Agenda item

To receive the information, consider any risks arising from the actual expenditure and income against the 2021/22 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 (14 June 2022)

 

Note: Suggest that issues of overspending and realising savings in the municipal field are scrutinised. Propose to refer the suggestion to the Language and Scrutiny Unit for Members of the Communities Scrutiny Committee to consider as a potential field to scrutinise at their annual workshop.

 

The Cabinet Member for Finance highlighted that the report had been submitted to the Cabinet on 14 June 2022 and the Cabinet had approved all the recommendations and financial transactions.

 

The Senior Finance Manager gave the context to the report. It was noted that the reports elaborated on the Council's expenditure in 2021/22, the out-turn position of the underspend or overspend of individual departments, and the reasons for this. Reference was made to a summary of the final financial position of all the departments, which highlighted the amounts to be carried forward at the end of the year together with the principal matters and areas where there had been significant differences. It was highlighted,

 

·         That the financial impact of Covid-19 had again been significant for the Council in 2021/22, with £17.5 million claimed from the hardship fund and Furlough by the end of the year (a combination of additional costs of £15.2 million and income losses of £2.3 million).

·         The Council had received a number of substantial additional grants late in the year that transformed the financial position by the end of the financial year - the substantial grants included:

-       a Local Government Settlement Addition 21/22 (£2.5 million)

-       social care hardship grant (£1.9 million)

-       social care recovery fund (£1.5 million)

-       school maintenance grants for school budgets (£1.8 million)

-       Accelerated Learning in Schools (£1.2 million)

-       Council Tax backlog (£0.9 million)

-       £0.8 million Economic Framework priorities 

 

·         There was an underspend by all the departments (except for the Highways and Municipal Department which had overspent by £746k).  It was noted that the municipal field continued to be a matter of concern with the most prominent issues in the field of waste collection and disposal. It was added that the department was also facing difficulty to realise savings to the value of £608k.

·         There had been an improvement in the position of the Adults Department as a result of receiving substantial grants in the last few months of the year (including a grant of £1.9 million Local Government Social Care Hardship).  It was noted that the impact of Covid-19 had continued again in 21/22 to have a substantial impact on the Department which was equivalent to over £3.7 million by the end of the year.

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

·         Schools' balances, had increased from £10.7 million at the end of March 2021 to £16.7 million by the end of March 2022 as a result of the impact of Covid-19 and various grants received.

·         A review of the adequacy of the Council's specific provisions when closing the accounts had shown that it had been possible to harvest £851k of resources.

 

It was reported that the statutory financial statements for 2021/22 had already been completed and submitted to Audit Wales for audit. 

 

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

 

During the ensuing discussion, the following observations were made by members:

·         that schools' balances were acceptable bearing in mind that it was difficult to spend money linked to the late grants (a lack of supply staff which in turn leads to a reduction in travel and training costs)

·         The receipt of grants late in the year did not 'facilitate financial arrangements'

 

In response to a comment regarding reliance on special grants, it was noted although there was a tendency to receive grants late in the year this situation could not be depended upon.

 

In response to the continuous overspend in the municipal field and a suggestion to scrutinise this matter, a recent decision by the Cabinet to re-structure the Highways and Municipal Department and to transfer the waste collection field to the Environment Department was noted.  However, the suggestion to scrutinise the field and to refer this suggestion to the  Language and Scrutiny Unit was accepted.  It was added that the vast proportion of the overspend were unrealised savings together with the impact of Covid-19 on the waste field as well as loss of income in the commercial waste field.

 

RESOLVED

 

To accept the report

To note the relevant risks

To support the Cabinet's decision (14 June 2022)

 

Note: A suggestion that issues of overspend and realising savings in the municipal field are scrutinised. It was proposed to refer the suggestion to the Language and Scrutiny Unit for Members of the Communities Scrutiny Committee to consider as a potential field to scrutinise at their annual workshop.