Blaenau Gwent Predicts £700k Budget Surplus by March 2024

BLAENAU GWENT finance chiefs are predicting a £700,000 surplus on this year’s budget by the end of March 2024.
At a Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, November 29, senior councillors received a financial update on how the budget progressed during the second quarter of 2023/2024.
This covers July to the end of September.
The new reported position is a £500,000 improvement on the budget position as it stood at the end of June.
When funding that had been earmarked for use from the reserves is added to Blaenau Gwent’s £184.3 million revised budget for the year, the surplus rises to £1.42 million.
This better than expected position means that the council is now predicting using £2.8 million from its reserve funds to balance the budget rather than the £4.2 million that had originally been anticipated.
Council leader and finance portfolio holder, Cllr Steve Thomas said: “It’s an overall favourable position for us this is a really good outcome for us.”
He pointed out that “this time last year” ahead of the budget setting for 2023/2024 “we were in the deepest of gloom” due to the bleak economic outlook.
The report explains that the improved performance over the summer is partly due to Corporate Services predicting a £1.57 million surplus, which is £450,000 better than anticipated. The report explains that Council Tax collection is better than expected and the number of people using the Council Tax Reduction Scheme is dropping.
The department for the economy has also turned around a predicted £126,000 deficit in the first quarter to an £8,000 surplus by the end of September. The report explains this is due to a forecast increase in income from letting industrial units.
But losses in Social Services have increased from £360,000 at the end of June to £690,000 at the end of September.
The report said: “The increase in the forecast adverse variance is mainly due to increased costs within Children’s Services for residential and foster placements and legal fees.”
The report also explains that not all of the savings and cuts needed by the council to help balance the books at the yearend will be made.
Known as “Bridging the Gap” the report says that the council is now forecasting that it can achieve £2.2 million of the £3 million it had expected to make during 2023/2024.
The report said: “A number of proposals will not deliver against the initial target.”
These are:
£103,000 had been expected from a review of electronic document management and retention;
£75,000 had been expected by axing the fortnightly green waste collection but due to demand it was reinstated;
£416,000 savings had been expected to be saved by establishing a MYST (My Support Team) by reducing the number of children going into council care;
£175,000 saving on external legal fees for Children’s Social Services has not materialised;
£250,000 savings from a review of the council’s operational buildings had been expected. While the review has started it is now not expected to deliver savings this financial year.
To balance these unachievable savings other income generation proposals are performing better than expected. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​