“There’s a storm brewing throughout the country like no other” – senior councillors defend £37.8m underspend

Caerphilly County Borough Council has revealed underspends of £37.8 million in its latest budget outturn for 2021/22.

Nearly £8 million allocated for education, more than £9 million for social services, and around £7 million for housing has gone unspent.

Half of the underspend – which is £16 million with the exclusion of money for housing and schools – is to be put in reserves.

The council has attributed most of the underspend to late-grant funding from the Welsh Government.

Plaid Cymru councillors criticised the significant underspend at a full council meeting held on Tuesday October 4.

Leader of the opposition group, Cllr Lindsay Whittle, said: “We seem to be hoarding millions and millions of pounds now.”

He then compared the council’s reserves to a “European lottery win” or a “mega stars” bank account.

Plaid Cymru has consistently criticised the £180 million the council has in its reserves and during this year’s council elections, the party called for a council tax freeze.

Cllr Whittle said: “The public that we represent are very concerned that you are taking money off them and not spending it.”

Cabinet member for finance, Cllr Eluned Stenner, said: “Reserves are for a rainy day. There’s a storm brewing throughout the country like no other.”

Deputy leader of Plaid Cymru, Cllr Charlotte Bishop said: “We are already in the middle of the rain and we need to put our umbrellas up.”

Leader of the council, Cllr Sean Morgan, said the reason the council is “financially stable” is because it hasn’t listened to the opposition.

Cllr Morgan said: “We are able to help our residents whether it be school services, education, or any other of the 600 services that we run.”

Cllr Stenner said: “Reserves are something we are going to be looking at to steer us through these turbulent times.”

She added that the policy and resources scrutiny committee will be discussing reserves at an upcoming meeting.

Cllr Martyn James questioned why the underspend couldn’t be used to replace the small schools grant which is no longer provided by the Welsh government.

Cllr Colin Mann raised the example of bus shelters not being cleaned as often – they are now being cleaned three times a year as opposed to six – despite the council having money ‘left over’.

The Llanbradach councillor said: “We are not providing services where we should.”

Corporate director of economy and environment, Mark Williams, admitted that “there is more that we could be doing”. But, he added that the council is having difficulty recruiting labourers.

Cllr Whittle suggested using the unspent money to pay council staff more to help with the recruitment issues the council is currently facing.

Council approved the recommendation that half the overspend be placed in the “general fund” reserves.

Cllr Morgan said: “We will look to help our residents in any which way we can.

“Our residents depend on our services and they depend on a resilient council.”