Powys County Council Reports £1.222 Million Budget Surplus

POWYS County Council landed last year’s budget with a £1.222 million surplus.
At a meeting of the council’s Finance Panel on Friday, July 10, councillors will have the opportunity of probing the performance of the 2025/2026 final budget position.
In 2025/2026 the council’s budget was £367.055 million, and finance chiefs said that authority spent £365.833 million.
The £1.222 million is less than the £1.382 million surplus that was predicted at the end of December.
This is an improvement on the £800,000 surplus that was being reported in September, but still a long way off the £2.2 million surplus that was being predicted at the end of June last year.
Director of corporate services and s151 officer Jane Thomas said:  “The continued underspend position is positive and although improved from the previous reported position it remains minimal.
“We cannot underestimate the continued rigour needed in budget delivery and the achievement of savings by year end, particularly as the conflict in the Middle East remains volatile and impacts on the council’s costs across many of our services.
“Maintaining financial resilience is predicated on the delivery on a balanced budget, limiting only essential and planned reserve use, robust financial management and realignment of service delivery to remain within budget is essential.
“It is important however that we fully understand the reasons for any variance against the approved budget and reflect any learning or take advantage of any opportunities in securing a robust and resilient future financial plan.”
Ms Thomas continued: “The setting aside of specific reserves to better manage financial pressure and risk is an important contribution to this resilience for the forthcoming year.
“The Senedd elections add further uncertainty to our funding for next and future years.
“A positive budget position for this year enables us to use opportunities to ensure that the council is best placed to manage the challenges ahead.”
To balance the books £16 million worth of cuts and efficiencies were needed, and this includes £3.7 million from past budgets.
The report says that £12.358 million of these cuts and efficiencies had been “actually achieved which equates to 83.2 per cent  and £2.697 million short of the £16 million target.
Of this total, £979,000 worth of savings had been found by departments to replace proposal that had fallen through during the year.
The report also shows that the council’s total usable reserves have gone up from £61.894 million on April 1, 2025, to £72.009 million as of March 31.
The “General Fund Reserve” which is the account that is supposed to be used first to plug budget gaps has also gone up from £11.4 million on April 1, 2025, to  £12.255 million on March 31.
Comments from the Finance Panel will be added to the report before it goes to a Cabinet meeting later this month. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

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By BBC LDRS ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​