Issue - meetings

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

It was RESOLVED:-

·         To note the position set out in Appendices A, B and C in respect of the Authority’s financial performance to date and expected outturn for 2024/2025;

·         To note the summary of Contingency budgets for 2024/2025, detailed in Appendix CH;

·         To note the monitoring of agency and consultancy costs for 2024/2025 in Appendices D and DD;

·         To agree to the implementation of new, and amendments to, Fees and Charges for 2024/2025, detailed in Appendix E.

The report of the Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer setting out the financial performance of the Council’s revenue budget at the end of Quarter 3, of the 2024/2025 financial year was presented for the Executive’s consideration.

Councillor Robin Williams, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Member for Finance & Housing Services said that the overall forecasted position at the end of Quarter 3 indicates that the final position will result in an underspend on the revenue budget of £59k.  He noted that the Adults’ Services have been underspending and the provision has improved in the short term whilst having faced challenges of overspending in recent years.  He noted that work has been ongoing in collection of Council Tax debts. 

The Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer reported that the revenue budget of the Council is positive for 2024/2025.  He noted that the Adults’ Services budget is still volatile as the service had cleared a backlog of financial assessments which had generated additional income in the third quarter which had contributed to the improved financial position for the service.  He noted that there are still concerns as regards to Children Services overspending of over £2 million due to additional children coming into care and increased costs related to the placement of children outside the county.  He said that additional resources have been reflected in the 2025/2026 budget for Children Services. He referred to Table 5 within the report highlights the change in demand for services within the Council; he noted that due to vacant posts within the Authority as it has been difficult to recruit this has created one-off savings in 2024/2025.  He further said that the income fees have increased in the Highways and Leisure Services.  Furthermore, several properties have reverted to the main Council Tax premium following Welsh Governments’ changes to the criteria of holiday lets who qualifying for business rates in April 2023; as the properties are not the main dwellings of the owners, the properties are subject to a 200% council tax charge, backdated to April 2023.  It is anticipated that appeals will be submitted and some properties reverting to business rates having let the properties for the required 182 days. Around half of the additional income generated has been placed in an earmarked reserve and will be used to fund any refunds that result in 2025/2026. 

The Portfolio Member for Children, Young People and Families said the overspend in Children’s Services is concerning due to more children coming into care and the increasing costs of placing children in out of county provision.  He referred to the success of the Cartrefi Clyd provision on the Island and the need to increase the provision with the purchase of additional properties to allow the children in care to be located on Anglesey.  The Leader of the Council also agreed that the provision of Cartrefi Clyd has been a success to allow the children to live in their Welsh communities which also results in saving resources in out of country placement. 

The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6