The COVID-19 pandemic has been a humanitarian tragedy touching all corners of the world. Monmouthshire has not been spared with 73 deaths in the county attributed to the virus and nearly 400 known cases in all for our residents. This loss of life is a terrible thing; as a County Council we extend our deepest condolences to those who have lost loved ones.

Peter Fox, Leader of the Council, said: “The County Council has changed everything that it does since March 2020 and focussed all of our resources on protecting life. We have set aside other priorities and our staff have been redeployed into areas where they have been able to make a positive impact. We have acted with a clear plan and we continue to do so. We are four months in and we have many more months in front of us as a health emergency becomes a social and economic emergency.”

The Council will consider an early view of the financial impact of COVID-19 at its meeting on Thursday. Councillor Phil Murphy, Cabinet Member for Resources will present a paper setting out a high level view which identifies an in year deficit of anything between £3 million and £10 million.

Councillor Murphy said “The Council has a strong track record of financial discipline. We have not overspent our annual budget for more than a decade but this situation is beyond any of our planning. We have lost almost all of our income streams, we have supported our social care system to meet its needs and we have found every homeless person a place to stay. We have not had the flexibility to reduce any of our fixed costs which are considerable. We are thankful to UK Government for providing Welsh Government with over £210 million of direct targeted funding assistance for local government. We have taken Welsh Government at its word that they will support every Council in Wales and make good our extraordinary cost pressures. I have no reason to believe that Welsh Government will not honour this pledge but I would ask them to introduce urgency now so that we are clear what we are getting and have certainty on how much more we need to find ourselves. I am also asking that Welsh Government create the ability for all Councils to deal with any residual overspends over a number of years so that we can continue to provide important and necessary services rather than withdraw them when they are most needed. With every day that passes the challenge of making in-year savings grows. I have initiated a full financial sustainability exercise and have asked officers to complete this work for September so Council can form a view on its next steps but I expect these to include a significant draw on our relatively small reserves.

Councillor Peter Fox said, “in over twelve years as Leader of this Council I have never been prouder of the staff, the people of this county, volunteers and businesses. Everybody has made an extraordinary effort to tackle this pandemic and as things stand we have it under control and our towns can start to move again. We do however have to be vigilant and we need the money in place to provide support for people that need it and to contain the virus if it returns. I’m hoping that Welsh Government will step up and make this possible.”