Committee details

The Budget Monitoring Meeting is an internal meeting of 6 appointed Members with relevant Officers and meets approximately 3 times per year.  These meetings help to focus on areas of attention and allow for an informal dialogue between Members, officers and budget holders drawing attention to any issues as necessary during the year.

Authority budgets are allocated internally in line with Authority and Committee approvals and are delegated to individual budget managers, within the overall responsibility of a Head of Service. Because this information is quite complicated for those unfamiliar to it, the material provided for Members of Budget Monitoring meetings is a compilation provided by the Finance Manager of some of the key areas to watch and note.

The presumption is that budget holders manage within their budgets, flagging any concerns over variances during the year initially to Heads of Service. At the midyear review (usually mid-October) a more formal exercise is undertaken, incorporating a forecast outturn, and any reallocations considered by virement, in line with Standing Orders.