The Assistant Director – Resources presented the Authority budget proposals for 2024/25 for approval of £8,271,400.

The total increase in the budget is £1.4million in comparison to last year’s budget, however the majority of this has been driven by developments that have been separately approved primarily by the Staffing Committee in October 2023 in relation to the Pensions Administration Improvements and the outcomes of the Pay & Benefits Review. Two further reports in the exempt section of the agenda will also result in part of this budget growth.

Members commented on the large increase to the budget and how they expect to be able to measure improvements over the next year to see that we have delivered on the investment.

The Director responded that the senior management team are very conscious of ensuring that we demonstrate the delivery on this significant investment. The Assistant Director – Resources followed up on this point raising that in December the new Service Manager – Programmes & Performance was appointed, and part of his work will focus on demonstrating outcomes and measuring performance to enable us to bring reports to the Authority which show the steady progress and delivery of outcomes from this investment.

Members further queried the reserves forecast being at such a low level and why nothing could be done in the short to medium term.

The Assistant Director – Resources responded that the Authority had drawn down on the reserves over the past 2 years to deliver on large projects such as the new office building and the Pay & Benefits Review, this had been built up following underspends in the years leading up to this. With a large increase in the budget for 2024/25 which will allow the Authority to deliver on the strategy, it was felt not necessary to further add to the reserves and we will move back to putting money into this from 2025/26 to build it back up again for any future projects.

The Director further assured Members that these are not contingency reserves, and that the Authority is backed by the Pension Fund which meet all costs including what would be calls on a contingency reserve. 

RESOLVED: Members approved the 2024/25 budget for the Authority, a total of £8,271,400.