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:
- Final Accounts 2020-21 Revenue Outturn (AGC), item 12. PDF 225 KB
- Final Accounts 2020-21 - Cabinet Report 18-5-21, item 12. PDF 459 KB
- Appendix 1 - Revenue Out-turn, item 12. PDF 303 KB
- Appendix 2 - Revenue Outturn, item 12. PDF 412 KB
- Appendix 3 - Covid-19, item 12. PDF 259 KB
- Appendix 4 - Harvesting Reserves, item 12. PDF 179 KB