Form

General fund revenue account outturn 2022 to 2023: changes to the RO forms from 2023

Updated 18 May 2023

Applies to England

Confirmation of changes to the local authority Revenue Outturn and Quarterly Revenue Outturn data returns from 2023

For the attention of local authority officers who contribute data to the Revenue Outturn (RO) and/or Quarterly Revenue Outturn (QRO) data returns to DLUHC

Introduction

Following the Review of Local Government Finance Statistics carried out in 2021, DLUHC consulted local authority contacts during the summer of 2022 on a range of proposals. Over 120 responses were received in response the proposals relating to the to the Revenue Account and Outturn returns. On the basis of these responses, each proposal was rated on a Red / Amber / Green scale. Those that were rated green were approved by the steering group for local government finance data returns ‘CLIP-Finance’ in late October. Since then, new burdens funding has been secured and the changes were recently given final sign-off by the LGA-led ‘Gateway Group’.

The Revenue Outturn 2022-23 form is due to be distributed at the end of April. We will share a draft form and guidance by mid April for testing and feedback. If you might be able to review after Easter, please contact us at lgf1.revenue@levellingup.gov.uk and we will add you to our distribution list of potential testers.

The Quarterly Revenue Outturn will be renamed Quarterly Revenue Update when the April-June 2023 return launches at the end of June. This is to reflect the clarifications to the guidance on how best to approach providing data for this return.

Summary of the changes to Revenue Outturn

1. Initial submission deadline: 28July 2023

2. New requirement for Revenue Outturn form to be certified: deadline 13 October

3. Expenditure on agency staff to be reported for each of the broad service areas

4. Within the Subjective Analysis Return, splitting Public Health, Adult Social Care and Children’s Services

5. Additional sub-categories within Children’s Services to bring in line with Department for Education’s S251 returns

6. Removing PPE memo items and COVID discharge cost category

Changes to the Quarterly Revenue Outturn

7. Addition of categories relating to the Housing Revenue account

8. Clarifications to guidance and renaming as Quarterly Revenue Update (QRU)

1. & 2. Timetable and requirement for certification of Revenue Outturn

The timetable for the local government finance data returns for 2023 were set, as usual, in consultation with CLIP-F and the LGA, and were shared with Chief Financial Officers in early February.

The deadlines for Revenue Outturn 2022-23 are:

• Initial submission by Friday 28 July 2023 (N.B. in 2021 and 2022, following the change to the deadline for the production of draft statutory accounts for 2020-21 and 2021-22, the deadline for the RO return was also put back by two months to late August.)
• Updated submission including certification by Friday 13 October 2023.

The guidance for certification will state:

The form must be certified by the Chief Financial/Section 151 Officer or a suitable deputy.

It is acknowledged that various sections of the return may be best reviewed by different staff, and that the certifier’s statement is likely to be informed by the review of other expert staff and underpinned by appropriate delegation and review and sign-off processes.

The process of certification will require the name and role of the certifier to be completed in the relevant boxes on the front sheet of the RO form, and for the form to be submitted by emailing it to the normal email address (lgf1.revenue@levellingup.gov.uk), copying the email to the certifier.

3. Expenditure on agency staff

This is to be reported for each of the following broad service groupings (there will be a memorandum item at the foot of each of these sections in the sections RO1 through RO6):

• Education services
• Highways and transport services
• Children Social Care
• Adult Social Care
• Public Health
• Housing services (GFRA only)
• Cultural and related services
• Environmental and regulatory services
• Planning and development services
• Police services
• Fire and rescue services
• Central services
• Other services

Please note that the Revenue Outturn data return has always required agency staff costs to be recorded in the ‘running expenses’ column, and not in the column recording expenditure relating to Employees (see guidance). Agency staff costs should also continue to also be reported in the ‘running expenses’ column.

4. Subjective Analysis Return (SAR) – social care and public health to be shown in separate columns

Please note:

• SAR is collected from a sample of local authorities.
• SAR parts B & C will be required for 2022-23. This is as per the established triennial cycle. This is in addition to SAR A (pay estimates) which is collected every year.
• SAR-A (pay estimates) and SAR-B (running expenses) will now have separate columns for adult social care, children’s social care and public health. (See Annex 1)
• SAR-B (running expenses) will have separate columns for adult social care and children’s social care. (See Annex 2)

5. Additional sub-categories for children’s social care

RO3 will include new sub-categories of ‘children looked after’ (line 16,17,18 and 19) to match the categories and definitions in Department for Education’s (DfE) Section 251 financial data collection guidance. The changes are shown in the highlighted rows:

Children’s social care

10 Children’s social care: Sure start children’s centres and early years

13 Children’s social care - Children Looked After

16 …of which residential care
17 …of which fostering services
18 …of which asylum seeking children who are looked after
19 …of which other

15 Children’s social care - Other children’s and families services

22 Children’s social care - Family Support Services

23 Children’s social care - Youth Justice

25 Children’s social care: Safeguarding children and young people’s services

26 Children’s social care - Asylum seekers (services to unaccompanied children and families, excludes unaccompanied asylum seeking children who meet definition of Children Looked After)

27 Children’s social care: Services for young people

30 Total children social care

6. Removal of data items from Revenue Outturn

The following lines will be removed: - PPE memo items (RO3 line 99 and RO6, lines 601 and 610) - COVID discharge costs (RO3 line 7)

7. & 8. Quarterly Revenue Outturn

From the start of 2022-23:

• the Quarterly Revenue Outturn return will be renamed as the ‘Quarterly Revenue Update’ (‘QRU’). Guidance will be provided recommending the most practical and widely used approaches to preparing consistent figures for this return. This is on the basis of updating Revenue Account (budget) figures for the full-year, and using these in conjunction with in-year outturn, where available, to arrive at quarterly estimates.

• quarterly figures will also be required for the Housing Revenue Account as follows:

Line 71 Dwelling rents (gross) (RO4 - Line 101)

Line 72 Non-dwelling rents (gross) (RO4 - Line 102)

Line 73 Housing Revenue Account Other Income
Sum of: Tenants’ leaseholders’ and other charges for services and facilities (RO4 - Line 103),
Contributions towards expenditure (other than government grants and assistance) (RO4 - Line 104),
Government grants and assistance (including downward adjustments) (RO4 - Line 105),
Interest on investments credited direct to the HRA (RO4 - Line 106),
Transfers from GF only (RO4 - Line 107),
Transfers from MRR and other transfers permitted or required by legislation (RO4 - Line 108),
HRA - Appropriation to/from Accumulated Absences Account (RO4 - Line 111)

Line 70 - Housing Revenue Account Income Total

Line 81 Repairs and maintenance (RO4 - Line 121)

Line 82 Supervision and management (including CDC) (RO4 - Line 122)

Line 83 Special services (RO4 - Line 123) & Rents, rates, taxes and other charges (RO4 - Line 124)

Line 84 Housing Revenue Account Expenditure - Other (RO lines 125-133)

Line 80 Housing Revenue Account Expenditure Total

DLUHC Data Collection Team
10 March 2023
Contact: lgf1.revenue@levellingup.gov.uk

Annex 1: SAR-A (pay estimates)

Annex 2: SAR-B (Running expenses)