remaining £0.175m is being released to aid the overall General Fund budget position.
(42)	0	Release of residual carbon neutral allocation	Pausing of capital programme has released this amount from the £0.200m allocated for Carbon Neutral.
Unringfenced Grants
(18,462)	(18,462)	COVID-19 Grant	This is the amount of COVID-19 grant allocated to the council in 3 tranches. £7.857m relates to the remaining allocation carried forward to 2020/21 from the first tranche of £8.157m and there is £8.048m and £2.557m in respect of the second and third tranches.
(3,429)	(3,429)	Next Steps Accommodation Programme Grant	MHCLG allocation toward homelessness and rough sleeper accommodation and support costs announced in September 2020. This grant will be allocated to the Housing, Neighbourhoods & Communities and Health & Adult Social Care directorates once the exact split of costs has been determined.
(39)	0	Extended Rights to Free Transport	Higher than forecast grant allocation for 2020/21 for Local Reform and Community Voice grant and Extended Rights to Free Transport.
Other Corporate Items
2,800	2,800	Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)	Estimates of PPE have been revised following recent reductions in demands on the service, the decision to charge certain external customers for provision and improving competitiveness of prices. This estimate could be volatile depending on the changing requirements for managing the pandemic.
229	229	COVID-19 Death Management	The council’s share of current forecast expenditure as part of the Sussex Resilience Forum.
(103)	0	Pensions	Overpayment from 2019/20 of £0.068m and an in-year variance of £0.035m.

Housing Revenue Account (HRA)

Revenue Budget Summary

Forecast		2020/21	Forecast	Forecast	COVID	Forecast
Variance		Budget	Outturn	Variance	Variance	Variance
Month 2		Month 5	Month 5	Month 5	Month 5	Month 5
£'000	Service	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	%
0	Capital Financing	29,869	29,759	(110)		-0.4%
0	Housing Management & Support	3,998	3,878	(120)		-3.0%
(60)	Head of City Development & Regeneration	594	459	(135)	(60)	-22.7%
142	Income, Involvement & Improvement	(46,886)	(46,768)	118	183	0.3%
(300)	Repairs & Maintenance	10,435	9,725	(710)	(710)	-6.8%
(125)	Property & Investment	(707)	(297)	410	(150)	58.0%
0	Tenancy Services	2,697	2,937	240	180	8.9%
(343)	Total Housing Revenue Account	0	(307)	(307)	(557)	0.0%

The COVID variances shown in the tables above and below are included wihin the “Forecast Variance” and “Key Variances” columns.

Explanation of Key Variances

Key	COVID
Variances	Variances
£'000	£'000	Service Area	Variance Description
Capital Financing
(110)	0	Financing costs	Significant reprofiling of HRA capital expenditure from 2019/20 into 2020/21 impacts on the timing of when borrowing is required to be undertaken to fund the expenditure. This has resulted in lower interest charges being incurred during 2020/21, compared to the original budget estimate.
Housing Management & Support
(70)		Transfer Incentive Scheme	This service assists tenants to down-size or to move into more suitable or accessible accommododation. Each case takes time to complete and current expenditure levels indicate that this budget will be underspent by £0.070m.
(50)		Employee costs	Projected underspend against staff training and agency staff budget.
Head of City Development & Regeneration
(135)	(60)	Staffing	Staffing underspends as COVID-19 has meant delayed recruitment.
Income, Involvement & Improvement
142	142	Bad Debt Provision	There is a forecast overspend of approximately £0.142m due to the increase in arrears as a result of COVID-19.
(65)		Income Management Team	Underspend on employee costs £0.056m and other small underspends.
41	41	Laundries costs	Overspend due to non collection of laundry charges.
Repairs & Maintenance
(710)	(710)	Repairs & Maintenance	There is a forecast underspend across the service, mainly due to the impact of reduced activity due to COVID-19. Spend against Responsive Repairs sub-contractors and materials is expected to be approximately £0.300m less than budgeted, owing to the first five months of operation being during the COVID-19 restrictions and the service attending to emergency repairs only. Vacancies were also held, pending the full service resuming which acccounts for a further £0.200m underspend and other running costs (mainly reduced fuel costs) are £0.100m less than budgeted. The Estates Development Budget is also expected to underspend by approximately £0.110m.
Property & Investment
790		Leaseholder - Service Charges Major Works	A lower than expected level of leasehold service charge is being forecast for major works in 2020/21. Provision in the HRA budget allowed for billing of £3.6m, based on likely completion times for a large number of projects. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions in place it has taken longer to complete or reach final account on one large major project and a couple of smaller projects, resulting in a lower level of £2.8m actually billed in 2020/21 with the remainder forecast for billing in 2021/22.
(230)		Repairs & Improvement	An underspend is forecast due to changes in the timescales for recruiting additional staff to support the new arrangements for planned and major works. This is as a result of changes to programme start dates whilst procurement work has been paused through the COVID-19 pandemic. Procurement work is now progressing well and in the final stages for planned works and major works frameworks are set to go out to tender shortly.
(150)	(150)	Mechanical & Electrical (M&E) - Service contracts	A forecast underspend is expected against the servicing and maintenance contracts across M&E, as a result of the COVID-19 restrictions.
Tenancy Services
110	110	Estates Cleaning	There has been additional spend against agency staff in the estates services team due to the increased cleaning requirements as a result of COVID-19.
120	70	Employee costs	Extra staff costs in part due to COVID-19 and staff turnover has been lower than expected at budget setting time leading to an overspend on this budget..
50		Temporary Accommodation	An overspend on the use of temporary accommodation for council housing tenants
(40)		Transport and Supplies	Other minor underspends on transport and supplies across this service.

Forecast		2020/21	Forecast	Forecast	COVID	Forecast
Variance		Budget	Outturn	Variance	Variance	Variance
Month 2		Month 5	Month 5	Month 5	Month 5	Month 5
£'000	Service	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	%
0	Individual Schools Budget (ISB)	131,838	131,838	0	0	0.0%
10	Early Years Block (excluding delegated to Schools) (This includes Private Voluntary & Independent (PVI) Early Years 3 & 4 year old funding for the 15 hours free entitlement to early years education)	13,747	13,559	(188)	10	-1.4%
(125)	High Needs Block (excluding delegated to Special Schools)	21,925	22,379	454	74	2.1%
174	Exceptions and Growth Fund	3,464	3,627	163	162	4.7%
0	Grant Income	(170,271)	(170,271)	0	0	0.0%
59	Total Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG)	703	1,132	429	246	61.0%