Revenue Budget 2023/24 - 2027/28
The following table shows the budgeted areas of income and expenditure for 2022/23 to 2027/28
|
|
2023/24 |
2024/25 |
2025/26 |
2026/27 |
2027/28 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
£'000 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
|
|
Employees |
37,491 |
40,552 |
41,746 |
42,632 |
43,820 |
|
Premises Related |
4,073 |
4,663 |
4,788 |
4,883 |
4,981 |
|
Transport Related |
1,480 |
1,373 |
1,300 |
1,326 |
1,353 |
|
Supplies And Services |
5,313 |
5,510 |
5,570 |
5,367 |
5,474 |
|
Capital Financing Costs |
684 |
654 |
1,216 |
2,040 |
2,413 |
|
Contribution To / From Earmarked Reserve |
1,077 |
1,101 |
400 |
400 |
400 |
|
Income |
-2,883 |
-2,689 |
-2,309 |
-2,028 |
-2,053 |
|
Net Budget Requirement |
47,235 |
51,164 |
52,711 |
54,620 |
56,388 |
| Funding | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Precept Income And Surplus On Collection Fund |
-28,590 |
-29,652 |
-30,542 |
-31,458 |
-32,402 |
|
Revenue Support Grant |
-6,713 |
-8,695 |
-8,968 |
-9,215 |
-9,413 |
|
National Non Domestic Rates |
-11,932 |
-12,817 |
-13,201 |
-13,597 |
-13,869 |
|
Total Funding |
-47,235 |
-51,164 |
-52,711 |
-54,270 |
-55,684 |
|
Projected Surplus (-) / Deficit |
0 |
0 |
0 |
350 |
704 |
Based on current forecasts of inflation and funding the service has a balanced budget in 2024/25. Future cost pressures require savings and efficiencies of £0.7m to be realised by 2027/28.
Reserves
The table below shows the forecast opening balances of reserves between 2023/24 and 2027/28.
|
2023/24 |
2024/25 |
2025/26 |
2026/27 |
2027/28 |
|
|
£'000 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
£'000 |
|
|
Capital Development Reserve |
6,550 |
2,100 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Earmarked Reserves |
3,456 |
3,126 |
1,384 |
1,384 |
1,384 |
|
General Reserves |
1,900 |
1,900 |
1,900 |
1,900 |
1,900 |
|
Strategic Reserve |
1,966 |
1,966 |
1,966 |
1,966 |
1,966 |
| Total Usable Reserves |
13,872 |
9,092 |
5,250 |
5,250 |
5,250 |
The table shows a large proportion of reserves are held for funding the capital programme. This represents the necessary planned investment in our Estate, Fleet and Equipment and ICT systems. These balances will be used over the next 2 as the Services balances the need to invest against the long-term cost of borrowing. The Service will defer additional borrowing costs for as long as possible.
Earmarked reserves include funding for protecting the vulnerable in our community, training and upskilling our workforce, replacement personal protective equipment for our firefighters and other projects. The balance also includes funding for invest to save initiatives that is available to pump prime new opportunities for efficiency generating projects. To address the emerging financial position the service has identified several areas which it will continue to review with a focus on productivity and efficiency. These include:
-
The Capital Programme
-
Vehicles Review
-
Vacancies
-
Ways of working
-
Apprenticeship / Training Review
-
Use of the estate
-
Use of technology
The remaining balance in the Strategic Risk Reserve is the unallocated funding available for unforeseen cost pressures.
Variations to projections for capital investment and key items such as pay awards will affect the final balances.
Reserves are forecasted to be used and reduced to below 50% of the 2023/24 level by 2025/26.
Precept
Due to the increasing cost pressures facing the service the Fire Authority approved an increase in the Council Tax precept of 2.99% for a Band D equivalent property. This increased the Derbyshire Fire and Rescue precept to £88.41 pa.
The forecast financial position of the service includes the costs of necessary investment in the notable areas of the Estate, Fleet and ICT systems. Even with the precept increase and the level of savings the services has generated, the future cost pressures and impact of inflation require further efficiencies to be made. The service has embarked on the production of a further efficiency plan to meet these financial challenges which will continue in 2024/25.
Efficiency
The Service has a good track record in realising efficiency savings and collaborative working to generate savings. The previous HMICFRS inspection found that Efficiency in Derbyshire was Good and noted the benefits of the collaborative work done.
The service has a number of key joint arrangements that continue to deliver an efficient way of working. These include:
-
Joint ownership of a Limited Liability Partnership that provides the Headquarters accommodation and Joint Training Centre with Derbyshire Constabulary.
-
Joint support teams for estates working across both Fire and Police properties.
-
Hosting a Joint Control Centre managing emergency calls and mobilisation for Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Services.
The service is due to make efficiency savings in 2023/24 and 2024/25:
| 2023/24 | 2024/25 | |
| £0'000 | £0'000 | |
| Employee | 0 | 157 |
| Indirect Employee | 0 | 72 |
| Premises | 104 | 0 |
| Transport | 34 | 3 |
| Supplies and Services | 70 | 198 |
| Contracted Services | 100 | 113 |
| Fuel | 40 | 0 |
| Treasury | 50 | 0 |
| Total | 398 | 543 |
2024/25
Employee - The review of all vacant posts has identified a variety of alternative solutions including changing posts from Grey to Green book, increased use of apprenticeships and deletion of long-term vacancies.
Indirect Employee Costs - The Service has reviewed the delivery of retraining aligning to national standards, simultaneous training sessions and in house accreditation for training delivery.
Supplies and Services - The Service has rebased several budgets and is looking to consolidate and extend the life of ICT equipment and move to android devices.
Contracted Services - The Service has brought in a number of services in house which were previously delivered by external companies. To enable the in house serving of light fleet vehicles a mobile technician has been directly employed. Further changes to operations have allowed the in-house maintenance of ladders and mobile equipment.
| 2023/24 | 2024/25 | |
| Efficiencies | 359 | 543 |
| Non-Pay budgets | 11,359 | 12,200 |
| Efficiency % | 3.2% | 4.5% |
The savings achieved and planned exceed the 2% target of non-pay budgets . The Service continues to identify and plan future efficiency savings to meet the financial challenges ahead.
Productivity
The Service continually strives to improve productivity and has a number of ongoing Key Performance Measures across all areas of the Service. The measures have seen a dip during the pandemic, but the table below shows continual productivity growth since this period and over and above pre-pandemic levels.
The key productivity measure that supports the Services drive to make Derbyshire Safer is the number of Safe and Well Checks (SWC).
Average call handling for fires has reduced over several years. This should be considered alongside the project to create a Joint Control Room with Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Services additionally reducing costs for both services.
| Measure | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SWCs to vulnerable/target groups | 13,052 | 12,756 | 4,669 | 13,240 | 15,203 | 15,391 |
| SWCs undertaken by CSOs | 2,617 | 2,758 | 2,097 | 3,625 | 4,184 | 4,162 |
| SWCs undertaken by station/watch | 8,322 | 7,620 | 1,724 | 7,796 | 10,338 | 10,802 |
| SSRI lites undertaken | 2707 | 3500 | 924 | 3764 | 4177 | 4,272 |
| Prevention campaigns or initiatives | 200 | 291 | 25 | 212 | 270 | 202 |
| Average call-handling for P1/P2 fire(s) | 93 | 91 | 88 | 86 | 87 | 81 |
| School fire safety talks | 869 | 628 | 0 | 4323 | 903 | 754 |
| Total | 27,860 | 27,644 | 9,527 | 29,155 | 35,162 | 35,664 |
Key Performance Measures are reported to members on a regular basis through the Governance and Performance Working Group. The new performance measures for 2024/25 have recently been approved by members. A copy of the Fire Authority report can be found here - https://www.derbys-fire.gov.uk/gpwg-meetings/gpwg-agenda-and-papers-26-february-2024/kpm-review-targets-2024-25
Partnerships and collaborative working are key to achieving our ambitions, by helping us to use our resources more efficiently and achieve better outcomes. We understand the value partnerships and collaboration are adding and how they are making our communities safer. To help us do this and in accordance with the Core Code of Ethics, we have refreshed our partnership register and introduced a collaboration register which will ensure we record evidence and evaluation of effective partnership and collaborative working.
We recognise the investment made in our buildings and seek to use these in the most efficient ways possible. We share facilities with Derbyshire Constabulary, East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) and private sector organisations at several of our fire stations as well as our joint training centre and headquarters as show below:
| Fire & Police | Fire & EMAS | Fire, Police & EMAS | Fire & Private Sector | Fire, Police, EMAS and Private Sector |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chapel-en-le-Frith | Staveley | Shirebrook | Buxton | New Mills |
| Bakewell | Chesterfield | Ascot Drive | ||
| Ashbourne | Bolsover | Long Eaton | ||
| HQ | Heanor | |||
| Joint Training Centre | Swadlincote |
Technology plays a vital role in enabling our Service to work effectively and efficiently. The Service continues to invest in technology to enable everything we do and generate efficiencies. Recent projects implemented include Teams telephony, WAN replacement, multi factor authentication, occupational health system HR system replacement enhancement, and new look map view.
The Service is now in the progress of implementing a new Regional Mobilising System. The replacement joint system will enable the continued operation of the Joint Control Room with Nottinghamshire FRS. The two services are working together to implement a new solution.
'Our Plan' the Derbyshire Community Risk Management Plan explains how we will respond to risk in Derbyshire whilst ensuring efficient use of our resources. Our Plan Year Two Action Plan 2023-26 :: Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service (derbys-fire.gov.uk)