skip to main content

Agenda item

To receive the information, consider any risks arising from the actual expenditure and income against the 2020/21 budget, and scrutinise the Cabinet’s decisions regarding managing the budgets of the Council and its Departments.

Decision:

To accept the report

To note the relevant risks

To support the Cabinet's decision (18 May 2021)

 

Minutes:

The Cabinet Member for Finance highlighted that the report had been submitted to the Cabinet on 18 May 2021 and the Cabinet had approved all the recommendations and financial transactions.

 

The Senior Finance Manager set out the context and elaborated on the content of the report. Reference was made to a summary of the situation by department, which highlighted the sums to be carried forward at the end of the year together with the main matters and areas where there had been significant differences.  It was highlighted,

 

·         That the financial impact of Covid-19 had been substantial to the Council. With over £20m claimed from the hardship fund and furlough by the end of the year, that was a combination of additional costs of £11.6 million, income losses of £7.3 million and £1.5 million for furlough. 

·         As a result of receiving numerous other substantial grants associated with Covid-19 late in the financial year, it was highlighted that the financial position of 2020/21 had been transformed by the end of the year, with the grants including grants to school budgets, for digital transformation, shortcomings in realising savings and a Council Tax back-log.

·         At the end of the year, five departments were overspending prior to the allocation of compensation grants for Covid-19 from Welsh Government, leaving only one department overspending finally, namely the Children and Families Department.

·         The Children and Families Department faced substantial pressure, however, there
was a reduction in the overspend to £1.3 million following the deletion of savings worth £688k that could not have been realised and the receipt of the covid grant.

·         A substantial improvement was seen in the Adults Department's financial situation -  savings worth £1 million that could not been achieved being deleted and slipped as well as general grant receipts in the final months of the year.

·         In terms of the Highways and Municipal Department, it was noted that the increase was a combination of reducing expenditure, covid grant receipts and general grants received and savings deleted. The waste field, continued to cause concern as the department had faced significant additional costs involving compliance with covid-19 guidance.   It was also noted that there were also income losses in the commercial waste field, worth £2.4 million in total for the year.

·         There were several reasons for one-off underspend on several Corporate headings

·         Schools' balances, had increased from £4.3m in 2019/20 to £10.7m in 2020/21 as a result of the impact of Covid-19 and various grants received.

·         A review had been undertaken of the adequacy of the Council's specific funds at the closure of accounts, and £170k of resources had been harvested. 

 

Reference was made to the Cabinet's decision to,

·         note the final financial position of the Council's departments at the end of 2020/21 and to approve the amounts to be carried forward

·         to approve all the recommendations and financial transfers 

 

It was reported that the statutory financial statements for 2020/21 were being completed with the intention of submission to the Auditors before the statutory date of 31 May 2021. It was added that the accounts would be audited over the Summer by Audit Wales and not by Deloitte as in the past.

 

The Head of Finance added that grants had been a significant boost to the situation that now conveyed a healthy and robust situation.  Despite the cost, the safety of Gwynedd residents had been ensured during the pandemic by funding services and situations without the assurance of grants.  It was added that the money had been 'parked' in the transformation fund for now and bids for funding would be made in the usual manner.

 

Staff were thanked for their thorough work and flexibility during this challenging period

 

RESOLVED

 

To accept the report

To note the relevant risks

To support the Cabinet's decision (18 May 2021)

 

Supporting documents: