2024/25 Savings and Additional Income Summary
The Authority uses an incremental approach to develop the budget, so the 2023/24 base revenue budget has been adjusted to reflect the base budget savings and additional income identified below:-
Net Pay Savings
All pay budgets have been thoroughly reviewed resulting in various adjustments that have provided a net base budget saving for 2024/25. Budgets set aside for allowances have been reviewed as staff have retired and, where the allowance is no longer applicable the budget has been removed. A review of pension scheme membership has been undertaken and where relevant, employer contribution budgets have been adjusted to reflect latest levels of opt-outs. Various new posts and the deletion of other posts have been agreed through the Establishment Group this year, so the pay build has been updated to reflect all agreed changes.
£-651,000
Non-pay Savings
Inflation on Discretionary Spend
Inflationary price increases on areas of discretionary spend, such as stationary, have been removed, where price increases can be contained within existing budget allocations.
-£136,000
Other Non-pay Savings and Additional Income
The largest reduction here is the removal of the base budgeted transfer to the Service Transformation and Productivity Reserve (£882k), which has been replaced with a one-off transfer of £600k, to reflect current commitments. The investment income budget has been increased by £303k, to reflect the income expected for 2024/25 based on anticipated average cash balances and interest rate forecasts. Other significant budget reductions include; a £250k reduction to the budget for Collaboration, which has historically underspent; a £100k reduction in the vehicle fuel budget as prices have reduced; a £90k reduction in the budget for contributions to the Firefighters’ Pension Fund for ill-health retirements, where costs are dependent on the profile of such retirements; a £90k reduction in various IT budgets where ongoing costs have reduced; an £80k reduction in budgets for bought in services and legal fees, where these services are no longer required and; a £54k reduction in various employee-related budgets where there have been historic underspends. Other minor budget savings total £159k.
-£2,008,000
Total Non-pay Savings and Additional Income for 2024/25
-£2,144,000