Denbighshire Council could face huge losses of up to £14m because of coronavirus pandemic

A council scrutiny committee heard a local authority could lose £10-14m because of the Covid pandemic.

Head of property and finance for Denbighshire council, Steve Gadd, told the committee they could be looking at a monthly income loss of £2.1m over the current financial year.

The figure was contained in Denbighshire council’s draft statement of accounts, discussed at the authority’s Governance and audit scrutiny committee meeting on Tuesday.

It is still unclear how much assistance councils will get from Welsh Government to help with lost income due to the pandemic.

He said: “There are five elements to the financial pressures we are facing.

“The main one is loss of income – leisure centres closing and car parks not charging.”

He said there had been extra expenditure on PPE and switching to direct payments for school meals.

The council has also been hit by extra people claiming on the council tax reduction scheme (CTRS), which allows among other things a discount for people on low incomes.

Mr Gadd said more than 600 extra people had claimed the discount since the coronavirus pandemic hit the country.

He also revealed the impact of coronavirus on council tax collections “could be massive” as people struggled to pay.

He added: “Ultimately it’s debt we may have to write off.”

On a positive note he said the budget for Welsh Government’s Test, Trace and Protect scheme, paying for staff engaged by councils to trace associates of those infected with Covid-19, was revealed yesterday so costs of taking on workers would be covered.

The council has had some money back from Welsh Government to offset extra expenditure brought about by the pandemic, Mr Gadd said.

Negotiations are still ongoing with Cardiff with regard to lost income within Welsh councils.

By Jez Hemming – Local Democracy Reporter