Summary of Accounts 2009/10

What did we spend?

The Cost of Council Services

The cost of running our services between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2010 is shown in our Income and Expenditure Account.  The account shows where the money came from to finance those costs, along with any surplus at the year end.

Major items included within the lines above are as follows:

• Adult Social Care - Learning & Physical Disabilities, Elderly Residential Care, Mental Health, Teenage Parents, Homelessness, Domestic Violence and Substance Misuse
• Children's & Education Services - Schools, Childrens Care Management, Fostering Services, Childrens Homes, Youth Justice, Pre-School and Adoption Services
• Cultural, Environmental, Regulatory & Planning Services - Environmental Health, Trading Services, Waste Collections, Recycling & Disposal, Jazz Youth Orchestra and Economic Regeneration
• Effective Governance & Centra Services - The major items include those associated with the democratic process, the cost of local taxation and financing of the Council's debt
• Highways & Transport Services - Highways Maintenance, Street Lighting, Public Rights of Way, Bridges, Trasportation Planning and Traffic Maintenance
• Housing Services - Housing Repair & Maintenance costs, Supervision and Management, Asset Depreciation and Interest Payments

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Where does the money come from?

Wigan Council received funding of £272 million in 2009/10.  The largest share of this was made up of Council Tax Income.

The money comes from the following sources:

• Council Tax Income - Money paid by residents as a local taxation
• Non-Domestic Rate Income - National Non-Domestic Rates (NNDR) are business rates set by and paid to the government and redistributed based on population
• General Government Grants - Includes Revenue Support Grant which is a government grant paid to councils from national taxation to provide funding to operate local services

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How much was left?

Income exceeded expenditure in the year by around £1.2 million.

A small surplus was achieved in year which shows that the Council is managing it's finances effectively.  This surplus will be used to maintain balances which are available to support service pressures and issues facing the Council.

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The Balance Sheet

What we owe and own

The Balance Sheet shows what the Council owns, is owed, what it owes and the Capital funding as at 31 March 2010.

Major items included within the lines above are as follows:

• Land, Buildings, Equipment & Other - Assets held by the Council including Council Houses, Sports Centres, Libraries, Schools, Car Parks, Cemeteries, Highways & Footpaths, Playing Fields and Art & Artifacts
• Stock - Building Materials, Printing & Stationery and Vehicle Maintenance
• Money Owed to the Council - Short Term Investments and Debtors which fall with one year
• Cash at Bank - Amount of cash the Council has in hand less any cash overdrawn
• Money Owed by the Council within the next year - Short Term Borrowing and Creditors due within one year
• Money Owed by the Council after one year - Includes the estimated value of future oension payments to staff, which is matched elsewhere in the Balance Sheet and does not impact upon the level of Council Tax.  Also includes total value of loans
• Capital Reserves not available for distribution - These reserves are prescribed by the accounting codes of practice that the Council must follow and are not available to support its day to day activities
• Reserves - Amounts set aside for a specific purpose in one year and carried forward to meet expenditure in future years.  The Council maintains a prudent level of reserves to meet legislative duties
• Pension Fund Deficit - Value of future pension payments to staff

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Capital Spending

What is Capital Spending?

Capital spending represents money spent by the Council to purchase, upgrade or improve assets such as buildings and roads.  The distinction from revenue expenditure is that the Council and its residents essentially receive the benefit from capital expenditure over a longer period of time.

How much did we spend?

The Council spent over £80 million on its capital programme in 2009/10.  The programme underpins the Council's objectives and provides for investment in long term assets which are used to deliver the Council's services.  The largest spending areas were:

Major items included within the lines above are as follows:

• Children's and Education Services - Primary Capital Pilot at Leigh, Abraham Guest High School Replacement, ICT Harnessing Technology
• Housing Services - Housing Revenue Account, Ince Contaminated Land, Disabled facilities Grants
• Highways and Transport Services - Saddle Junction, Structural Maintenance of Roads & Bridges
• Cultural, Environmental, Regulatory and Planning Services - Play Pathfinder Schemes, History Shop Project, North West Improvement & Efficiency Partnership
• Adult Social Care - Disabled Persons Adaptations

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Director's Statement and Financial Review for 2009/10

The following statement by the Service Director of Corporate Services describes some of the key points from the Council's stewardship of public funds.

In the current economic climate and the uncertainties on the future of Local Government finance, the underspend identified for 2009/10 will help maintain Council balances.

These balances will be utilised to continue to support some of the major pressures and issues facing the Council, particularly on Residual Waste Treatment, the One Life Service Centre, Equal Pay and Affordable Housing.

The Council has a proven track record of efficiency managing its spend against budget and as a result of this, year on year underspends have allowed the Council to use the flexibility of balances to help maintain low Council Tax rises, enhance services and provide valuable additional funding to the capital programme when necessary.  If the level of balances held fall too low then this can place stress on the financial framework and potentially create instability and difficulties for the medium term forecast.

The Council remains committed to sound financial management.  This has been demonstrated by the operational efficiencies and effective budget management by departments during the year.

The full Statement of Accounts is prepared in accordance with the Accounting Codes of Practice published by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA), and are subject to inspection by the Audit Commission.  For the purpose of this document, some modifications have been made in an attempt to provide more meaningful and useful information to non-technical users.

At Wigan Council, we value the input and views of our stakeholders and would welcome any comments regarding this summary.  Is the information contained useful?  Is there anything you did not understand?  Is there anything else that you would wish to see?

Please do not hesitate to get in touch with me or my team at the contact point below regarding your views or any other information you require.  A full version of the Statement of Accounts is available here.

Paul McKevitt, BA (Hons), ACMA
Service Director Corporate Services
Business Support Services

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Contact Details