Agenda item

The Committee considered the Revenue Budget Strategy 2020/21 to 2022/23 (Appendix A) which had been endorsed by the Executive Board for consultation purposes at its meeting on the 6^th January 2020.  The report provided Members with the current view of the Revenue Budget for 2020/21 together with indicative figures for the 2022/23 financial years. The report was based on officers’ projections of spending requirements taking into account the provisional settlement issued by Welsh Government on 16^th December 2019.

The Committee also considered the following detailed budget information appended to the Strategy relevant to its remit:

·         Appendix A(i) – Efficiency summary for the Social Care & Health Service

·         Appendix A(ii) – Growth Pressures summary for the Social Care & Health Service

·         Appendix B – Budget monitoring report for the Social Care & Health Service

·         Appendix C – Charging Digest for the Social Care & Health Service

The Head of Financial Services provided an overview of the report. Key points covered included:

The announced provisional settlement represented an increase of 4.3% as an average across Wales on the 19/20 settlement, Carmarthenshire had received an increase in Welsh Government grant of 4.4% (£11.5m) taking the Aggregate External Finance to £274. 159m for 2020/21. New responsibilities and transfers into the settlement included funding for Teachers Pensions and Pay, which were only partially funded within the settlement and accounted for £5.8m or 2.2% of the overall funding increase.

Details of the Welsh Government Service Specific Grants were also provided with many remaining at a similar level. The Committee was advised that the social care workforce grant had been increased from £30m to £40m across Wales (c £600K for Carmarthenshire).  Further clarification was being sought to understand whether the increase could be used in full towards unavoidable service pressures.

There was a forecast variance of £3.5m overspend for the Authority with £1m overspend for the Communities Department against the budget areas of Older People, Physical Disabilities and Learning Disabilities.

The budget proposals assumed the full delivery of all savings proposals, together with the identification and delivery of the shortfall in savings proposals for the 2021/22 and 2022/23 financial years.  Additional cost reduction would need to be identified and/or larger council tax increases agreed to deliver a balanced budget for the latter two years.  Given the scale of the pressures and forecasted budget gap, proposed council tax increases had been maintained at the previous Medium-Term Financial Plan (MTFP) levels of 4.89% in each of the three financial years which offered some mitigation to the savings proposals.

The Head of Financial Services advised that due to delays in receiving the provisional settlement, the consequential impact on Welsh Government’s budget finalisation and publication had been equally delayed.  Therefore, the final settlement was due to be published on 25^th February 2020 and the County Council would set the final budget on 3^rd March 2020.

It was also noted that members of the Committee had recently attended budget consultation events which had provided them with an opportunity to ask questions and seek clarification on various aspects of the budget.

The following questions/issues were raised on the report:

·         It was asked if the validation figure of 5% cost increase in gas and electricity was realistic. 

The Committee was advised that this was an estimate based on trends and the fact the Authority was part of a national procured contract.

·         Clarification was sought regarding the workforce grant and when the authority would know if the grant could be used in full.

The Head of Financial Services advised that the Authority was waiting for clarification from Welsh Government and informed the Committee that is was not uncommon to receive specific grants after the start of the financial year.

·         To avoid duplication of queries it was suggested by the Committee that it would be useful to be provided with a summary of comments / feedback provided by members during the budget consultation seminars.

The Head of Financial Services advised that he would consider how this could be done for future consultations.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that: