Decision details

The Cabinet Member approved expenditure of £736,200 with Grant Thornton to complete the work as part of the Officer Decision Note for Phase 1 of the 2020/21 Medium Term Financial Strategy.

There is the requirement to ensure that the Council sets a balanced budget for 2020/21 without the use of “one-off measures” that have been used in the past.  The use of Grant Thornton to help the Council deliver options ensures continuity from the first phase of work that was delivered and also access to their wider range of experiences and comparative data in order to facilitate the process.

The Council must have a balanced budget for each financial year - this is a legal requirement.  Initial work done highlights significant work is required for this to be delivered for 2020/21.  Options for delivery are:

·         Deliver in House - The Council has neither the capacity nor the expertise for deliver via this route.  It could not be delivered within the timescales;

·         Delivery through a set of Consultants through a new programme - this is a possibility but would take time to employ the consultants which would impact on the delivery deadlines;

·         Use Grant Thornton to deliver the work.  As they have undertaken the initial work they understand the issues facing the Council and also have access to the subject matter experts who could be deployed within the required timescales;

·         Using LGA resource for the intervention - there would not be the time to set up a team to deliver this.

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