Agenda item

 

 

To accept the report and consider the final financial position of the Council's departments for 2025/26:

 

 

Noting that there is substantial expenditure above the budget by the Adults, Health and Well-being Department, the Children and Families Department and the Environment Department in 2025/26 (see Column A in the table above). The following financial virements (explained in Appendix 2) were approved –

 

· 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 table above).

· It was confirmed to provide financial support of £269k above the contracted payment to Byw'n Iach (see column C in the table above).

· To fund the overspend of £1.256 million in the Waste field by using £786k from the Parc Adfer Contributory Earnings Recovery Fund and £470k from the Producer Extended Responsibility Fund for packaging materials (see column CH in the table above).

· To allocate a financial bid of up to £800k to the Housing and Property Department to fund the pressure on the emergency accommodation service in 2026/27.

· On Corporate budgets:

- use from the corporate underspend (£2.8 million) to assist the departments that have overspent in 2025/26.

- the remainder (of £3.174 million) required to fund all requirements to be funded from the Council's Financial Strategy Support Fund.

– the underspend (of £914k) on Council Tax Premium is transferred to the Council Tax Premium fund for use to be determined by Cabinet.

 

The amounts to be carried forward were approved (the "Adjusted Over/(Under) Expenditure" column in column D above and column D of Appendix 1).

 

To approve the financial virements from the Council's Financial Strategy Support Fund as outlined in Appendix 3 following a review of the funds.

- £6.6 million being moved to the Council's general balances 

- £1.5 million being moved to the Building Safeguarding Fund.

 

 

 

The report was submitted by Cllr Huw Wyn Jones. 

 

DECISION

 

 

RESOLVED

 

To accept the report and consider the final financial position of the Council's departments for 2025/26:

 

 

Noting that there is substantial expenditure above the budget by the Adults, Health and Well-being Department, the Children and Families Department and the Environment Department in 2025/26 (See Column A in the table above). The following financial virements (explained in Appendix 2) were approved –

 

· 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).

· To confirm the financial support of £269k above the contracted payment to Byw'n Iach (see column C in the table above).

· To fund the overspend of £1.256 million in the Waste field by using £786k from the Parc Adfer Contributory Earnings Recovery Fund and £470k from the Producer Extended Responsibility Fund for packaging materials (See column CH in the above table).

· To allocate a financial bid of up to £800k to the Housing and Property Department to fund the pressure on the emergency accommodation service in 2026/27.

· On Corporate budgets:

- use (£2.8 million) of the corporate underspend to assist the departments that have overspent in 2025/26.

- the remainder of (£3.174 million) required to fund all requirements to be funded from the Council's Financial Strategy Support Fund.

– the underspend of (£914k) on Council Tax Premium is transferred to the Council Tax Premium fund for use to be determined by Cabinet.

 

The amounts to be carried forward were approved (the "Over/(Under) Adjusted Expenditure" column in column D above and column D of Appendix 1).

 

To approve the financial virements from the Council's Financial Strategy Support Fund as outlined in Appendix 2 following a review of the funds.

- £6.6 million being moved to the Council's general balances 

- £1.5 million being moved to the Building Safeguarding Fund.

 

 

 

DISCUSSION

 

 

The report was presented stating that a summary of the final position of all sections was provided in Appendix 1 of the report.

 

The contents of Appendix 2 were detailed, reporting on some of the main points. It was noted that expenditure in the fields of children's out-of-county placements, waste, residential care and domiciliary care continued to be higher than the budget allocated to them. It was highlighted that the underspend on corporate budgets was helping to alleviate the financial position for the Council as a whole. It was added that £3.2 million from the Financial Strategy Fund would need to be used to balance out the departments' financial deficit situation.

 

It was stated that the budgetary deficit of the Adults, Health and Well-being Department had been reduced to £1.4 million, recognising that the pressure on delivery services was responsible for most of the departmental pressure.

 

In reference to the Children and Families Department, it was explained that there had been an increase of 11 out-of-county placements including exceptional cases of unregistered placements. It was reiterated that this was more costly and had led to an increase in the departmental budgetary deficit to £3.4 million by the end of the financial year. In addition, it was mentioned that there were increasing pressures on the Post-16 Service budget and on support plans and field workers.

 

A budgetary deficit of £407k by the Highways, Engineering and YGC Department was reported. It was mentioned that a reduction in the work commissioned by external agencies had had a negative impact on the income of the Highway services.

 

The Environment Department was then discussed, highlighting a budgetary deficit of £1.38 million at the end of the year. It was explained that the trend of overspending in the waste field continued and accounted for £1.26 million of the departmental position. It was mentioned that savings schemes in several services were slipping, which were also part of the picture. It was noted that the overspend in the waste field was to be funded from the gains from refunding Parc Adfer and income from a levy on packaging materials for producers and retailers.

 

Attention was drawn to the Housing and Property Department, along with the significant pressures facing the emergency accommodation service. It was stated that this financial position followed the consideration of an additional budget of £4.2 million allocated from the council tax premium, and an additional one-off budget of £859k allocated as part of the bids system to assist with the increasing pressures.

 

It was mentioned that school balances had seen a decrease of £1.2 million, and it was highlighted that seven primary schools and three secondary schools had a deficit at the end of the 25/26 financial year.

 

The virements to be implemented from the Council's funds were reported, as outlined in Appendix 3.

 

The Head of Finance noted that he considered that the Council's overall balances should be increased.

 

Observations arising from the discussion:

·       It was emphasised that the same was true because of under-funding the services of the Adults, Health and Well-being Department, with increasing pressures on these services. It was highlighted that providing for the county's most vulnerable residents was the priority.

·       The growing demand for the children and supporting families service, which led to higher costs, was mentioned. It was noted that work was underway to try to reduce the reliance on out-of-county placements, and to try to support the children in their communities where possible. It was explained that safeguarding children was a priority for the Council, and that the use of reserves emphasised this priority.

·       There was concern about the significant cost of placing children in out-of-county placements and the lack of additional support from the Government to respond to this. It was stressed that there was a moral duty to accommodate any child who needed this support, and therefore that the conversation about funding the area needed to be taken further than the Council's boundaries.

·       It was mentioned that spending on homelessness was a cause for concern. It was acknowledged that the previous Government had promised to fund additional costs for services arising from the new legislation, and that it was therefore key for the new Government to deliver on this promise. It was highlighted that the Council had taken steps to purchase buildings, so it was anticipated that expenditure on homelessness would decrease as a result.

·       The Cabinet Member for Economy and Community had warned that Byw'n Iach building infrastructure would require significant spending in the coming years.

It was recognised that helping the people of Gwynedd was the main priority, but that under-funding led to the same discussion every year. By referring to Westminster, it was noted that the tax burden on the country was high but that decisions not to fund necessary services provided by Councils had a major impact on people within our communities. It was explained that it needed to be borne in mind that the Welsh Government allocated funding they received from Westminster, and there was concern that not much more funding would be given by Westminster.