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 |
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. |
|||||||||
(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 |
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. |
|||
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). |
|||
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). |
|||
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. |
|||
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 |
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: |
|
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). |
|||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||||
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. |
Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG)
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 |
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% |
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 |
|
Early Years Block (including delegated to Schools) |
||||
(204) |
0 |
Early Years Free Entitlement |
Lower take up than anticipated in summer term and anticipated reduction in 2-year old free entitlement in autumn term. |
|
16 |
10 |
Other |
Minor variances. |
|
High Needs Block (excluding delegated to Schools) |
||||
302 |
74 |
Educational Agency Placements |
There has been an increase in the cost of some bespoke tuition packages, some of which relates to COVID-19. The agency budget has also been impacted due to a lack of local provision for cognitively able children with Autism and Anxiety/Social Emotional Mental Health (SEMH) needs who have not been able to manage in local mainstream schools despite intervention from external agencies. Furthermore, there is an increasing cost of the education packages linked to external residential disability placements. |
|
215 |
0 |
Mainstream top-up |
There has been overall significant growth both in terms of EHCP numbers and the unit rate of top-up funding assigned. There has been a particular increase in demand through higher numbers of EHCP needs assessments for early years children with complex needs from nursery into primary mainstream reception classes in September 2020 requiring high levels of support. |
|
(89) |
0 |
Specialist Provision - Resource Bases |
Increased provision for the new Cullum Centre - not yet at full capcacity from September. |
|
60 |
0 |
Brighton & Hove Inclusion Support Service (BHISS) |
Increases in staffing costs in excess of generated income. |
|
(34) |
0 |
Other |
Other variances. |
|
Exceptions and Growth Fund |
||||
94 |
51 |
Other |
Other variances. COVID-19 costs relate to loss of income in the EMAS service. |
|
69 |
111 |
Access to Education |
This is as a result of the estimated loss of fines income due to COVID-19. |