UKHSA Advisory Board: Finance Report
Updated 25 November 2024
© Crown copyright 2024
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: [email protected].
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ukhsa-advisory-board-meeting-papers-for-november-2024/ukhsa-advisory-board-finance-report
Title of paper: Finance Report
Date: 19 November 2024
Sponsor: Luke Heath, Interim Chief Finance Officer
1. Purpose of the paper
This paper gives an overview of the UK Health Security Agency’s finances as at month six of Financial Year 2024-25 (the end of September 2024).
2. Recommendations
The Advisory Board is asked to note UKHSA’s financial position.
3. Summary of 2024-25 financial performance (at end of September)
The table below shows resource and capital departmental expenditure limits (RDEL and CDEL) for 2024 to 2025, split by the parts of:
- core agency costs
- non-COVID-19 vaccines and countermeasures
- the COVID Vaccine Unit (CVU) Core agency costs
It shows the provisional outturn for the 12 months April 24 to March 25.
Table 1. Month 6 resource departmental expenditure limits (RDEL) and capital departmental expenditure limits (CDEL)
| Budget | Actual | Variance | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core RDEL | 197,418 | 214,725 | (17,307) |
| NBN RDEL | 3,613 | 23,613 | (0) |
| ODA RDEL | 6,794 | 6,794 | 0 |
| CVU RDEL | 343,310 | 293,867 | 49,444 |
| VCR RDEL | 222,561 | 222,561 | 0 |
| Core CDEL | 38,009 | 20,324 | 17,685 |
| NBN CDEL | 0 | 2,163 | (2,163) |
| CVU CDEL | 0 | (58,901) | 58,901 |
| VCR CDEL | 3,035 | 3,035 | 0 |
| UKHSA total resource | 773,697 | 741,559 | 32,137 |
| UKHSA total capital | 41,044 | (33,379) | 74,422 |
| UKHSA total | 814,740 | 708,181 | 106,559 |
Table 2: Full year resource departmental expenditure limits (RDEL) and capital departmental expenditure limits (CDEL)
| Budget | Actual | Variance | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core RDEL | 390,507 | 406,673 | (16,166) |
| NBN RDEL | 8,730 | 8,697 | 33 |
| ODA RDEL | 14,505 | 14,505 | 0 |
| CVU RDEL | 928,000 | 715,651 | 212,349 |
| VCR RDEL | 666,737 | 666,737 | 0 |
| Core CDEL | 88,658 | 85,923 | 2,735 |
| NBN CDEL | 8,710 | 8,710 | 0 |
| CVU CDEL | 0 | (173,175) | 173,175 |
| VCR CDEL | 91,093 | 91,093 | 0 |
| UKHSA total resource | 2,008,480 | 1,812,263 | 196,216 |
| UKHSA total capital | 188,461 | 12,551 | 175,910 |
| UKHSA total | 2,196,940 | 1,824,814 | 372,126 |
3.1 Core resource budget
At the previous Advisory Board, we were forecasting a total pressure for the year of around £36 million. This included pressures which have emerged during the year in relation to public sector pay awards and operational demands associated with cyber security and responses to both H5N1 and Mpox. The Executive Committee agreed an approach to managing down the pressure including freezing recruitment and agreeing savings targets by group.
The current £16.2 million pressure shown does not include the implication of the Senior Civil Service restructure that is underway and is expected to be in the region of £7.6 million. Agreement has been reached with DHSC for additional budget allocation of £18.8 million to manage the pressures which have emerged during the year. After budgets are updated, further savings targets of £5 million agreed by the Executive Committee will be met to bring forecast spend back to the revised budget for the year.
3.2 Core capital budget
Capital spend has an even profile in the year. While this is currently behind plan we expect, as in previous years, spend from major projects to be in the final quarter of the year. The current forecast underspend is in relation to leases entered under the new accounting standard. Our Core capital programme is expected to be fully used and DHSC has now provided budget of £20 million which was previously allowed over programming.
3.3 CVU resource and capital budget
The Covid Vaccine Unit shows an underspend on resource budget of £212 million. The demand modelling through the year has shown that the budget allocation set out at the last spending review will not be used. This forecast is subject to change based on the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation advice on the Spring and Autumn 2025.
The capital credit forecast is generated by purchases from contracts agreed in the previous financial year and delivered in 2024 to 2025.
3.4 Vaccines and countermeasures resource and capital budget
This budget is wholly funded based on actual expenditure by DHSC.
4. Annual Accounts 2023 to 2024
The Main Audit and associated sampling is well progressed, UKHSA having provided supporting evidence for over 1,500 samples. The Covid Vaccine Unit model and accounting treatment has been through audit, with only the October and November stock reports outstanding to review when available and the National Audit Office’s (NAO) response to UKHSA’s consideration of Events After the Reporting Period to finalise.
The remaining challenging areas are Goods Received Not Invoiced and Fixed Assets, particularly Assets under Construction that migrated from legacy Project ledger held in Public Health England. Both the UKHSA accounts team and the NAO team are working at pace to resolve the issues. However, this is likely to require an additional number of days to resolve.
Overall, UKHSA and NAO teams have a shared understanding of the key areas of challenge for the current audit and anticipate a pre-Christmas completion.
Luke Heath
Interim Chief Finance Officer
November 2024