Treasury and Exchequer
Ministerial Decision Report
Adjustments to the 2020 End of year report
- Purpose of Report
This report sets out the changes to the 2020 End of Year Report. The transfers being proposed include:
- The transfer of the Office of the Chief Executive underspend in 2020 to the Reserve in 2021; and
- Transfer of the unused Reserve balance from 2020 in to 2021.
- Background
Accruals were posted in December 2020 for the Co-funded Payroll Scheme in Customer and Local Service (CLS) and the Visitor Events & Attractions Subsidy Scheme (VEASS) in Office of the Chief Executive (OCE) for claims made in January in relation to December. These have now been reviewed with actual claims and were found to be less than the amount accrued for. In light of this, a reversal has been posted in 2020 which releases an identical amount of budget.
The Reserves allocation for the CFPS, which CLS will now not need in 2020, will remain within the Reserve in 2020 and this remaining balance is to be transferred to Reserves for COVID pressures in 2021. The underspend in OCE for the VEASS is to be allocated to Reserves in 2021 for COVID pressures in 2021.
Transferring reserves from 2020 to 2021 to assist with COVID pressures will help reduce the pressure on the sums held as the Reserve in the Government Plan for 2021.
This decision will only put the funds into the Reserve for 2021; any allocations from the Reserve during 2021, including those described below, will be the subject of further public decisions of the Minister.
3. Recommendation
The Minister is recommended to approve:
- a non-recurring transfer of up to £1.5 million from OCE head of expenditure in 2020 to Reserves in 2021.
- a non-recurring transfer of up to £4,735,141 from the Reserves in 2020 to 2021
4. Reason for Decision
Accruals were posted in December 2020 for the Co-funded Payroll Scheme (CFPS) in Customer and Local Service (CLS) and the Visitor Events & Attractions Subsidy Scheme (VEASS) in Office of the Chief Executive (OCE) for claims made in January in relation to December. These have now been reviewed against actual claims and were found to be less than the amount accrued for. In light of this, reversals have been posted in 2020 which release an identical amount of budget.
The Reserves allocation for the CFPS, which will now not be needed by CLS, will remain within the Reserve in 2020 and this remaining balance is to be transferred to Reserves for COVID pressures in 2021. The underspend in OCE for the VEASS is to be allocated to Reserves in 2021 for COVID pressures in 2021.
Article 19 of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2019 states that despite an approved Government Plan, the Minister may direct that an unspent amount appropriated for a head of expenditure in one financial year be deemed to be appropriated for a reserve head of expenditure for the following financial year.
5. Resource Implications
This decision will result in a decrease in OCE revenue head of expenditure in 2020 by up to £1.5 million.
In 2021 following the above transfers, the Reserves will increase by £6,235,141 which will be available for COVID pressures.
Report author: Specialist – Business Cases | Document date: 19 February 2021 |
Quality Assurance/Review: Head of Financial Governance | File name and path: L:\Treasury\Sections\Corporate Finance\Ministerial Decisions\DS, WR and SD\2021-0017 – Adjustments to End of Year |
MD sponsor: Group Director, Strategic Finance |