Issue - meetings

To submit a report by the Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer.

It was resolved to note the contents of the report which confirms that all the funding provided by Welsh Government was utilised in accordance with the terms and conditions of the grant.

The report of the Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer setting out how grant funding provided by Welsh Government as part of the Cost-of-Living Discretionary Scheme to help local residents with the cost-of-living crisis was spent on Anglesey was presented for the Executive’s information. The report detailed the support provided under the two phases of the scheme approved by the Executive (28 June, 2022 and 24 January, 2023) and the funding allocations made.

Councillor Robin Williams, Portfolio Member for Finance reported that a sum of £585,163 was provided by Welsh Government to which could be added any underspend from the Cost-of-Living national scheme. Under the national scheme, 21,906 residents received a payment of £150; 999 failed to cash the voucher sent to them and, as a result, £149,780 was transferred to the discretionary scheme giving a total funding pot of £734,943. As a local discretionary scheme, the Council was able to decide how to use the grant and while many authorities in Wales  used the funding to award additional grants to specific groups of residents, the Council took a more creative and targeted approach which directed the funding to areas which gave a greater benefit to those in need of support during the cost of living crisis including distributing funding to third party organisations (e.g. Armed Forces veterans, Samaritans and Food Banks) which were best placed to identify those in the greatest need. The Portfolio Member for Finance said that he was pleased to be able to confirm that all the funding received from Welsh Government was utilised in accordance with the terms and conditions of the grant and although  some organisations had not distributed all the funds they received by 31 March, 2023, under the terms of the grant, they would be able to retain unused funding and continue to provide assistance to any new applicants who come forward as long as they meet the requirements relating to the funding. Councillor Robin Williams took the opportunity to thank all those who had been involved in setting up and delivering the scheme in the Finance and Housing Services.

The Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer in saying that he hoped the report showed that the Council had been creative in its use of the available funds to provide the greatest benefit to those most in need commented that thanks were due in the main to Llinos Williams the Housing Service’s Community Housing Manager who had undertaken much of the hard work in liaising with organisations to distribute the funding.

Executive Members expressed their thanks and appreciation to Llinos Williams and the team in Housing Services as well as the Finance Service for their initiative, and for doing their best to ensure that the grant funding was used where it was most needed on Anglesey.

It was resolved to note the contents of the report which confirms that all the funding provided by Welsh Government was utilised in accordance with the terms and conditions of the grant.