Agenda item

Report from the Strategic Director of Finance and Customer Services

Recommendations

1.          That the update on the revenue budget financial outturn 2020/21 be noted.

2.          That the Councils position on the delivery of the business support grants and Test and Trace support payments be noted.

3.          That the Councils approach to the delivery of the Hardship Fund, in providing greater levels of Local Council Tax Support be noted.

4.          That the government’s main Covid-19 grant support streams as detailed in section 2.5 are noted, along with the continued approach for payment to suppliers as detailed in section 2.7.

5.          That the approach taken with regards to Adult Social Care Contributions as detailed in section 2.6, be noted.

6.          That the Local Self-Isolation Support scheme is brought to a close at the same time as the Government’s Test and Trace Support Scheme.

Consideration was given to the report which provided an update on a number of financial matters including those related to COVID-19. The Financial Outturn 2020/21 and Financial Monitoring 2021/22 report was due to be submitted to Cabinet in July 2021.

There were 2 main factors contributing to an underspend which was higher than anticipated within the financial monitoring to Cabinet in February 2021. The first was that the Council had continued to maintain dialogue with Government on the costs to the Council arising from Operation Stovewood, costs which the Council managed within its overall budged. The Government confirmed in March 2021 that a grant of £2m would be paid in 2020/21 towards the Council’s Stovewood costs. There was no commitment from the Government as yet for any further or ongoing support for the costs.

The second factor related to the funding from the Government’s Contain Outbreak Management Fund (COMF). In December, 2020, the Council had received funding of £5.1m from a number of grants linked to COMF, including Test and Trace support funding, payments per head of population linked to national lockdown and payments per head of population linked to tiered restrictions. The total cost of the measures that the Council had in place to address outbreak management during 2020/21 was in excess of the £5.1m grant received and also required a significant amount of funding to be reserved to allow measures to continue across 2021/22.

It was reported that a total of £83.7 million of Business Support Grants had been delivered by the Council to over 5,000 businesses. Appendix 1 to the report set out a detailed breakdown of each of the business support schemes.

The Leader explained that it had been an exceptional year but that the Council was in a sustainable financial position due to the hard work of officers and Elected Members. It was explained that the grant funding allocation was very complex and labour intensive and as such had increased the workload for the Finance Team. The Leader also confirmed that the Local Self-Isolation Support Scheme would be brought to a close at the same time as the Government’s Test and Trace Support Scheme.

Cabinet were also informed that an officer executive decision was taken by the Strategic Director of Adult Care, Housing and Public Health on 12^th April, 2021, regarding hospital discharge when NHS funding ceases and local funding arrangements resume. The recommendations of the officer executive decision were:

-        Anyone eligible for the interim NHS Hospital Discharge Funding Scheme that commenced in March 2020 would not be expected to make client care contribution costs until 12th April, 2021.

-        Anyone who had already been assessed and who had moved off the interim NHS funding, and had been making a financial contribution towards their care costs, would be reimbursed their full client care contribution costs from the date they became eligible for the NHS funding until 11th April, 2021, inclusive.

-            No back dated client contribution charges would be applied for anyone whose care services were incorrectly recorded as interim NHS funding codes but who were not eligible for the scheme.

-            Anyone eligible to make a client contribution, and who was still on the NHS funding scheme would become liable for their client care contribution cost from 12th April, 2021.

These recommendations were approved as the Council’s charging policy was designed for “business as usual” circumstances and did not account for the impact of the pandemic.

The report had been considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board as part of the pre-decision scrutiny process. The Board was fully supportive of the recommendations and requested that a further report be brought to the October 2021 meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board regarding the allocation of COVID-19 related Support Grants.

Resolved: -

(1)  That the update on the revenue budget financial outturn 2020/21 be noted.

(2)  That the Council’s position on the delivery of Business Support Grants and Test and Trace support payments be noted.

(3)  That the Council’s approach to the delivery of the Hardship Fund, in providing greater levels of Local Council Tax Support be noted.

(4)  That the Government’s main COVID-19 Grant Support Schemes, as detailed in section 2.5 of the report submitted, be noted along with the continued approach for payment to suppliers as detailed in section 2.7

(5)  That the approach taken with regards to Adult Social Care Contributions as detailed in section 2.6 of the report submitted be noted.

(6)  That the Local Self-Isolation Support scheme is brought to a close at the same time as the Government’s Test and Trace Support Scheme.

(7)  That a report be submitted to the October 2021 meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board regarding the allocation of COVID-19 related Support Grants.