Agenda item

1.1 To note the final financial position of the Council’s departments for 2021/22.

1.2 To approve the amounts to be carried forward (the “Revised Over/ (Under) Spend” column of the summary in Appendix 1), namely -

1.3 To approve the following recommendations and financial virements (as outlined in Appendix 2) -

·       The Highways and Municipal Department to receive one-off financial support of £746k to fully abolish the overspend for the year, considering the exceptional circumstances relating to the crisis this year. This will allow the department to move on to face the challenges of 2022/23.

·       In order to comply with the Financial Regulations, the following departments will not keep their underspend above (£100k):

·       Environment Department (£91k)

·       Gwynedd Consultancy Department (£9k)

·       Housing and Property Department (£180)

The Cabinet's decision is sought to earmark a total of £280k to a fund for the post-Covid recovery fund in order to finance the associated financial challenges facing the Council.

·       On Corporate budgets:

·     that (£2,183k) relating to capital costs is allocated to a capital programme fund

·     with the remainder of the net underspend on Corporate budgets being earmarked as follows:

·       (£395k) placed in the Council's general balances

·       (£3,000) to the Council's Transformation fund to fund the Council's priorities and work of a transformational nature

·       (£1,377) to the post-Covid recovery arrangements Fund to fund the associated financial challenges that will be facing the Council.

1.4 The financial transfers from specific funds as outlined in Appendix 4 were approved following a review of the funds, harvesting (£851k) from funds and use £746k of it to assist the Highways and Municipal Department which has overspent in 2021/22 and transfer the remaining £105k to the Council's general balances.

The report was submitted by Cllr Ioan Thomas.

DECISION

1.1 To note the final financial position of the Council’s departments for 2021/22.

1.2 To approve the amounts to be carried forward (the “Revised Over/ (Under) Spend” column of the summary in Appendix 1), namely -

1.3 To approve the following recommendations and financial virements (as outlined in Appendix 2) -

• The Highways and Municipal Department to receive one-off financial support of £746k to fully abolish the overspend for the year, considering the exceptional circumstances relating to the crisis this year. This will allow the department to move on to face the challenges of 2022/23.

• In order to comply with the Financial Regulations, the following departments will not keep their underspend above (£100k):
• Environment Department (£91k)
• Gwynedd Consultancy Department (£9k)
• Housing and Property Department (£180k)

The Cabinet's decision is sought to earmark a total of £280k to a post-Covid recovery fund in order to finance the associated financial challenges facing the Council.

• On Corporate budgets:
• that (£2,183k) relating to capital costs is allocated to the capital programme fund
• with the remainder of the net underspend on Corporate budgets being earmarked as follows:
• (£395k) placed in the Council's general balances
• (£3,000k) to the Council's Transformation fund to fund the Council's priorities and work of a transformational nature
• (£1,377k) to the post-Covid recovery arrangements Fund to fund the associated financial challenges that the Council will be facing.

1.4 The financial virements from specific funds as outlined in Appendix 4 were approved following a review of the funds, harvesting (£851k) from funds and using £746k of it to assist the Highways and Municipal Department which has overspent in 2021/22 and transfer the remaining £105k to the Council's general balances.

DISCUSSION

The report was submitted, noting that it provided details on the Council's expenditure in 2021/22. It was explained that a summary of the final position of all departments was included in the report along with the amounts to be carried forward at the end of the financial year. Attention was drawn to the financial impact of Covid-19 on the Council yet again with £17.5 million claimed from the hardship fund and Furlough by the end of the year.  

The main matters and fields where there had been a significant difference were highlighted, specifically the number of additional substantial grants late in the year that had transformed the financial position by the end of the year.  Attention was drawn to the money received in addition to the £2.5m in the Local Government Settlement, Social Care Hardship grant of £1.9m, Social Care Recovery Fund of £1.5m along with Council Tax backlog of £0.9m to name but a few. It was expressed that there was underspend across all departments apart from the Highways and Municipal Department which was overspending by £746,000. It was explained that it was the Municipal field that was continuing to overspend with the most prominent problems in the field of waste collection and disposal.

 It was explained that there had been a substantial improvement in the Adults Department after receiving substantial grants in the last months of the year, including a grant of £1.9 million for Local Authority Social Care Hardship.  The impact of Covid on the department was highlighted again which was worth over £3.7 million by the end of the year.  It was explained that school balances had increased from £6 million at the end of March 2021 to £16.7 million by the end of March 2022 in light of the impact of Covid and the receipt of various numerous grants. It was expressed that in terms of Council funds that a feasibility review of the Council's specific funds had been carried out when closing the accounts and that £851,000 in resources had been harvested.

The Senior Finance Manager added that the situation had been transformed over the last months before closing the accounts as a consequence of receiving a bulk of grants late in the year. It was explained that this gave the Council an opportunity to prepare for challenges in 2022/23, and it was emphasised that this was a one-off situation only.

Observations arising from the discussion

¾     It was explained that this report was technical. It was noted that this year's settlement had been very good, but that the next two years would not be as good and therefore the Council was facing a difficult time.

¾     It was expressed that grants had helped a number of departments for this year, but it was asked to what extent was there a need to worry about the future?