Families, Children & Wellbeing (FCW)

Revenue Budget Summary

Forecast		2024/25	Provisional	Provisional	Provisional	2024/25	Net	Net
Variance		Budget	Outturn	Variance	Variance	Savings	Savings	Savings
Month 9		Month 12	Month 12	Month 12	Month 12	Proposed	Achieved	Unachieved
£'000	Service	£'000	£'000	£'000	%	£'000	£'000	£'000
542	Commissioning & Communities	17,348	17,648	300	1.7%	1,000	1,000	0
236	Education & Learning	2,922	3,498	576	19.7%	467	467	0
(1,751)	Family Help & Protection	50,747	48,809	(1,938)	-3.8%	4,241	4,163	78
0	Public Health	1,675	1,675	0	0.0%	171	171	0
(973)	Total Families, Children & Wellbeing	72,692	71,630	(1,062)	-1.5%	5,879	5,801	78

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

Key
Variances
£'000	Service Area	Variance or Financial Recovery Measure Description
Commissioning & Communities
(227)	Community Cohesion	Underspend within the general fund element of services for Violence Against Women & Girls (VAWG)
721	Home To School Transport	For 2024/25 the overspend for Home to School Transport was £0.721m. The overspend was mainly due to increased costs re hired and post 19 transport. The final year position showed 528 children being transported to school at an average unit cost of £9,282 p.a. and 111 post 16 pupils being transported with an average unit cost of £10,830 p.a. and 49 post 19 pupils at an average cost of £12,495 p.a. There were several factors contributing to overspends in Home to School Transport. These included increased demand on the service (both at 5-16 ages, and 16 up until 19th birthday), increased numbers of children requiring single occupancy journeys, lack of local SEND school sufficiency, and increased numbers of routes required to accommodate individual post 16 learners’ timetables. Market forces within SEND transport are also contributed to the overspend. The service was increasingly impacted by local driver, vehicle passenger assistant, vehicle shortages and increased running costs. There was also a lack of competition in the transport market, particularly minibus providers, which pushed up contract prices still further. There was increasingly less capacity in the local system to meet demand, not just in the numbers of children requiring transport but the nature of the transport requirements. There was also an increase in solo routes being created, both to educational provisions where they are the only children attending and using HTST. Since September, 12 more routes were created and 10 of those were solo.
(177)	Safeguarding & Performance	Mainly related to vacant posts in the independent Reviewing Team.
(17)	Other	Minor variances.
Education & Learning
347	PFI	Due to higher PFI contractor costs and higher inflationary rates than allowed for in PFI budget model
350	Public Health Shortfall	Shortfall in budgeted contributions from Public Health to Families, Children and Wellbeing General Fund budgets
(62)	Council Nurseries	Underspend in council nursery budgets linked to higher levels of funding for free entitlement provision
(59)	Other	Other compensating variances
Family Help & Protection
(1,661)	Demand Led - Children's Placements	There are ongoing significant issues with sufficiency of foster carers and other placement types making placing children difficult and driving up unit costs. In addition the post pandemic period has seen children with increasingly complex needs coming into care. However, the significant success of ongoing initiatives and alternative service offers, attempting to reverse the trend of reducing foster carer numbers and address the complex needs of the children being referred, has meant that it is anticipated that placements for children in care and care leavers remained within budget in 2024/25.
(178)	Section 17	Income received from ICB for children with ongoing mental health needs, plus tight controls on expenditure throughout the year and reduced spending on NRPF.
(99)	Other	Mainly relating to staff vacancies.

Homes & Adult Social Care (HASC)

Revenue Budget Summary

Forecast		2024/25	Provisional	Provisional	Provisional	2024/25	Net	Net
Variance		Budget	Outturn	Variance	Variance	Savings	Savings	Savings
Month 9		Month 12	Month 12	Month 12	Month 12	Proposed	Achieved	Unachieved
£'000	Service	£'000	£'000	£'000	%	£'000	£'000	£'000
(1,087)	Adult Social Care	83,401	81,956	(1,445)	-1.7%	4,282	3,777	505
1,522	S75 Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust (SPFT)	20,492	22,204	1,712	8.4%	0	0	0
120	Commissioning & Partnerships	5,412	5,183	(229)	-4.2%	259	259	0
2,127	Housing People Services	12,229	14,576	2,347	19.2%	1,992	846	1,146
(9)	Homes & Investment	(3,417)	(3,371)	46	1.3%	50	50	0
2,673	Total Homes & Adult Social Care	118,117	120,548	2,431	2.1%	6,583	4,932	1,651
(316)	Further Financial Recovery Measures (see below)	-	0	0	-	-	-	-
2,357	Residual Risk After Financial Recovery Measures	18,117	120,548	2,431	2.1%	6,583	4,932	1,651

Explanation of Key Variances

Key
Variances
£'000	Service Area	Variance or Financial Recovery Measure Description
Adult Social Care
247	Demand-Led Community Care - Physical & Sensory Support and Substance Misuse	The overspend is the result of high unit costs and activity being above budgeted levels within nursing care provision.
(653)	Assessment teams	This is due to a number of temporary vacancies and delayed recruitment which was frozen across the Assessment teams as well as an increase in income.
934	In-house provision Adult LD	Overspends within in-house provision for adults with Learning Disabilities due to the need to use agency and sessional staff in particular to cover long term and regular sickness.
(1,909)	Demand-Led Community Care - Adult LD	This underspend relates to Direct Payments and Supported Accommodation activity being less than budgeted.
(103)	In-House Community Reablement	Increased client income above budget
65	Community Equipment Store	The overspend is due to the usage of more expensive equipment and backdated charges.
293	Resource Centres Older People	Due to staffing costs above budget and a shortfall in income
(167)	LD Assessment Teams	Vacancies within the staffing teams and frozen recruitment
(152)	Hostel Accommodation	Additional income above budget for Glenwood House and New Steine Mews plus temporary vacancies as a result of the recruitment freeze.
S75 Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust (SPFT)
560	Demand-Led - Memory Cognition Support	The overspend is the result of high unit costs within nursing care provision and Supported Accommodation
906	Demand-Led - Mental Health Support	The overspend is the result of high unit costs within nursing care provision.
246	Staffing teams	Due to Operations Manager posts that are not within the budgeted establishment and a post regrading. The outturn includes increased cost of joint funded with Health Partners.
Commissioning & Partnerships
(218)	Commissioning	Outturn includes Better Care Fund risk share adjustment and temporary vacancies within staffing teams
(11)	Contracts	One-off underspends against variable ASC contracts
Housing People Services
2,652	Temporary accommodation (TA)	Temporary Accommodation (TA) was overspent by £2.652m for 2024/25. Nightly accommodation (spot purchased) was budgeted for an average of 160 households per night for the year. However, since April 2024, the council has supported an average of 337 households per night (172 in 2023/24), an increase of 155 compared to the previous financial year. The service aims to reduce the average nightly cost wherever possible, but greater demand, increased costs, and the continuous decline of Temporary Accommodation leased properties pose significant challenges. Consequently, this budget has been overspent by £1.719m. The service is implementing additional measures to reduce the number of households accommodated as part of the financial recovery plan and future budget strategy. Block Booked - The service is facing significant pressures on the overall costs of Block Booked accommodation. The budget anticipated a reduction of 88 units during 2024/25, but due to increased demand, there has been an increase of 138 units. Additionally, the council is experiencing substantial increases in contract prices, resulting in an overspend of £0.758m. Private Sector Leased TA is underspent by (£0.123m). This is partly driven by lower numbers of leased properties being used for TA as landlords withdraw their properties from the rental market. There are 52 fewer properties now than in April 2024. This is part of the reason for the increased numbers Block Booked accommodation. The service has been working to improve empty property turnaround times and as a result has also seen an improvement in the void rent loss. The new leases are also commanding a higher rate and shorter terms. Future costs for the authority will depend on the prices associated with any new contracts agreed with landlords as and when new contracts are agreed.  The temporary accommodation staffing costs came in on budget due additional income received from grant.
(204)	Commissioned Rough Sleeper and Housing related Support Services	This underspend relates an inflationary increase to part of this budget that was not required this year due to the scheduling of re-commissioning due on 1^st April 2026.
42	Homemove	The overspend is attributed to delays in concluding the Home Connection service.
(221)	Housing Options	There are various underspends on staffing budgets. Budget realignment is required following the restructure.
78	Travellers	The main reasons for the overspend is security costs. The service is looking to reduce the amount of security needed next financial year.
0	Seaside Homes	Breakeven has been achieved as major repairs are now funded from the Major Repairs Reserve.
Homes & Investment
30	Housing Strategy and Enabling	Increased staffing costs.
16	Private Sector Housing	Unachieved savings for fine income of £0.052m partially offset by a vacancy within the Adaptations team.

City Operations

Revenue Budget Summary

Forecast		2024/25	Provisional	Provisional	Provisional	2024/25	Net	Net
Variance		Budget	Outturn	Variance	Variance	Savings	Savings	Savings
Month 9		Month 12	Month 12	Month 12	Month 12	Proposed	Achieved	Unachieved
£'000	Service	£'000	£'000	£'000	%	£'000	£'000	£'000
(1,653)	City Infrastructure	(5,614)	(8,916)	(3,302)	-58.8%	1,036	679	357
223	Environment & Culture	7,113	6,120	(993)	-14.0%	817	432	385
269	Environmental Services	28,167	28,744	577	2.0%	2,137	2,137	0
389	Place	2,435	2,759	324	13.3%	1,432	1,132	300
(205)	Digital Innovation	8,713	8,310	(403)	-4.6%	649	346	303
(977)	Total City Operations	40,814	37,017	(3,797)	-9.3%	6,071	4,726	1,345

Explanation of Key Variances

Key
Variances
£'000	Service Area	Variance or Financial Recovery Measure Description
City Infrastructure
(202)	Director of City Infrastructure	Achieved through releasing of surplus Consultancy and Initiative budgets
(512)	Parking Services	Parking Services is reporting a surplus position of £0.512m underspend against a £28.310m net income budget. Parking permits is £1.101m (8.67%) underachieved compared to its budget of £12.696m. This reflects changes in consumer demand for short term and cheaper products, reduction in demand in residents and visitor permits across zones and the loss of parking capacity due to active travel proposals along with many other factors. On-street paid parking is £0.910m (6.13%) underachieved compared to its budget of £14.800m. £0.300m of which is driven by the removal of previously agreed zone changes last year, with a further £0.070m a result of the proposal to convert free parking bays to paid parking bays which was removed this year. Off-Street Parking underachieved by £1.060m (11.42%).  Leased Car parks have been reviewed and £0.335m pressure was driven by reduced activity, resulting in poor projected profits. There are also corrective adjustments for prior year activity which contributed £0.095m to this pressure. This underachievement is offset by surplus income for Parking Suspensions of £0.877m (67.2%). In addition, there are underspends in Parking costs of £0.725m which are primarily driven by surplus Unsupported borrowing budgets in year and reductions in Staffing costs of £0.250m as a result of vacancies held in year. PCN income is set to overachieve by £1.925m from increased levels of payments particularly in relation to CCTV bus lane enforcement. This represents the switch this year to better enforcement strategies and new traffic schemes. However, there are concerns around the team staff resource to collect this debt, with increased costs in debt recovery and provisions for bad debt.
370	Concessionary Bus Fares	Concessionary travel is £0.370m overspent which reflects fixed deals for the year. The fixed deals are in response to the increases in the Government Reimbursement Tool which would have seen an overspend of £0.648m if used.
(706)	Network Management	Road Works Permit income is £0.158m less than budgeted but is comparable to previous year actual income which was supported by reserve that is now fully utilised. Other pressures are around Highway agreements which are reporting £0.290m below budgeted targets due to decreased activity for developments in the city. These pressures are offset by underspends of £0.250m from spending controls including lighting, highways and winter service. Additional underspends of £0.047m for vacancies held in year, £0.021m for Drainage underspends, £0.270m generated from increased hoarding income owing to new large hoarding licences being issued and other network management incomes above target of £0.252m.
(1,985)	Transport Projects and Engineering	Payments to Bus Operators for both base and enhanced services funded by the DfT Bus Service Improvement Plan grant where services are enhanced released £0.785m underspend in year. £0.220m underspend within Flood Risk Management. £0.478m underspend within Coast Protection as a result on staffing vacancies but also grant released to revenue supporting prior year revenue costs that were contained within budget allocations. Bus Shelters are £0.204m underspent largely due to increased advertising incomes and lower replacement and maintenance costs. £0.060m underspend on unsupported borrowing in year due to S106 monies being applied against the principle last year for cycle hangars. £0.078m surplus on Transport Projects as a result of utilisation of grants. Civil Engineers is £0.389m in surplus due to increased capital works recharges. Spending controls have resulted in more work going through capital projects over revenue maintenance. These underspends are offset by pressure in BikeShare of £0.144m from unsupported borrowing not fully covered by share of incomes.
(267)	Regulatory Services	Net underspend across the service, largely as result of staffing vacancies and spending controls.
Environment & Culture
68	Director of Environment & Culture	Costs of Service Transformation Officer and management training.
(114)	Arts, Culture & Creative Industries	Underspend from release of initiatives as a result of spending controls.
(495)	Venues and Events	£0.375m share of successful Business Rates appeal covering the 2017/18 to 2021/22 periods. Surplus incomes offsetting increased electricity costs and 1% turnover target greater than actual vacancies.
540	Museum and Culture	Pressure relating to the NJC arrangements with the Royal Pavilion Museums Trust under a contractual obligation.
(697)	Sport and Leisure	Release of £0.076m initiatives budget in response to spending controls. Underspends of £0.041m on Golf Course contracts, £0.413m underspend on sports facilities mostly around contract variation fees including releasing Leisure Management fee and other leisure provision incomes to revenue. £0.170m underspend within Seafront Services from surplus rents supporting the cost of the service.
(295)	City Parks	Underspends within Arboricultural services. Vacancies within wider city parks, use of S106 supporting management costs of projects and other expenditure reductions releasing further underspends as a result of spending controls. Offset by £0.310m pressure in Bereavement Services mostly due to reduced number of cremations from chapel closure for repairs affecting income.
Environmental Services
141	Director of Environmental Services	Net outturn following interim director and organisational redesign.
(894)	Environmental Services	£0.175m deficit within Environment Enforcement income. This pressure is offset by £0.230m underspend in public conveniences and £0.284m underspend in collections as a result of held vacancies and spending controls. Deferring litter picking on the A27 and A23 as well as other expenditure controls has brought the Street Cleansing Service to an £0.087m underspend position. There are surpluses of £0.468m in commercial and green waste collections due to increased customers.
1,527	Fleet & Maintenance	Overspend on Refuse/Recycling collection vehicle hire of £0.745m in addition to ongoing maintenance charges and other vehicle costs in keeping an ageing fleet operational. Pressure of £0.201m for ensuring Hollingdean Depot remains operational due to the state of the site.  Revised forecasts of essential PPE to ensure service operates. An action plan is being developed to take longer term actions to address spend in this area and deliver a more resilient service for residents.
(197)	Strategy and Service Improvement	Underspends as a result of held vacancies and spending controls including waste composition analysis not completed in year.
0	Waste Disposal	Break even.
Place
19	Director of City Operations	Overspend relating to staffing costs.
14	Director of Place	Legal fees in relation to i360
239	Development Planning	Underachievement of Planning and Building Control income of £1.184m due to uncertainty in the development and finance markets. Also, legal fee overspends of £0.140m relating to The Gasworks appeal. This is offset mostly by staffing underspends of £0.653m, release in year of planning reform initiatives and other stopped spend as part of spending controls.
63	Regeneration	Black Rock borrowing costs offset by S106 revenue funding for Elder Place Corridor spend
(335)	Net Zero	Initiatives budgets and vacancies held as part of spending controls.
324	Architecture & Design	Shortfall on fee income as a result of a reduced capital programme.
Digital Innovation
(403)	Digital Innovation	At outturn, IT & Digital are underspent by £0.403m which is an improvement of £0.198m from Month 9. This is due to some negotiation with our South East Grid Supplier to reduce expected termination fees for cancelled services and a reduction in spend on a system upgrade.  The service had reduced spend and delayed some planned work as much as possible in line with the spending controls.  It has also capitalised the first-year licence costs for Microsoft Co-Pilot licences.  IT&D had implemented a recruitment freeze within the whole of the service from 1 April 2024 to help mitigate the Traded Services saving target which has helped the position but is having a detrimental impact on the service provision, including chargeable work for Schools. Traded Services had to absorb additional costs relating to school closures and mergers.  The service achieved some in-year savings on telephony spend following the migration of services to a cloud platform, however, are experiencing continuing pressures with inflation increases on contracts and services which are mitigated as much as possible by reviewing licences and usage.

Central Hub

Revenue Budget Summary

Forecast		2024/25	Provisional	Provisional	Provisional	2024/25	Net	Net
Variance		Budget	Outturn	Variance	Variance	Savings	Savings	Savings
Month 9		Month 12	Month 12	Month 12	Month 12	Proposed	Achieved	Unachieved
£'000	Service	£'000	£'000	£'000	%	£'000	£'000	£'000
(7)	Cabinet Office	2,660	2,412	(248)	-9.3%	0	0	0
62	Corporate Leadership Office	855	964	109	12.7%	0	0	0
882	Finance & Property	4,700	5,403	703	15.0%	1,890	1,442	448
(350)	Governance & Law	4,728	4,080	(648)	-13.7%	355	355	0
146	People & Innovation	14,638	14,721	83	0.6%	374	340	34
2	Contribution to Orbis	2,932	2,890	(42)	-1.4%	0	0	0
735	Total Central Hub	30,513	30,470	(43)	-0.1%	2,619	2,137	482

Explanation of Key Variances

Key
Variances
£'000	Service Area	Variance or Financial Recovery Measure Description
Cabinet Office
(248)	Cabinet Office	There is a net underspend of £0.248m for the service, the underspend is largely a result of a combination of £0.061m UK Shared Prosperity Fund income released to revenue and £0.045m Hothouse project underspend released to revenue as project was completed in 2024/25. There were underspends in marketing expenditure of £0.069m and other small underspends across the service of £0.067m offset by a shortfall in income from other stakeholders of £0.052m.
Corporate Leadership Office
109	Corporate Leadership Office	The overspend mainly relates to recruitment costs of £0.019m in the last quarter, staff training of £0.020m and staffing overspends of £0.082m relating to a redesign of the service.
Finance & Property
282	Finance	The overspend is mainly due to 151% increase on the price relating to the national audit contract (£0.283m) offset by small income amounts and savings within the service.
(884)	WRBS	The underspend is a combination of net staffing cost savings £0.124m, underspends on initiatives budgets due to spend controls £0.160m,  underspends in computer licencing as a result of restructuring of service invoicing, a £0.147m rebate income from Lloyds bank from previous financial periods overcharges, other non-government income of £0.324m from UK Power Networks and Southern Gas Network for warmth for wellbeing and a £0.070m income contribution towards Social Value Pledge released to revenue that has been offset by small overspends across the service.
1,288	Estate Management	The overspend is a combination of a decline in expected rental income, an increase in insurance costs and other overspends following a further review of costs in service. Vacant Properties within both the In-house & Commercial portfolios have caused pressures from the loss of rental income and the additional premises related costs whilst void, resulting in budget pressures. There is a pressure of £0.524m regarding the letting of Barts House 3rd and 4th floors regarding current rents and unachieved savings target for the financial year. Agricultural Estates £0.221m overspend is a result of greater than forecast supplies and services and an unachieved rent income forecast. A further £0.212m overspend from New England House mainly caused by unavoidable fire waking watch costs. There is an overspend of £0.187m in respect of Phoenix House.
94	Building and Surveying	The overspend is a combination of £0.184m overspend on Royal Pavilion Museum Trust (RPMT) to ensure provisions held are in line with the signed agreement, and other small overspends in the service offset mainly by underspends (£0.146m) in Surveyors' technical service which resulted from more service fees being capitalised than forecast at Month 9.
(47)	Education Property Management	Underspends in maintenance as spending was limited to essential and reactive maintenance following spending controls.
(30)	Procurement	Underspend from Procurement rebate income £0.024m and underspends in computer hardware spend.
Governance & Law
(195)	Legal Services	An improvement in external income generation and vacancy control as a result of imposed spending controls.
38	Democratic Services	Overspend due an increase in member allowances due to the changes in governance structures. This has been partially offset by an improvement in staffing costs.
(490)	Elections, Registrars & Local Land Charges	The net underspend for the service resulted mainly from Local Land Charges income of £0.244m due to increased searches prior to implementation of stamp duty and the delay in transfer of services to His Majesty’s Land Registry (HMLR). There were also staffing underspends of £0.147m across Registrations services and an underspend of £0.104m in Elections which includes £0.065m new burdens funding. The Elections underspend was not included in the Month 9 forecast due to incomplete central government election accounts which resulted in limited ability to accurately forecast extent of underspend at Month 9.
People & Innovation
44	Strategic Communication & Engagement	Overspends in staffing cost due to unachieved savings from 2023/24.
(257)	Innovation	The underspend is driven by staffing vacancies, reduction in process improvement development work, stoppage of overtime, reduction in consultant support and reduction in training, voluntary temporary reduction in hours and other miscellaneous costs.
(29)	Human Resources & Org Development	The net underspend is mainly driven by staffing underspends and external income.
325	Facilities & Building Services	Overspend is mainly related to essential only responsive repairs functions due to rising costs and conditions of facilities of £0,358m. Post Room services show an overspend of £0.045m due to additional surcharges from Royal Mail whilst the service is not barcode compliant. Work is underway to ensure the council is compliant to mitigate costs in 2025/26.  There is also a £0.095m increase in cost of alarm lines. These overspends are partly offset by underspends in security costs of £0.095m and corporate recycling service of £0.052m within Facilities & Building Services
Contribution to Orbis
(42)	Orbis partnership	The Orbis forecast improved to an underspend of £0.386m on the overall partnership budget. This is due to underspends on IT&D, Internal Audit, Finance and Treasury partially offset by an overspends in Insurance and Procurement. The Council's share of this is £0.096m. The council’s budget for the partnership is £2.932m but the projected full year cost is £2.986m leaving an overall forecast underspend of £0.042m.

Centrally-held Budgets

Revenue Budget Summary

Forecast		2024/25	Provisional	Provisional	Provisional	2024/25	Net	Net
Variance		Budget	Outturn	Variance	Variance	Savings	Savings	Savings
Month 9		Month 12	Month 12	Month 12	Month 12	Proposed	Achieved	Unachieved
£'000	Service	£'000	£'000	£'000	%	£'000	£'000	£'000
700	Bulk Insurance Premia	3,822	4,586	764	20.0%	0	0	0
(747)	Capital Financing Costs	(4,575)	(5,706)	(1,131)	-24.7%	0	0	0
0	Levies & Precepts	242	242	0	0.0%	0	0	0
0	Unallocated Contingency & Risk Provisions	0	0	0	0.0%	0	0	0
(13)	Unringfenced Grants	(32,556)	(33,065)	(509)	-1.6%	0	0	0
1,039	Housing Benefit Subsidy	399	1,295	896	224.6%	0	0	0
1,189	Other Corporate Items	(24,085)	(22,725)	1,360	5.6%	2,475	1,271	1,204
2,168	Total Centrally-held Budgets	(56,753)	(55,373)	1,380	2.4%	2,475	1,271	1,204

Explanation of Key Variances

Key
Variances
£'000	Service Area	Variance or Financial Recovery Measure Description
Bulk Insurance Premia
764	Insurance claims.	Settlement of insurance claims was higher than previous years and includes two claims costing £0.100m each. The final overspend was £0.764m
Capital Financing Costs
(166)	Investment income	Higher expected investment income due to higher balances and interest rate than forecast.
(552)	Interest on borrowing	Delay in long term borrowing until next year by using cash balances and short term borrowing
(413)	Interest from third parties	Accrued interest on third party loan.
Unringfenced Grants
(13)	Transparency Code New Burdens	This grant was received in March 2025. The provisional Local Government Finance settlement announced it would be rolled into the Revenue Support Grant from next year.
(496)	Business Rate Levy	Distribution of Business Rate Levy surplus.
Housing Benefit Subsidy
896	Housing Benefit Subsidy	Based on the final subsidy claim submitted to DWP there was an outturn pressure of £0.896m. The main element of this is a pressure of £1.038m on a certain benefit type for vulnerable tenants which is not fully subsidised. This has continued to rise since last year but is being investigated to assess what steps can be taken to reduce it. This overspend has been partially offset by the net position on the recovery of overpayments which has overachieved budget by £0.178m. The were other minor adverse variances of £0.036m.
Other Corporate Items
(136)	Corporate Pension Costs	An underspend of £0.090m relating to an overpayment on the 2023/24 unfunded pension costs budget. Over achievement of £0.046m on National Insurance savings on AVC scheme.
1,327	Organisational Redesign savings	A programme of work to undertake Phase 2 of the Organisational Redesign is underway alongside reviews of some functions to explore savings through functional alignment and other changes. Savings will be part-year in 2024/25 in most cases but the council will utilise unilateral spending and vacancy controls to ensure the saving is met this year in lieu of full-year savings being identified and realised in 2025/26. As a contribution towards this a 1% reduction has been applied on a one-off basis to salary budgets in 2024/25 which has generated an in year saving of £1.271m. Also includes £0.123m of residual unachieved 2022/23 savings.
1,365	2024/25 Pay Award	Additional cost of 2024/25 pay award above amount provided for in budget.
(238)	Homes for the City of Brighton & Hove	An increase in the Homes for the City of Brighton & Hove LLP distributable profit recognised for the financial year ending 31 March 2024, following the final sign off of the Statement of Accounts for 2023/24.
(1,135)	General Reserves	Release of the £1.000m risk provision held to mitigate risks within the overall savings package, particularly the Organisational Redesign savings target of £2.475m which was expected to have a longer lead-in time for delivery, together with the release of the other unallocated items held in reserve.
106	Corporate bad Debt provision	Increased contribution to the corporate bad debt provision.
98	Historic Salary Overpayments	Historic salary over payments written off
(27)	Other minor variances	Minor variances.

Housing Revenue Account (HRA)

Revenue Budget Summary

Forecast		2024/25	Provisional	Provisional	Provisional
Variance		Budget	Outturn	Variance	Variance
Month 9		Month 12	Month 12	Month 12	Month 12
£'000	Service	£'000	£'000	£'000	%
(960)	Repairs & Maintenance	18,603	18,813	210	1.1%
137	Tenancy Services	14,981	15,287	306	2.0%
589	Housing Management & Support	6,660	7,203	543	8.2%
248	Housing Investment & Asset Management	2,956	3,350	394	13.3%
(56)	Housing Strategy & Supply	1,344	1,253	(91)	-6.8%
352	Council-owned Temporary Accommodation	958	1,405	447	46.7%
(539)	Rent & Service Charges	(73,473)	(75,432)	(1,959)	-2.7%
(229)	Service Area Total	(27,971)	(28,121)	(150)	-0.5%
202	Capital Financing Costs	11,687	11,853	166	1.4%
27	Direct Revenue Funding	16,284	16,268	(16)	-0.1%
0	Total Housing Revenue Account	0	0	0	0.0%

Explanation of Key Variances

Key
Variances
£'000	Subjective Area	Variance Description
Repairs & Maintenance
(1,652)	Employees	Increased capitalisation of salary costs, largely in respect of the Electrical Installation Condition Reports (EICR) programme (£1.300m), plus underspend against the net staffing budget as a result of vacancies across the year.  The underspend equates to approximately 22% of the net salary budget.
415	Premises - Business as Usual	There was an overspend against the subcontractor business as usual budget. A proportion of this spend relates to the disrepair claims, which continues to be a source of financial pressure for the HRA.
976	Premises - Repairs backlog	These costs were planned to be set against the earmarked reserve for this financial year.  Given the significant improvement in the rents and service charge income forecast from Month 9 (due to 53 Mondays in the financial year) it has been possible to fund these costs in-year.  This will ensure that there is a healthy earmarked reserve available for 2025/26 to fund further anticipated costs in addressing the backlog and provide some much needed flexibility in the HRA budget.
517	Supplies and Services	The service continues to experience significant costs arising from disrepair claims.  A new legal resource is in place to manage the claims early in the process, enabling better management of spend and a designated team to focus on disrepair was included in the budget for 2025/26.
(46)	Other	Minor variances.
Tenancy Services
(24)	Employees	Minor variances.
237	Premises	There was an overspend of £0.143m across the service on cleaning costs, of which half is in Sheltered services.  An overspend of £0.098m on clearance of rubbish, linked to fire safety measures.
102	Supplies & Services	Higher than budgeted costs for payments from the prevention fund of £0.037m and discretionary payments of £0.028m.  Other net variances across the service accounting for the remainder.
(9)	Other	Minor variances.
Housing Management & Support
260	Employees	There was a net overspend on staffing costs, as a result of the recruitment of an Interim Programme Director of Housing Regulatory Response and an increase in support service charges.
81	Supplies & Services	There was an overspend against professional fees, mainly due to increased costs in Housing Ombudsman Service membership subscription.
202	Support Services	The HRA has seen an increase in the housing buildings insurance premiums, due to a change in valuation methodology as required by our insurers.
Housing Investment & Asset Management
(71)	Employees	There was an underspend against staffing costs, mainly due to a number of vacancies across the service.
323	Premises	Additional contractor capacity was procured, via a waiver, to provide new water risk assessments and there was also additional spend in relation to fire safety works.
1,060	Large Panel Systems - revenue costs	Enhanced building safety measures for the eight Large Panel System blocks, with significant costs arising from the introduction of a 24-hour security service to help manage items being taken into the building and to support with floor walks and maintaining clear egress and exits to the building.  The spend includes the impact of introducing 24-hour CCTV provision, replacing the staffing costs for 24-hour security. It also includes the cost of a dedicated Fire Safety consultant, weekend floor-walks, temporary plant hire, rubbish clearance and additional temporary staffing resources.
17	Supplies & Services	Minor variances.
(935)	Income	Leaseholder service charge income was higher than budgeted, due to increased costs of insurance and repair costs being higher than estimated.  There was also additional professional fee income in respect of Leasehold extension matters.
Housing Strategy & Supply
(137)	Employees	An increase in capitalised salaries for housing new supply was offset by a reduced level of capitalised salaries against ICT budgets. The delivery of new software is entering into a new phase which will require costs associated with business as usual to be met from revenue budgets.
46	Supplies & Services	An overspend against software costs, due to the change in providers. It is anticipated that in future years there will be a saving in relation to software costs.
Council-owned Temporary Accommodation
492	Premises	Council-owned Temporary Accommodation can by its nature be volatile.  There was a significant overspend in respect of empty properties and repairs costs.
(97)	Supplies and Services	There was an underspend against the Transfer Incentive Scheme budget.
52	Employees	The recharge of staffing costs from the General Fund was slighter higher than budgeted.
Rent & Service Charges
(1,970)	Rents & Service Charges	There was a significant net overachievement in rents and service charge income, predominantly from 53 Mondays in the financial year; accounting for £1.3m of additional income.  The balance relates to new housing supply and fewer homes sold under the Right to Buy scheme.
28	Empty Property rent loss	Minor variances.
(17)	Garages & Car Parks	Minor variances.
Capital Financing Costs
166	Capital Financing costs	There was a slight increase in the level of financing costs, owing to the timing of when HRA borrowing was undertaken during the year.
Direct Revenue Funding
(16)	Contribution to Reserves	As per the 2024/25 budget paper, £3.266m was contributed to reserves to fund future years pressures. The in-year budget variance of (£0.016m) has resulted in an increase to assist with future years pressures.

Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG)

Revenue Budget Summary

Forecast		2024/25	Provisional	Provisional	Provisional
Variance		Budget	Outturn	Variance	Variance
Month 9		Month 12	Month 12	Month 12	Month 12
£'000	Service	£'000	£'000	£'000	%
0	Individual Schools Budget (ISB)	146,337	146,337	0	0.0%
(208)	Early Years Block (excluding delegated to Schools) (This includes Private Voluntary & Independent (PVI) Early Years 3 & 4 year old funding for the free entitlement to early years education)	27,460	26,896	(564)	-2.1%
1,451	High Needs Block (excluding delegated to Schools)	32,986	34,052	1,066	3.2%
33	Exceptions and Central Services	3,483	3,661	178	5.1%
0	Grant Income	(208,992)	(208,992)	0	0.0%
1,276	Total Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG)	1,274	1,954	680	53.4%

Explanation of Key Variances

Key
Variances
£'000	Service Area	Variance Description
Early Years Block (including delegated to Schools)
(380)	Early years free entitlement budgets for Under 2s, 2-year-olds and 3 and 4-year olds	Underspend on early years free entitlement budgets based on position following latest early years census in January 2025.
(173)	Additional support funding	Lower than budgeted expenditure on additional support funding for early years children.
(11)	Other	Minor variances.
High Needs Block (excluding delegated to Schools)
98	Post-16 High Needs	There has been a significant increase in the number of high needs learners accessing FE colleges in the last year. There has also been a movement of high needs learners moving into the city with responsibility for education falling to Brighton and Hove.
176	Children with Medical Needs	The Children with medical needs budget was increased by a further £0.250m in 2024/25 but is still showing an overspend of £0.176m. There is a continued significant increase in the number of pupils receiving education through bespoke tuition due to their medical needs.
218	Independent non maintained school agency placements	The Independent non-maintained school agency placements budget continues to be under pressure due to increasing demand, higher unit costs and a lack of suitable local provision.
262	Special School Placements	Placements in the city's special schools for new academic year in excess of commissioned numbers.
336	Mainstream School Top-up Funding	Increase in the unit costs and number of children with Education Health and Care plans in mainstream schools since April 2024
(24)	Other	Other variances.
Exceptions and Growth Fund
178	Other	Unfunded pressure relating to school premature retirement costs in the Central Schools Services Block