Agenda item

The report was accepted and the final financial position of the Council’s departments for 2023/24 was considered:

 

	Column A	⁠Column B Column C		Column D
	Gross Under / (Over) Spend ⁠ ⁠ 2023/24	Recommended Adjustments		Amended Over / Under Spend ⁠ 2023/24
	£ '000	£'000	£'000	£ '000
Adults, Health, and Well-being	3,906	(3,806)	0	100
Children and Families	2,611	(2,511)	0	100
Education	0	0	0	0
Economy and Community	308	0	(308)	0
Highways, Engineering and YGC	687	(587)	0	100
Environment	1,237	(1,137)	0	100
Housing and Property	255	(155)	0	100
Corporate Management Team and Legal	(11)	0	0	(11)
Corporate Support	(10)	0	0	(10)
Finance	(7)	0	0	(7)

 

 

It was noted that there was significant overspend in the Adults, Health and Well-being Department, the Children and Families Department, the Highways, Engineering and YGC Department, the Environment Department and the Housing and Property Department this year (See column A in the table above). To approve the following financial virements (as outlined in Appendix 2):

 

The departments that are over-spending to receive one-off partial financial assistance to limit the overspend that will be carried forward by the Department to £100k (see column B in the table above).

 

It was confirmed to provide financial support of £308k above the contracted payment to Byw'n Iach (see column C in the table above).

 

On Corporate budgets:

-      Use the remaining balance in the Covid Fund of £4,402k to assist the departments that have overspent in 2023/24.

-      Use (£2,091k) of the corporate net underspend to assist the departments that have overspent in 2023/24.

-      The remainder of the net underspend of (£495k) on corporate budgets to be transferred to the Financial Strategy Support Fund.

 

The amounts to be carried forward were approved (the “Revised Over/(Under) Spend” in column D above and in Appendix 1.

 

The financial virements from the specific reserves were approved as outlined in Appendix 3 following a review of the reserves:

-      Harvesting (£1,703k) from reserves to be used in its entirety to assist the departments that have overspent in 2023/24.

-      To use £2,975k to fund one-off bids in 2024/25 following the removal of £1,113k from the Transformation Fund and transfer £1,862k from the Financial Strategy Support Fund.

 

The report was submitted by Cllr. Paul Rowlinson

 

DECISION

 

The report was accepted and the final financial position of the Council’s departments for 2023/24 was considered:

 

 

 

 

	Column A	⁠Column B Column C		Column D
	Gross Under / (Over) Spend ⁠ ⁠ 2023/24	Recommended Adjustments		Amended Over / Under Spend ⁠ ⁠ 2023/24
	£ '000	£'000	£'000	£ '000
Adults, Health and Well-being	3,906	(3,806)	0	100
Children and Families	2,611	(2,511)	0	100
Education	0	0	0	0
Economy and Community	308	0	(308)	0
Highways, Engineering and YGC	687	(587)	0	100
Environment	1,237	(1,137)	0	100
Housing and Property	255	(155)	0	100
Corporate Management Team and Legal	(11)	0	0	(11)
Corporate Support	(10)	0	0	(10)
Finance	(7)	0	0	(7)

 

It was noted that there was significant overspend in the Adults, Health and Well-being Department, the Children and Families Department, the Highways, Engineering and YGC Department, the Environment Department and the Housing and Property Department this year (See column A in the table above). To approve the following financial virements (as outlined in Appendix 2):

 

The departments that are over-spending to receive one-off financial assistance and to limit the overspend that will be carried forward by the Department to £100k (See column B in the above table).

 

It was confirmed that financial support of £308k would be provided above the contracted payment to Byw'n Iach (see column C in the above table).

 

On Corporate budgets:

-      Use the remaining balance in the Covid Fund of £4,402k to assist the departments that have overspent in 2023/24.

-      Use (£2,091k) of the corporate net underspend to assist the departments that have overspent in 2023/24.

-      The remainder of the net underspend of (£495k) on corporate budgets to be transferred to the Financial Strategy Support Fund.

 

The amounts to be carried forward were approved (the “Revised Over/(Under) Spend” in column D above and in Appendix 1.

 

The financial virements from the specific reserves were approved as outlined in Appendix 3 following a review of the reserves:

-      Harvesting (£1,703k) from reserves to be used in its entirety to assist the departments that have overspent in 2023/24.

-      To use £2,975k to fund one-off bids in 2024/25 following the release of £1,113k from the Transformation Fund and transfer of £1,862k from the Financial Strategy Support Fund.

 

DISCUSSION

 

The report was submitted and it was noted that there was an overspend of around £9 million amongst Council departments within the 2023-24 financial year. An update on the position of each department was provided by drawing attention to the main matters and fields where there were significant variances such as: ⁠

 

·       Adults, Health and Well-being Department - It was noted that the November 2023 forecasts suggested that there would be £5.4 million overspend within the Department. It was confirmed that the Department's actual overspend at the end of the financial year was £3.9 million following receiving additional grants and income. It was elaborated that £1.8 million of the overspend was due to the increasing pressure and the expense of supported accommodation in the Learning Disabilities Service but it was emphasised that a financial bid of £1.6 million had been submitted by the Department for the 2024-25 financial year to try and address this challenge. Reference was also made to the sickness levels' challenges, non-contact working hours rates and staff costs that led to overspending in the Residential Care field, but it was emphasised that work was underway to resolve these challenges.

·       Children and Families Department - It was acknowledged that the Department's overspend had increased to £2.6 million by the end of the financial year compared to the assumption of £1.3 million in the 2023 November review.
It was emphasised that this overspend derived from the increase in the costs of out-of-county placements due to the complexity of packages and the recent increased use of non-registered placements. ⁠It was noted that the hope was to internalise these services in the future. Reference was also made to the fact that pressures could also be seen on the Derwen Service budget.

·       Education Department - It was emphasised that the trend of increasing pressures on the school taxi and bus budget continued with an overspend of £1.5m at the end of the year. It was noted that an officer had been appointed to undertake a review of the situation. It was explained that staff turnover, income receipts and grants, as well as less pressure on other budgets, had reduced the departmental overspend to £95k. It was reported that the Department used £95k from its departmental underspend fund to completely delete the overspend.

·       Byw’n Iach - Members were reminded that the Council gave £550k to the company in the 2022/23 financial year as financial support above the agreed payment within the provision contract, to help the company because of the Pandemic. It was confirmed that the financial support continued this year and the required amount had reduced to £308k. It was emphasised that it was anticipated that the company would not need financial support by the end of the current financial year.

·       Highways, Engineering and YGC Department - It was noted that there was an overspend of £687k due to pressures on the road maintenance and lighting budget and a reduction in the work being commissioned by external agencies. There was pride that YGC had made a profit of £100k, which exceeded the profit assumption of £39k expected for 2023-25.

·       Environment Department - It was explained that the overspend trend in the field of waste and recycling collection continued and had increased to £1.2m by the end of the year. It was noted that the Department implemented WRAP Cymru's recommendations to address this trend. It was acknowledged that the car park's lack of income of £601k had contributed to the overspend within the Department.

·       Housing and Property Department - It was explained that significant pressure on temporary homelessness accommodation remained intense by causing an overspend of £2 million within the Department. It was emphasised that this situation was a huge challenge as there was overspending
despite an additional budget of £3m of council tax premium and a grant of £597k from the Government had been allocated to the field. It was stressed that the one-off allocation of £1.4m from the corporate Covid provision and the £701k from the departmental underspend fund had reduced the overspend this year to £255k.

·       Schools - It was updated that the total county school balances had reduced by £3.4 million, namely £11.9m in 2022/23 to £8.5m in 2023/24. It was noted that there had been a significant increase in school balances in recent years due to the receipt of significant grants, but it was anticipated that they would be back to usual levels by the end of 2024/25.

 

The Financial Department was thanked for providing a clear summary of the departments' situation and the financial challenge that faced the Council in the future. There was pride that the departments considered the current financial challenges with responsibility by giving this continuous consideration when trying to continue to maintain services.