Agenda item

To receive and approve the statement of accounts 2021/22 for South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils.

The committee received the statement of accounts 2021/22, presented by the head of finance and assisted by the Strategic Finance Officer, Richard Spraggett. The head of finance noted that both the South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils’ Statement of accounts were in draft and that it would be finished after the external auditors signed off the accounts. Therefore, it was recommended that the committee delegate the approval of the accounts to the head of finance in consultation with the co-chairs.

Members inquired into the council’s debt collection rate and its position as being 84 out of 188 councils for this. In response, the head of finance emphasised that the council relaxed some debt recovery activity during the COVID pandemic but that this had now returned to pre-COVID level, and that the councils were currently in the upper quartile.  

In response to a further question on COVID debt recovery and if they could expect to see debt recovery for 2022/23 being over 100 per cent, representing the catch-up from 2021/22, the head of finance confirmed that the figure could never be over 100 per cent because those percentages represented the debt for that year, not to total debt collection. However, he confirmed that it was possible to collect more debt than they expected to collect for that year. 

A member inquired into the movement in the collection fund adjustment account. The head of finance responded that there was no simple answer and that the councils were governed by accounting regulations as to what was accounted for in year in the accounts, compared to actual payments.

On the Vale reserves, members noted that there was a decrease in 2021/22 and enquired as to why that was and if it reflected the budgetary position. Responding to this, the head of finance noted that the reserves did decrease but that this was in line with the budget.

Also, on the language used in report and how there were members listed who were no longer at the council, the head of finance clarified that this was due to the account being a snapshot of time in 2021/22. An example of members’ declarations was given as they had not received declaration by the period so the wording was correct for the period, although it was acknowledged that phrases such as ‘at time of publication’ could be confusing to readers.

Overall, members were satisfied with the response to their questions and with the approach to finalising the accounts as proposed by the head of finance. Therefore, they agreed to authorise the approval of the statement of accounts 2021/22 to the head of finance, in consultation with the co-chairs, if there was no material change in the document as a result of future work.

South Oxfordshire District Council RESOLVED: to authorise the head of finance, in consultation with the co-chairs, to approve the South Oxfordshire District Council statement of accounts 2021/22, subject to there being no material changes in the statements being confirmed to the committee by EY and the council.

Vale of White Horse District Council RESOLVED: to authorise the head of finance, in consultation with the co-chairs, to approve the Vale of White Horse District Council statement of accounts 2021/22, subject to there being no material changes in the statements being confirmed to the committee by EY and the council.