Decision details

That the latest projected underspend of £3,646,000 for the Care Services Portfolio forecast on the controllable budget, based on information as at December 2015 be noted.

That the Council’s Executive be recommended to approve the release of £152k from the Central Contingency relating to a shortfall of £55k funding in the Bromley Safeguarding Children Board and additional staffing costs of £97k in the Youth Offending Service for 2016/17.

The latest budget monitoring position for the Care Services Portfolio indicates an underspend of £3,646,000 based on information as at December 2015 which is a result of underspends across a range of services including Adult Social Care, Transport, Strategic and Business Support Services, Children’s Social Care and Commissioning which offset overspends in some other services, including Placements, Domiciliary Care, Direct Payments for 18-64 year olds and Housing.  Although the variance is zero, there has been considerable activity within Public Health to manage the in-year grant reduction imposed by the Department of Health of £919k, and a range of savings have been made across the Public Health budget during 2015/16, with £141k carried forward grant held in contingency. 

It is requested that £152k be released from the Central Contingency relating to a shortfall of £55k funding in the Bromley Safeguarding Children Board as a result of increased expenditure by the Board to deliver further requirements, and additional staffing costs of £97k in the Youth Offending Service for 2016/17 to fund the short term posts required to deliver the Youth Offending Service Improvement Plan.