Issue - meetings

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee is recommended to:

·    Consider the savings and income proposals and funding and spending assumptions set out in the January Medium Term Financial Plan 2023/24 to 2027/28 update and draft 2023/24 budget (including further new savings) update to Cabinet and report the outcome of their deliberations to Council on Thursday, 23 February 2023.

The Chair thanked Members and officers for attending the meeting to consider the Medium-Term Financial Plan (MTFP) 2023/24 to 2027/28 update and draft 2023/24 budget (including further new savings). 

Councillor Tim Leaver, Cabinet Member for Finance and Procurement, introduced the item highlighting the pressures currently faced by the Council in these unprecedented times which were as a result of continued reduction to Local Authority funding from Central Government, the uncertainty with the current high levels of inflation at 10.1%; the legacy impact of Covid which had led to increased costs and reduced income in several service areas and demand for services.  Further savings and income proposals had been put forward as the Council worked towards closing the remaining budget gap it faced for 2023/24 and the pressures and risks faced by the Council.

All Council’s across the country were facing the same financial situation as Enfield Borough Council.

The Council remained committed to delivering a resilient and sustainable budget and had made significant progress over the past five years. A key element of the approach to deliver this commitment was the effective scrutiny of the savings and income generation proposals, together with the underlying assumptions on funding and spending. The Council was operating in a very challenging and uncertain financial environment and this internal scrutiny by Officers was more important than ever.

The Committee received a presentation delivered by the Director of Finance Corporate, James Newman delivered a summary presentation on the 2023/24 Budget and MTFP which provided the context and background to the proposal; financial strategy; savings, investment, budgets by department; budget gap as at January 2023 MTFP; budget consultation and budget risks.  A copy of the presentation was attached to the minutes.                        

At the invitation of the Chair, Members put a series of detailed questions to the Cabinet Member for Finance and Procurement and Officers, who provided the following responses.

The Executive Director People advised that as it had been very difficult to recruit social workers for some considerable time, new ways of working had been identified and changed some of the roles to assistant social workers.  Posts which had been vacant for two years or more had been deleted and job descriptions had been reviewed. 

The Executive Director Resources confirmed that this would provide a cumulative saving of £800K.  The number and use of agency staff across the Council was constantly reviewed.

Members were advised by the Executive Director Resources that the Council proposed to increase income generated by the use of its assets on a commercial basis rather than to make savings.  For example, renting out workshop space.  The structure and process to identify how to balance the budget without affecting service delivery had been for all departments to review the services provided and associated costs.  A further round had been carried out when the first round had provided unsatisfactory savings.  Restructures of departments had provided a 10% staff saving without an impact on service delivery.   

The Cabinet Member Finance and Procurement informed Members confirmed that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4