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Lewes and Eastbourne
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Issue - meetings

Finance update

Meeting: 11/06/2020 - Lewes District Council Cabinet (Item 76)

76 Financial assessment of Covid-19 pdf icon PDF 732 KB

Report of Chief Finance Officer

Lead Cabinet member: Councillor Zoe Nicholson

Additional documents:

Decision:

(Key decision):

 

(1) To note the initial financial impact of Covid-19 and associated vulnerability of the authority’s budget

 

(2) To note the assumptions being made about the ongoing financial impact of Covid-19

 

(3) To approve the reserve transfers included in the report

 

(4) To authorise the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader of Council, Cabinet member for Finance and the Chief Finance Officer, to make use of monies held in the Council’s COVID19 earmarked reserve as he believes most appropriate in order to continue essential service delivery and/or to mitigate the impact of the emergency on residents and/or service users.

 

(5) To ask the Chief Executive to formally pass on the thanks of all members to officers of the Council for their hard work and diligence during a difficult and unprecedented period.

 

(6) That the Leader, Deputy Leader and Chief Executive of the Council send a letter to the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer. The letter would acknowledge the funding received to date, although the focus would very much be on what is needed from Government to support the community going forward. The letter would focus on the flexibilities and measures needed as a Council in order to support the community and contribute to its economic recovery.

Minutes:

The Cabinet considered the report of the Chief Finance Office updating them on the financial impact of Covid-19 and associated budgetary implications.

 

The projected figures, detailed in the report were produced by modelling a number of best and worst-case scenarios based on potential announcements by the government. The report detailed that Covid-19 would likely leave the Council facing a budget deficit of between £3.2 million and £10.2 million, according to the latest estimates.

 

Referrals from an informal meeting of the Policy and Performance Advisory Committee (PPAC), held on 2 June 2020 was presented by Councillor Joe Miller, Chair of PPAC and considered by Cabinet during their discussions.

 

The Cabinet resolved to support recommendation (1)(b) from PPAC and that was detailed at resolution (5). An additional recommendation resolving to write to central government for further funding and necessary support for the Council and community was detailed at resolution (6).

 

Resolved (Key decision):

 

(1) To note the initial financial impact of Covid-19 and associated vulnerability of the authority’s budget.

 

(2) To note the assumptions being made about the ongoing financial impact of Covid-19.

 

(3) To approve the reserve transfers included in the report.

 

(4) To authorise the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader of Council, Cabinet member for Finance and the Chief Finance Officer, to make use of monies held in the Council’s COVID19 earmarked reserve as he believes most appropriate in order to continue essential service delivery and/or to mitigate the impact of the emergency on residents and/or service users.

 

(5) To ask the Chief Executive to formally pass on the thanks of all members to officers of the Council for their hard work and diligence during a difficult and unprecedented period.

 

(6) That the Leader, Deputy Leader and Chief Executive of the Council send a letter to the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer. The letter would acknowledge the funding received to date, although the focus would very much be on what is needed from Government to support the community going forward. The letter would focus on the flexibilities and measures needed as a Council in order to support the community and contribute to its economic recovery.

 

Reason for decisions:

 

The Council’s response to Covid-19 has been and continues to be fast paced. Budgetary assumptions are liable to change and are only given as an indication. This report provides a position statement at this time to keep Cabinet informed.