Issue - meetings

The Cabinet gave consideration to a report of the Director of Finance which sought approval of the deployment of the additional grants received in the financial years 2019/20 and 2020/21 and sought approval of the allocation of additional Council resources to supplement the unringfenced Government Funding already announced to meet costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report also sought approval for the Director of Finance to create appropriate reserves to support the Council’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Members were advised that due to the COVID-19 outbreak, further unprecedented pressure was being placed on services provided by both the Council and the NHS. The Government, in response to the COVID 19 pandemic had allocated a number of significant grants in 2019/20 and 2020/21 to provide support. This was in addition to a number of grants allocated towards the end of 2019/20 that due to their late notification could not be included in the month 9 financial monitoring report approved at Cabinet on 23 March 2020. The report presented all the additional funding received by the Council during March and April 2020 which had not previously been reported.

It was reported that Section 2.2 of the report set out a range of ringfenced and unringfenced grants received in late 2019/20 solely for use in 2019/20. These grants would therefore be included within the final outturn for 2019/20 and their allocation and use would be reported within the Council’s 2019/20 Statement of Accounts.

On 27 March 2020 the Council received an unringfenced grant payment of £7,641,407, its share of a £1.6bn unringfenced grant allocation for Local Government. The Government indicated that this was to mainly meet the additional costs of Adult Social Care resulting from COVID-19, but also other pressures such as loss of income. On 18 April 2020, a second tranche of £1.6bn funding for Local Government was announced. The Councils’ share had yet to be notified.

On 27 March 2020, the Council received £11.233m of grants in lieu of business rates. This was received to support cash flow at the end of 2019/20 and would be carried forward into 2020/21 as a receipt in advance and would be used to support the 2020/21 budget as initially intended.

A grant allocation specifically to finance the Government’s business grants initiative was received on 1 April 2020 in the sum of £54.738m. The Government had urged all Councils to pay the grants as quickly as possible and in response payments have begun. The grant payment system was being administered having due regard to Government guidance and a balanced approach had been adopted, managing the requirement to issue grants at speed but also to ensure appropriate administrative disciplines are followed to minimise potential instances of error, fraud and infringements of State Aid protocols.

A £3.015m Hardship Fund grant was received on 3 April 2020. This was to provide support in paying Council Tax for those primarily of working age in receipt of Council Tax Reduction. A separate report had been prepared to outline  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6