Resources Paper 1 and annexes - Budget monitoring

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Authority

Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Resources Com­mit­tee Paper 1 06 Novem­ber 2026

Page 1 of 7

For dis­cus­sion Title: Fin­ance mon­it­or­ing Pre­pared by: Louise Allen, Head of Fin­ance and Cor­por­ate Operations

Pur­pose This paper presents a view of the Park Authority’s budget man­age­ment pos­i­tion at the end of Septem­ber, month 6 and the mid-point of the ²⁰²⁶⁄₂₇ fin­an­cial year.

Recom­mend­a­tions The Resources Com­mit­tee is asked to: α) Con­sider the budget man­age­ment pos­i­tion for ²⁰²⁶⁄₂₇.

Budget mon­it­or­ing ²⁰²⁶⁄₂₇

1. Fin­an­cial per­form­ance for core deliv­ery to the end of July against the phased budget is shown in Annex 1.

Staff costs

1. Staff costs con­tin­ue to run high­er than the phased budget and show an unfa­vour­able vari­ance of £136,000 at the end of peri­od six.
2. The vari­ance arises as a con­sequence of two main factors:
   • Addi­tion­al costs incurred in provid­ing staff to sup­port the wild­fire response
   • Pro­jec­ted vacancy sav­ings not real­ised to date
3. Over­time pay­ments relat­ing to the wild­fire response totalling £34,000 (includ­ing oncost) were made to staff in September.
4. Estim­ated vacancy sav­ings of £197,000 were included in the budget agreed by the Board in March. These sav­ings have been pro­filed across the months at the same rate as anti­cip­ated costs, such that sav­ings of £100,000 would have been expec­ted by the mid-point of the year; in fact, sav­ings have been less than £15,000, res­ult­ing in £85,000 of unreal­ised savings.

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Authority

Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Resources Com­mit­tee Paper 1 06 Novem­ber 2026

Page 2 of 7

1. The full year sav­ing on cur­rent leav­ers is estim­ated at £70,000, res­ult­ing in a poten­tial for unreal­ised sav­ings for the full year of £127,00. Future staff move­ments are, of course, unpre­dict­able at this point. We do know, how­ever that we will incur addi­tion­al payroll liab­il­ity for mater­nity cov­er, which is likely to amount to £40,000 to the end of the year.
2. The pres­sures iden­ti­fied on the payroll budget are likely to res­ult in mater­i­al over­spend on this budget head­ing. Mit­ig­a­tion of this risk will be con­sidered in the Octo­ber reforecast.

Pro­gramme management

1. Spend to date to the end of July 2026 is provided in Annex 3, togeth­er with a pro­jec­tion of spend­ing to the end of the programme.

Oper­a­tion­al plan and overheads

1. With the excep­tion of monthly payroll costs (dis­cussed above) over­head expendit­ure is run­ning very close to expectations.
2. A break­down of com­mit­ted cost against the vari­ous aims of the Oper­a­tion­al Plan is provided in Annex 2.
3. Expendit­ure on the oper­a­tion­al plan is lower than anti­cip­ated in the phased budget, how­ever, the total of spend and com­mit­ment on oper­a­tion­al plan deliv­ery was £5.18 mil­lion at the end of Septem­ber, rep­res­ent­ing 68% of the total budget for the year. At the same point in the pri­or year, spend and com­mit­ments were at 56% of budget.
4. A sig­ni­fic­ant con­trib­ut­or to the value of com­mit­ted expendit­ure is peat­land res­tor­a­tion. 93% of this budget (£3.25 mil­lion) has been alloc­ated to projects.
5. Expendit­ure arising from the wild­fire response is included with­in the oper­a­tion­al plan report. To date the amount spent (in addi­tion to over­time pay­ments noted at para­graph 4 above) has been £29,000 as shown below.

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Authority

Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Resources Com­mit­tee Paper 1 06 Novem­ber 2026

Page 3 of 7

Nature of expendit­ure	£’000
Low-cost con­sum­ables and Per­son­al Pro­tec­tion Equip­ment (PPE)	4
Sup­port for volun­teer con­tract­ors for their time and machinery	19
Sup­port for volun­teer food pro­vi­sion at Nethy Bridge	6
Total to date (22÷10÷26)	29

1. Some of the addi­tion­al costs anti­cip­ated have not yet been incurred: α) Com­mu­nic­a­tions sup­port to loc­al busi­nesses estim­ated at £30,000 b) Post fire mon­it­or­ing costs £25,000
2. Addi­tion­al fund­ing has been awar­ded to sup­port recov­ery costs. The UK Nation­al Park Voda­fone fund will provide £57,000. In addi­tion, Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment is provid­ing £140,000 to assist with the costs of repair­ing tracks and firebreaks.

Earned income

1. Income received, addi­tion­al to Grant In Aid, was £184,000 at the mid-year point. This fig­ure includes £100,000 in tick­et sales and spon­sor­ship relat­ing to the recent Nation­al Parks con­fer­ence. Expendit­ure relat­ing to these tick­et sales is included with­in cor­por­ate over­heads; income and expendit­ure for the event bal­ance out to break even.

Sum­mary

1. The key points arising from the review of the fin­an­cial pos­i­tion at the end of Septem­ber 2026 are: α) There is an unfa­vour­able vari­ance on payroll costs, arising from addi­tion­al costs from the wild­fire response, and unreal­ised vacancy sav­ings. b) In this first half of the year, deliv­ery against oper­a­tion­al plan object­ives has pro­gressed well. In par­tic­u­lar, most of the peat­land res­tor­a­tion budget has now been alloc­ated to pro­jects. c) Addi­tion­al costs relat­ing to the wild­fire response have been £63,000 to date (staff costs and oper­a­tion­al expendit­ure). A fur­ther £55,000 is expec­ted to be incurred and will be man­aged through exist­ing budget allocation.

Louise Allen 22 Octo­ber 2026 louiseallen@​cairngorms.​co.​uk

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Authority

Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Resources Com­mit­tee Paper 1 Annex 1 06 Novem­ber 2026

Page 4 of 7

Annex 1 Fin­an­cial per­form­ance for core deliv­ery 30 Septem­ber 2026

	Budget	Phased budget	Actu­al	Under/​(over) phased budget	%age of phased budget	annu­al budget
	£	£	£	£
Staff remu­ner­a­tion	6,413,174	3,264,962	3,400,487	(135,525)
Board fees and expenses	314,905	155,098	130,605	24,493
	6,728,079	3,420,060	3,531,092	(111,032)	103%	52.5%
Organ­isa­tion­al development	156,628	87,571	79,236	8,335
Facil­it­ies	476,815	188,253	185,559	2,694
IT and professional	601,060	230,414	229,104	1,310
Com­mu­nic­a­tions	260,000	99,557	74,751	24,806
Cor­por­ate	166,839	71,561	81,333	(9,772)
	1,661,342	677,356	649,984	27,372	96%	39%
Con­tri­bu­tion to C2030 programme	450,000	0	0	0
Peat­land Restoration	3,510,000	1,079,343	418,744	660,599		12%
Nature & Climate	2,106,500	443,475	302,870	140,605		14%
People	428,496	221,650	112,086	109,564		26%
Place	1,046,736	328,410	324,411	3,999		31%
	7,091,732	2,072,878	1,158,110	914,768	56%	16%
Total expendit­ure	15,931,153	6,170,294	5,339,186	831,108	87%	34%
Oth­er income	(271,000)	(153,000)	(184,127)	31,127
Net cash expenditure	15,660,153	6,017,294	5,155,059	862,235
Grant-in-aid draw down	(16,024,336)	(6,500,000)	(6,535,118)	35,118

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Authority

Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Resources Com­mit­tee Paper 1 Annex 2 06 Novem­ber 2026

Page 5 of 7

Annex 2 Com­mit­ted expendit­ure at 30 Septem­ber 2026

Aim	Spent £	Com­mit­ted £	Total spend to 30.09.26 £	Budget £	Budget Remain­ing £	Total spend to 31.07.26 £	Move­ment £
A01 Net zero	48,176	197,886	246,062	344,500	98,438	248,204	(2,142)
A02 Wood­land expansion	1,213	0	1,213	12,500	11,288	1,213	0
A03 Peat­land restoration	418,744	2,833,897	3,252,642	3,510,000	257,358	784,570	2,468,071
A04 Deer and herb­i­vore impacts	6,000	20,940	26,940	25,000	(1,940)	66,440	(39,500)
A05 Moor­land management	13,754	400	14,154	27,000	12,846	26,154	(12,000)
A06 Gamebird management	0	0	0	3,000	3,000	0	0
A07 Fire management	3,559	7,590	11,149	40,000	28,851	7,940	3,209
A08 Farm­ing	26,425	71,960	98,385	105,000	6,615	100,096	(1,712)
A09 Fresh­wa­ter systems	0	54,983	54,983	81,968	26,985	84,968	(29,985)
A10 Eco­lo­gic­al network	403	1,261	1,664	49,832	48,168	403	1,261
A11 Eco­lo­gic­al restoration	87	25,000	25,087	80,000	54,913	3,087	22,000
A12 Cairngorms Nature Index	8,856	20,348	29,204	80,168	50,964	35,442	(6,238)
A13 Spe­cies recovery	90,807	68,296	159,102	217,532	58,430	154,952	4,151
NRF	103,590	298,021	401,611	1,045,000	643,389	195,936	205,676
Total Nature & climate	721,614	3,600,582	4,322,196	5,621,500	1,299,304	1,709,404	2,612,791
Per­cent­age of full year budget	12.8%	64.1%	76.9%		23.1%	30.4%
B02 NPPP Eco­nom­ic data baseline gathering	0	0	0	30,000	30,000	0	0
B04 Skills and training	32,812	34,567	67,379	110,000	42,621	65,511	1,868
B07 Com­munity-led plan­ning and development	8,000	45,000	53,000	115,000	62,000	22,000	31,000
B08 Gael­ic lan­guage and culture	0	0	0	3,500	3,500	0	0
B09 Men­tal and phys­ic­al health	1,805	54	1,859	5,000	3,141	1,152	707
B10 A Park for All	36,159	17,763	53,922	75,001	21,079	46,766	7,156
B11 Volun­teer­ing and out­door learning	33,310	671	33,981	70,000	36,019	21,846	12,135
Total People	112,086	98,055	210,141	408,501	198,360	157,275	52,867
Per­cent­age of full year budget	27.4%	24.0%	51.4%		48.6%	39.5%

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Authority

Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Resources Com­mit­tee Paper 1 Annex 2 06 Novem­ber 2026

Page 6 of 7

Aim	Spent £	Com­mit­ted £	Total spend to 30.09.26 £	Budget £	Budget Remain­ing £	Total spend to 31.07.26 £	Move­ment £
C01 Access to housing	12,193	6,120	18,313	68,000	49,687	18,000	313
C05 Vis­it­ors to the Nation­al Park	0	10,250	10,250	20,000	9,750	10,250	0
C08 Access­ible path and cycle network	65,872	49,302	115,173	125,000	9,827	107,897	7,276
C09 High qual­ity vis­it­or experience	246,019	240,301	486,321	783,736	297,415	479,296	7,025
C10 Cul­tur­al heritage	328	3,273	3,601	25,000	21,399	1,400	2,201
Total Place	324,411	309,246	633,657	1,021,736	388,079	616,842	16,815
Per­cent­age of full year budget	31.8%	30.3%	62.0%		38.0%	58.9%
Total Oper­a­tion­al aims	1,158,111	4,007,883	5,165,994	7,051,737	1,885,743	2,483,522	2,682,473
Per­cent­age of full year budget	16.4%	56.8%	73.3%		26.7%	35.1%
Cor­por­ate HR initiatives	130	365	495	6,000	5,505	495	0
Cor­por­ate Plan­ning service	11,365	1,080	12,445	60,000	47,555	10,168	2,278
Cor­por­ate Data management	0	0	0	5,000	5,000	0	0
Cor­por­ate Shared services	3,659	720	4,379	67,400	63,021	0	4,379
Cor­por­ate Con­tri­bu­tions to programmes	0	0	0	450,000	450,000	0	0
Total Cor­por­ate	15,154	2,165	17,319	588,400	571,081	10,663	6,657
Per­cent­age of full year budget	2.6%	0.4%	2.9%		97.1%	1.8%
Total oper­a­tion­al plan 30.09.26	1,173,266	4,010,048	5,183,314	7,640,137	2,456,823	2,494,184	2,689,130
Per­cent­age of full year budget	15.4%	52%	67.8%		32.2%	32.6%
Total oper­a­tion­al plan 30.09.25	1,111,208	3,495,185	4,606,393	8,203,569	3,597,176
Per­cent­age of full year budget			56.2%		43.8%

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Authority

Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh

Resources Com­mit­tee Paper 1 Annex 3 06 Novem­ber 2026

Page 7 of 7

Annex 3 – Cairngorms 2030 expendit­ure at 30 Septem­ber 2026

Pro­ject	Total Cost (incl VAT) £	Actu­al		Pro­jec­ted		Total budget remaining £
	2023 – 24 £	2024 – 25 £	2025 – 26 £	2026 – 27 to date to 30.09.26 £	2026 – 27 £	2027 – 28 £	2028 – 29 £	Leg­acy £
1 Wood­land expansion	258,000	0	0	49,677	0	123,000	85,323	0	0	208,323
2 Peat­land Res­tor­a­tion — capital	12,000,000	0	3,053,309	3,638,542	418,648	7,110,499	2,219,027	2,670,474	0	0	4,889,501
3 Nature Recovery	1,458,120	0	167,000	80,000	0	247,000	540,000	433,000	238,120	0	1,211,120
4 Cairngorms Future Farming	640,060	0	54,755	104,578	20,044	179,377	165,006	200,000	95,677	0	460,683
5 Cli­mate Resi­li­ent Catchments	1,506,960	0	37,915	96,944	159,215	294,075	958,418	208,164	22,303	24,000	1,212,885
6 Green fin­ance and com­munity wealth building	34,176	0	71	1,745	1,044	2,860	28,132	3,184	0	0	31,316
7 Well­being Economy	27,000	0	3,000	2,404	0	5,404	2,400	9,598	9,598	0	21,596
8 Pub­lic Health and the Outdoors	12,000	93	2,160	1,481	673	4,407	1,927	3,238	2,428	0	7,593
9 Demen­tia Activ­ity Centre	515,461	41,857	84,207	65,098	20,663	211,824	77,714	129,099	96,824	0	303,637
10 Land­scape and Communities	165,048	0	3,680	2,351	6,040	12,071	62,360	80,817	9,800	0	152,977
11 Effect­ive Com­munity Engagement	660,000	1,070	20,730	56,543	44,076	122,419	83,724	259,347	194,510	0	537,581
12 Cli­mate Learn­ing and Education	48,000	384	4,413	3,186	3,913	11,896	8,387	15,838	11,878	0	36,104
13 Cli­mate Con­scious Communities	48,000	0	279	1,012	1,336	2,627	9,064	20,748	15,561	0	45,373
14 Com­munity Arts & Cul­ture Programme	99,000	0	4,046	10,834	6,778	21,658	26,322	29,154	21,866	0	77,342
15 Com­munity Man­aged Grant Scheme	1,012,000	0	0	0	5,800	5,800	297,700	404,857	303,643	0	1,006,200
15 Com­munity Man­aged Grant Scheme — CLLD	1,250,000	0	522,322	290,078	0	812,400	200,000	100,057	75,043	62,500	437,600
16 Research and Know­ledge Exchange	364,800	1,229	47,774	27,306	11,886	88,195	77,450	113,803	85,353	0	276,605
17 Cycle Friendly Cairngorms	850,200	0	77,366	96,378	106,020	279,764	382,772	107,800	19,864	60,000	570,436
18 Act­ive Travel Communities	2,535,401	0	10,889	0	73,760	84,649	176,240	1,250,000	964,512	60,000	2,450,752
18 Act­ive Travel Communities	4,526,948	0	0	377,750	0	377,750	750,000	1,000,000	2,000,000	399,198	4,149,198
19 Sus­tain­able Transport	439,800	0	5,000	8,579	1,920	15,499	173,080	143,555	107,666	0	424,301
20 Travel beha­viour change	96,000	0	3,716	32,046	24,128	59,890	29,903	3,207	3,000	0	36,110
Staff­ing	5,413,908	111,653	987,854	1,137,479	572,797	2,809,783	599,598	1,145,444	859,083	0	2,604,125
Oth­er staff costs	96,000	96	4,332	1,938	1,181	7,547	16,019	41,391	31,043	0	88,453
Con­tin­gency	603,000	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	603,000	0	603,000
Infla­tion	320,000	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	320,000	0	320,000
	34,979,882	156,382	5,094,819	6,085,948	1,479,922	12,817,071	7,008,243	8,458,098	6,090,772	605,698	22,162,811
Per­cent­age of total cost plan		0.4%	14.6%	17.4%	4.2%	36.6%					63.4%