Form

Points to note and changes to the revenue outturn forms

Updated 9 May 2024

Applies to England

This document highlights key points to note and outlines changes in the RO suite of forms for 2023-24.

A. General

1. The deadline for return of the RO suite of forms is Friday 28 June 2024. This is a return to the pre-COVID timescale. DLUHC’s Director of Local Government Finance wrote to S151 officers advising of this intention on 6 December 2023. He intends to write to CEOs shortly to emphasise the importance of submitting high quality figures by this deadline.

2. The 28 June deadline is for provisional data, and you should resubmit your return as and when updated data becomes available.

3. Formal certification of Revenue Outturn and Capital Outturn forms is required again this year. The deadline for submitting a certified Revenue Outturn return is Friday 11 October 2024. Certification is communicated by submitting a form where the relevant section at the foot of the first worksheet of the form (the worksheet called ‘contact details’) has been completed.

4. Please always keep in mind:

i) the principle of providing the best figures that can be provided by the deadline, estimating wherever necessary

ii) the requirement for figures to be provided for all relevant lines. NB The long-standing general guidance states “Where the authority’s service analysis is not sufficiently detailed to provide an accurate breakdown between certain lines of a form, an estimated breakdown must be given; entries on lines cannot be coupled together.”

5. Updated general and item-specific guidance documents are also attached to the launch email alongside the form and this note. They will be updated online at RO General guidance and RO specific guidance notes.

6. If you have any questions, please first consult the guidance documents. If you have any other issues or questions, contact us via: lgf1.revenue@levellingup.gov.uk

7. There are no changes to the data items that are required this year. We are planning to propose changes to how recharges of management and support services could be recorded in the RO form in the future years, and to seek feedback on these proposals this summer.

8. The following page details some important reminders, as well as describing how movements in reserves levels from 1 April to 31 March now feed into the reserves appropriations data items.

B. Updated list of grants and pre-populated values

8. The list of named grants has been updated. In response to feedback we have also added additional spaces for other grants to be listed in the grants (‘RG’) worksheet. Please be sure to enter all amounts only within the cells that are formatted in a bordered cell, and note that multiple grants can be grouped together into a single line, where appropriate or necessary.

9. Amounts have been pre-populated into data items where figures were available and where it was proportionate to do this. You should check these figures and you should type over the pre-populated amount if you have an updated figure.

C. Reserves

10. Reserves levels for 1 April 2023 have been pre-populated with figures provided for 31 March 2023 in your authority’s RO 2022-23. (Please note that these reflect the latest published figures for RO 2022-23, and thus are as provided by November 2023.) You should check and update these figures by typing over the pre-populated amount, if appropriate.

11. As well as checking the reserves levels figures (rows 911-914, 1023-1026, 1028-1030 & 916) for 1 April 2023, you need to enter the reserve levels for 31 March 2024. The change in reserves levels from each row now feeds into the relevant appropriations lines (797, 811-816).

12. Please note that you must not enter figures directly into rows 915, 915b & 1027. The cells in these rows contain formulae adding the ‘other earmarked reserves’ sub-category rows 1023-1026, and from 1028-1030. This means that you must allocate ‘other earmarked reserves’ levels among the following sub-categories; this has been a requirement since outturn 2021-22.

1023 Other earmarked reserves: Contractual commitments
1024 Other earmarked reserves: Planned future revenue and capital spending
1025 Other earmarked reserves: Specific risks
1026 Other earmarked reserves: Budget stabilisation
1030 Other earmarked reserves: other exceptional elements (enter description in the cell below)

D. Reporting of income for temporary accommodation

13. Please be reminded to record income specific to homelessness and temporary accommodation in the correct places, as per the specific guidance:

Income from the Homelessness Prevention Grant and other government grants must not be included as either income from “sales, fees and charges” nor as “other income” in the RO4 forms. This should be accounted for in the Specific and Special Revenue Grants (RG) section of the RO form.

Housing benefit subsidy for temporary accommodation must be included in the “other income” column for each type of temporary accommodation in RO4. Contributions from tenants/licensees must be included in the “sales, fees and charges” column in RO4.

DLUHC Local Government Finance Data Collection Team

29 April 2024