Agenda item

The Strategic Director of Finance and Section 151 Officer presented the report and provided an additional presentation to the Committee.

On 12^th June 2026, the Council’s draft Statement of Accounts 2025/26 was completed.  The draft Accounts were now subject to the independent audit from the Council’s external auditor, Forvis Mazars, and the group accounts section of the financial statements contained figures taken from the Dragonfly Companies’ unaudited financial statements, which were subject to audit from their independent external auditor, Hewittcard Chartered Certified Accountants.

The Strategic Director of Finance and Section 151 Officer informed that until both sets of these accounts had been agreed by their respective auditor, there remained the possibility that they would be subject to amendment but once completed, details of these accounts would be provided to Members for review.

The General Fund outturn position was summarised at the attached Appendix 1.

The main variances against the current budget were detailed in Table 1 of the report, with variances at service level attached at Appendix 2.

Variances of note were Go!Active and the ICT service.  A Member noted the contribution to reserves of nearly £4 million was good though it was noted spending in many resources / departments had been considerably overestimated.

The use of earmarked reserves in 2025/26 was £1.096m – this reflected the expenditure incurred on projects at 31^st March 2026 (which had approval to use earmarked reserves).

At the end of the 2025/26 financial year, it had been necessary to agree transfers into reserves in preparation for future expenditure commitments.  Transfers to reserves totalled £9.036m – £3.863m higher than originally forecast.  These consisted of the following:

·       £0.100m contribution to the IT Reserve to fund future expenditure requirements;

·       £0.100m contribution to the Legal Costs Reserve in preparation to fund future specialist legal advice;

·       £0.100m contribution to the 3G Pitch Carpet Replacement Reserve, as a requirement of the grant conditions from an external funder;

·       £1m transfer to the Transformation Reserve for potential ‘invest to save’ projects;

·       £1.754m transfer to the National Non-Domestic Rates Growth Protection Reserve being the pooling income directly attributable to business rates;

·       £0.700m contribution to the Local Government Reorganisation Reserve established; and,

·       £0.109m transfer to the General Reserve as the remainder of the in-year surplus.

The General Fund Balances were considered to be at an acceptable level for a lower-tier local authority – £2.001m.

More information was requested on the spending of the £15 million Regeneration Fund granted by the UK Government.  Concern was additionally raised on the Shirebrook Market spend of £2 million – was progress being made.

The Strategic Director of Legal, Governance and Monitoring Officer informed an email containing a report had been sent to the Audit Committee after its meeting on 16^th July 2026, and a further report would be taken to the Audit Committee in due course to inform Members throughout the process.  It was additionally noted currently no concerns were present on the spend with only a few legal issues to address – the Council had appointed external solicitors to address these issues.

A Member appreciated the answer – it remained important to review all spending of the £15 million Regeneration Fund.

The Deputy Leader of the Council noted the minutes of the Strategic Commissioning Board could be provided to future Committee meetings to inform of progress being made, and that Members were free to attend future meetings of the Strategic Commissioning Board if preferred.

The Strategic Director of Finance and Section 151 Officer continued, providing further  details to the Committee on the Housing Revenue Account, Capital Expenditure, Treasury Management and Earmarked Reserves (with further information available within the report).

The Portfolio Holder for Resources noted the report provided great news on the Council’s finances – while Council Tax Debts was a concern, adjustments could be made to support residents to clear their debts.

Savings across many businesses and departments at the Council was welcomed, enabling financial options / opportunities to be available.

The Council was progressing in the right direction and would provide both a legacy to the District and a strong starting position to the proposed unitary authority.

A Member not of the Committee raised concerns on the businesses and departments not spending what had been expected – it was asked if effective / appropriate services were still being provided to residents.  The Portfolio Holder for Resources welcomed any meeting with Members to address / discuss any concerns held on this.

Moved by Councillor David Bennett and seconded by Councillor Duncan McGregor

RESOLVED that: 1) Members note the outturn position in respect of the 2025/26 financial year;

2)    Members note the transfers to general fund earmarked reserves of £3.863m as outlined in detail in paragraph 2.3;

3)    Members note the transfer to HRA earmarked reserves of £0.586m as outlined in detail in paragraph 2.16; and,

4)    Members note the proposed carry forward of capital budgets detailed in Appendix 5 totalling £11.560m.

Councillor Clive Moesby left the meeting at 10:32 hours.