The Chief Officer Finance, Performance and Change presented a report which provided Council with an update on the Council’s revenue financial performance for the year ended 31st March 2022, and sought approval for budget virements between £100,000 and £500,000, as required by the Council’s Financial Procedure Rules.

She explained that on 24th February 2021, Council approved a net revenue budget of £298.956 million for 2021-22. As part of the Performance Management Framework, budget projections are reviewed regularly and reported to Cabinet on a quarterly basis. The delivery of agreed budget reductions is also kept under review and reported to Cabinet as part of this process.

The Chief Officer Finance, Performance and Change provided the summary financial position at 31st March 2022 and highlighted the many changes that occurred throughout the year as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. She explained that Welsh Government allocated £206.6 million in its budget to the Hardship Fund to support local government for the first six months of 2021-22 along with various other support payments throughout the quarters. Further details on these funds were at 4.1.1 of the report.

The Chief Officer Finance, Performance and Change outlined two further significant changes which occurred between quarter 3 and quarter 4 of the year which were:

• the £1.151 million contribution from WG in March 2022 in recognition of the reduced council tax collection rates experienced by Councils in 2021-22, as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic, and;

• the one-off increase to the Revenue Support Grant of £2.703 million against the context of inflationary and service pressures, the ending of the WG Hardship Fund as well as continuation of decarbonising services and responding to the climate and nature emergency, increasing the Council’s net budget from £298.956 million to £301.659 million for 2021-22 (Table 1).

She added that given the changes that have occurred which have resulted in a better financial position at the end of 2021-22, the Council was able to apply some of this funding to investments to support its residents. Details of this were at appendix 4 of the report. Section 4 of the report provided various tables highlighting Budget virements/technical adjustments, covid 19 cost claims as well as loss of income claims for the year 2021/2022.

The Chief Officer Finance, Performance and Change stated that as outlined in previous monitoring reports during the year there were still £2.376 million of outstanding prior year budget reduction proposals that had not been met in full. Directors have been working to realise these savings during the 2021-22 financial year. A summary of the latest position is attached as Appendix 1. She added that Table 5 and Table 6 outlined the prior year reductions as the budget reductions for year. Figures were broken down by directorate.

The Chief Officer Finance, Performance and Change highlighted the net budget for each directorate and some key areas that contributed to the improved outturn position. Further details were at section 4.3 of the report.

The Cabinet Member Resources thanked the Chief Officer and the team for the hard work that had gone into drawing funds from various sources particularly the hardship fund, and this was something that should not be underestimated. He added that it was pleasing to see that the Council had ended the year in a financially secure position and the work by the WLGA on ensuring Local Governments were listened to by Welsh Government and have provided the necessary support.

RESOLVED: That Council:

• noted the revenue outturn position for 2021-22, and;
• approved the virements between £100,000 and £500,000 as outlined in paragraph 4.1.15