Decision details

That Cabinet recognises a positive net revenue budget position at outturn of £5.62m prior to transfers to earmarked reserves of £4m, and that this represents a significant improvement of £5.3m from the position forecast at month 9, primarily as a result of:

•Receipt of £1.87m of Welsh Government Covid-19 hardship funding since month 9 to compensate the Council to support its enhanced costs of service delivery and loss of income as a direct result of Covid-19 impact;

•Receipt of circa £1.3m in unbudgeted grants that were communicated to and received by the Authority late in the financial year and that have offset core budget funding;

•Improved income and reduced expenditure across many service areas as a result of in-year budget recovery action as well as the impact of the ongoing operating conditions experienced during the financial year and where services have been reduced or stopped, travel requirements have reduced, office and buildings have remained closed and substantial staff vacancies have remained unfilled.

That Members acknowledge the extent that the Welsh Government Covid-19 Hardship Fund has covered all Covid-19 related additional costs directly incurred during the financial year of £12.3m together with compensation for loss of income of £3.6m, noting that the Hardship Fund closed on the 31st March 2022 and that continued budgetary pressures and risks result for 2022/23 and beyond.

That Members endorse the strategy applied to replenish reserves as noted within the report to support future financial challenges and ensure financial resilience during a period of continuing uncertainty and as we continue to recover from the pandemic and as the delivery of our services take shape in light of a severely altered socio–economic landscape, a period of significant economic uncertainty, and as wider policy commitments both locally and nationally begin to take shape.

That Cabinet acknowledges the continued improvement in Schools reserve balances of£3.5m as contained in Appendix 1 and Appendix 4 that reflects the significant levels of grant support from Welsh Government that was notified late in the financial year.

That Cabinet reaffirms the requirement for schools carrying significant surplus balances that are above levels guided by Welsh Government to provide investment plans setting out how they intend to spend their significant surplus balances, whilst also appreciating that the inherent structural budget deficits that led to 17 schools being in deficit prior to the pandemic will in some cases still require resolution, irrespective of the unprecedented funding received.

That Members acknowledge the capital outturn spend of £25.2m, introducing an underspend of £1.1m and that subsequently releases £640k of capital receipts back to reserve to support future capital investment.

That Members approve the capital slippage requests of £68.5m as listed in Appendix 5,acknowledging the challenging operating conditions and external influences impacting progress during the year.