Agenda item

To receive the information, consider any risks arising from the actual expenditure and income against the 2024/25 budget.

•           To accept the report and note the relevant risks

It was noted that the report detailed the Council's expenditure in 2024/25, the out-turn underspend or overspend position of individual departments, and the reasons for that. Reference was made to a summary of the final position of all departments which highlight the amounts to be carried forward at the end of the financial year, as well as the main matters and fields where there were substantial differences.  

• The financial position had improved since the August and November Review forecasts. 

• Significant grant receipts late in the year for several areas including Adults, Education, Economy and Corporate had improved the financial position by the end of the year.  

• Overspending continued in the field of children's out of county placements, Derwen service, domiciliary care and waste.  

• A favourable position on several corporate budgets was helping to alleviate the financial situation for the Council as a whole by the end of the financial year.  

• The Fund Harvesting Exercise released £1.65 million of funds to be put into the Transformation Fund for the Council's priorities. 

The following was highlighted: 

• Adults, Health and Well-being Department: Year-end overspend of £857k, which was a reduction from the £3 million forecast received earlier in the year. Since the last review, it was explained that the department had received substantial grants and income which had aided the situation. It was reiterated that significant pressures remained in the Domiciliary Care field, with higher staffing costs and high sickness levels and non-contact hour rates, while there was also significant pressure on the budget of private domiciliary care providers and the use of agency staff as one of the issues in in-home residential care. 

• Children Department: Since the November review, the Department's overspend had increased from £3.7 million to £3.8 million, due to an increase in the costs of out-of-county placements as a result of package complexities and the recent increasing use of unregistered, more costly placements. Pressures could also be seen on the Derwen Service budget. 

• Education Department: In light of receiving a financial bid for the school transport field, it was noted that the financial position in the field had improved. The department had also received several grants as well as cuts on expenditure resulting in an underspend of £191k at the end of the year. 

• Economy Department / Byw’n Iach. Over the past few years, the Byw'n Iach company had received financial support from the Council above the contractual payment. Although the amount was lower than last year, the amount required had increased to £281k by the end of the year. 

• Highways and Municipal Department: Overspend of £656k. In the municipal field, there was additional pressure on the budgets of street cleaning staff and staff who clean public toilets, while income losses were issues in the fields of ground maintenance and public toilets. However, there had been an improvement in the income of highway services and Gwynedd Consultancy. 

• Environment Department: The overspend trend in the field of waste and recycling collection continued and had increased to £1.1 million. Another issue within the Department is that there was a shortfall of £826k in parking income by the end of the year. 

• Housing and Property Department: The trend of significant pressure on homelessness temporary  accommodation continued, with expenditure in this area at £6 million this year, compared with £6.8 million last year. An additional budget of £3m was allocated from the council tax premium, an additional one-off budget allocated as part of the bids system and further to this, an additional grant receipt from the Welsh Government at the end of March 2025 to assist with the additional pressure. 

For many  reasons, one-off underspending was reported on Corporate headings including Council Tax. All councils had received a significant grant from the Welsh Government at the end of March towards the additional pressures facing Local Government, which had helped to ease the financial situation. 

• Schools: School balances had seen a slight decline of £0.26 million, falling from £8.5 million in 2023/24 to £8.3 million in 2024/25. At the start of the financial year there were forecasts of a significant reduction in schools' balances but following the receipt of grants worth £4.4m from the Welsh Government at the end of the year, balance levels had been maintained.  

All recommendations and financial transfers had been approved by Cabinet on 13 May 2025 and regarding the next steps, it was noted that work was underway to complete the 2024/25 statutory financial statements for Audit Wales to audit. 

Gratitude was expressed for the report, for the work of the Finance Department over the year and for completing the work within the timeframe. It was recognised that receiving regular information over the year helped Members to become familiar with the situations. 

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

• The Adult Department's overspending would have been quite poor if it had not been for the substantial grant received. Therefore, it was important to learn to stick to budgets. 

RESOLVED 

• To accept the report and note the relevant risks