To approve the Statement of Accounts 2014/15. 

20.1           The report of the Finance and Asset Management Group Manager, circulated at Pages No. 49-147, set out the Statement of Accounts for 2014/15.  Members were asked to approve the Statement of Accounts as attached at Appendix 1 to the report.

20.2           The Finance Manager explained that the Statement of Accounts was a statutory document which demonstrated the Council’s financial position at the end of the financial year.  In line with the revised Accounts and Audit (England) Regulations 2011 guidelines, approval of the accounts was now made by the Section 151 Officer by 30 June, the accounts were then audited and amended, if necessary, by 30 September before the Section 151 Officer signed the accounts again.  Those accounts were then approved by the Audit Committee and signed by the Chairman.

20.3           In terms of income and expenditure, Members were advised that working balances had remained at £450,000 and the Council had underspent against its net budget by £78,000 in the year.  In terms of the overspends, additional costs had been incurred as a result of savings plans not being met, most notably in respect of staff savings as the Council now had a much smaller workforce and a lower turnover of staff; a £94,000 one-off cost was associated with the transfer of Waste Services to Ubico and the resultant release of the Council from the rental contract for the Swindon Road Depot; there had been an overspend as a result of benefit claims expenditure being higher than budgeted, and it was noted that the Council had not been able to process all claims in order to reclaim the total amount paid out from Government subsidy.  With regard to underspends, grant funding had not been fully utilised; additional income had been generated through trade waste and garden waste; income from planning and land charges was above budget; and there had been additional recovery of Council Tax overpayments relating to previous years.  The Council had also released earmarked reserves from the previous year which had been set aside to fund future expenditure but had subsequently not been required in full, however, the Council had also recognised an additional requirement for future reserves which had been approved by Executive Committee in July 2015.  This had resulted in a change of £78,000 which matched the underspend for the year and, as such, there was no change in the working balances held at year end.

20.4           The Finance Manager went on to explain that the total net worth of the Council had decreased by £4.2M to £1.8M.  The decrease in worth was summarised in the Movement in Reserves Statement, contained within the Statement of Accounts.  One of main factors was an adjustment relating to the accounting for business rates due to the impact of a large refund to Virgin Media which had a successful appeal against the rateable value that had been applied dating back to 2005.  Other adjustments included a reduction in the capital receipts reserve, as the Council had paid for improvements to the Council Offices and the building of the new leisure centre, and a £5.1M increase in the pension deficit as well as adjustments on the Council’s fixed assets.  The Council Tax collection fund balance showed a surplus of £1.3M at year end which was positive.  This would be redistributed amongst the precepting bodies of Gloucestershire County Council, Gloucestershire Police and Tewkesbury Borough Council.  The balance on the collection fund for business rates was a deficit of £14.9M at year end as a result of collecting less than estimated before the start of the financial year and due to the need to set aside funds to cover future appeals.  Central Government was allocated 50% of the deficit; Tewkesbury Borough Council was allocated 40%; and Gloucestershire County Council 10%.  In terms of capital resources, the total balance was £12.3M, including capital grants, however, after allowing for commitments, the unallocated budget available for new capital grant projects was just under £1M.  The Annual Governance Statement had been approved by the Audit Committee at its meeting in June with no changes being required.  It had subsequently been signed off by the Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive and had not, therefore, been re-presented to support the Statement of Accounts.

20.5           A Member noted that 55% of the Council’s underspend was classed as ‘other’ and he sought clarification as to what sort of items this included.  The Finance Manager explained that there was an extensive list and there were many fluctuations, however, these were natural underspends and overspends within departments and there was nothing significant enough to report.  Accordingly, it was

RESOLVED          That the Statement of Accounts 2014/15 be APPROVED.