Council’s £30 million pandemic ‘nest egg’

MORE than £30m is now available to the local council to deal with the future challenges relating to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a new report.

The Local Government Auditor’s Report for 2021 – which has just been published – shows that the amount of money held in reserve by FODC to deal with the ongoing impact of Covid-19 and its after-effects rose from £25.3m to £31.4m in just 12 months.

Record levels of coronavirus have been recorded in the Omagh area since the new year, due to the Omicron variant now becoming the dominant strain.

Local Government Auditor, Colette Kane, has warned that the impact of the pandemic is going to require a longer-term recovery.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on society and on the economy.

“Councils have had to adapt quickly to ensure continued provision of their key critical services such as waste collection and disposal, community support, registration of deaths and burial services,” she said.

“Managing the reserves over the medium-term is one of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy’s key pillars of financial resilience. Councils must ensure that they have clear and robust plans in place for using these reserves.”

Most councils in the North have set up specific reserves to aid their recovery from the pandemic.

They were also supported by grants from the Department for Communities, with the amounts received based on estimates of increased pressure and loss of income.

In her report, the local government auditor said that while most of the short-term financial impact of the pandemic had been offset by extra support from central government, the effects would extend into the foreseeable future.

“Even though many of councils’ revenue-generating services have re-opened, their ability to generate income may be impacted by continuing social distancing requirements, and potentially less demand as a result of the impact of the pandemic on disposable incomes,” she said.

praise

Meanwhile, one of the measures put in place by Fermanagh and Omagh District Council to combat the impact of coronavirus has been praised by the auditor.

She highlighted the ‘Happy at Home’ campaign, which resulted in the delivering of booklets to over 6,000 older people during the 2021 winter lockdown.

The initiative was completed in conjunction with the Western Health and Social Care Trust, providing information on shopping safely online, efficient home heating and ‘winter warmer’ recipes.

The report also indicates that Fermanagh and Omagh District Council was among seven local authorities to have received a Rates Support Grant from the Department for Communities.