Nearly a quarter of the cuts and savings proposed for last year’s Powys County Council budget have not been achieved, a report has revealed.

At a meeting of the council’s Finance Panel on Friday, October 8, councillors will look at the savings and cuts for 2020/21,  including those that will be written off and others that have been carried through to future budgets.

When the 2020/21 budget was set in March 2020, before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, the council had expected to make “cost reductions” of £12.394million.

The report shows that £9.453 million or 76 per cent of these was achieved, but £2.941 million was not.

A further £1.634 million was written off, and £1.744 million will be passed forward to be achieved in the future.

These figures are bigger than the £2.941 million, as according to the report, Social Care budgets improved on what was forecast.

The report which will be presented to the panel finance portfolio holder, Cllr Aled Davies, explains that the  Welsh Government provided additional funding in February 2021 in recognition of the inability of local authorities to make all savings during 2020/21.

This came from of a fund to help local authorities respond to the pandemic and Powys’ received £1,093,201 from it.

The report says: “This funding is not recurring and provided welcome support for 2020/21, however the cost reductions are recurrent in the councils base budget.

"The report explains that deleting those savings and cost reduction that “remain unachievable” is “appropriate.”

At the outset of the pandemic, a worst case scenario would have seen the council potentially overspend by more than £12million during 2020/21

But having received over £23 million in funding from The Welsh Government to deal with various aspects of the pandemic, the council actually ended up £8.349 million under budget.

Of the proposals that have been deemed unachievable some are:

  • £380,000 –  Children’s Social Services funding review.
  • £179,000 – Adult Social Care funding review.
  • £192,431 – Children’s Social Services, less use of agency staff.
  • £60,000 – from a renegotiation of a contract to take material from recycling centres.
  • £34,209 –  from the future operational budget of Brecon’s Y Gaer – this could change if potential partners to use the building are brought in.

Some of the cost reductions put through to this financial year are:

  • £200,000 – Digital transformation programme.
  •  £69,990 – Reduction of corporate phone contracts.
  •  £38,410 – Fleet maintenance resources review.
  • £130,000 – Highways winter service provision.
  • £100,000 – Review of increasing car parking charges.
  • £62,100 – Strategic property income target.
  •  £55,480 –  Increased rental income from properties such as Ladywell House in Newtown,  business units and  County Farms estate.
  • £141,10 –  leaving Neuadd Maldwyn in Welshpool.
  • £190,754 – Bids for European Social Funding to support development of Mid Wales Growth Deal and regional economic development.