Appendix 2: 2023/24 Forecast, Contributions and Spend
1. The 2023/24 budget to support the running costs of the Board and the delivery of the workplan totalled £255,131. This was made-up of the 2022/23 roll-over of £49,671 and the contributions as set out in the table below.
|
South Downs National Park Authority |
£7,970 |
|
University of Sussex |
£7,970 |
|
University of Brighton |
£7,970 |
|
Chichester College Group |
£7,970 |
|
Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership |
£7,970 |
|
Adur District Council |
£10,100 |
|
Arun District Council |
£24,695 |
|
Brighton & Hove City Council |
£52,300 |
|
Crawley Borough Council |
£20,785 |
|
Lewes District Council |
£15,170 |
|
Mid Sussex District Council |
£24,600 |
|
Worthing Borough Council |
£17,950 |
|
Total contributions 2023/24 |
£205,450 |
|
Roll-over from 2022/23 |
£49,671 |
|
Total budget 2023/24 |
£255,121 |
2. The 2023/24 budget forecast was as follows:
|
Salary costs (Including on-costs) |
£112,102 |
|
Finance support |
£7,911 |
|
Legal support |
£10,834 |
|
Communications support |
£24,950 |
|
Annual Report and other materials |
£2,750 |
|
Democratic Services support |
£4,616 |
|
Scrutiny (Charged at £500 on a ‘pay as you go’ basis) |
£2,000 |
|
Venue hire & refreshments |
£500 |
|
£1,000 |
|
|
Total Costs* |
£166,663 |
|
Work plan items |
£88,458 |
|
Contingency |
£10,000 |
|
Grand Total |
£255,121 |
*Excluding contingency.
3. The actual 2023/24 spend (including all known commitments as at 31st March 2024) was as follows:
|
£66,310 |
|
|
Finance support |
£7,911 |
|
Legal Support |
£10,834 |
|
Communications support |
£24,940 |
|
Annual Report and other design/materials costs |
£2,304 |
|
Democratic Services support |
£4,416 |
|
Scrutiny |
£0 |
|
Venue hire & refreshments |
£0 |
|
Additional costs e.g. IT, travel, training |
£5,534
|
|
Total Costs |
£122,249 |
|
|
|
|
Work Plan Items |
|
|
Economic Dashboard |
£20,000 |
|
Greater Brighton Food Plan |
£15,000 |
|
Creative Industries Strategy |
£3,100 |
|
|
|
|
Total Workplan Items |
£38,100 |
|
|
|
|
Contingency |
£0 |
|
|
|
|
Grand Total Expenditure |
£160,349 |
|
|
|
The budget remaining as at 31st March 2024 is £94,772, which is a significant underspend from 2023/24. This underspend includes the £10,000 Contingency and £2,000 Scrutiny items, which need to be included in the budget, but as in previous years were not needed to be called upon. This leaves an effective underspend of £82,772. The main cause of the underspend is staffing; the Programme Support Officer post was vacant throughout 2023/24 and one of the Business Manager posts was vacant from August 2023. The knock-on effect of a lack of resource was that much of the initiatives budget was also not spent, so this too carries forward into 2024/25.