Vale of Glamorgan Council is going through challenging times but is just about holding its financial head above water by making some saving and drawing from its cash reserves.

A meeting of the authority's corporate performance and resources scrutiny committee on Wednesday (12 October) the head of finance, Matt Bowmer, will tell reporters that the legacy of the covid pandemic and the current cost of living crisis is impacting on the council's monetary position.

He says: "The revenue position for 2022/23 will continue to be challenging for the council both operationally and financially due to the ongoing implications of the pandemic and the cost of living.

"A general covid response reserve of £1.249m was established during 2021/22 to help meet some of these pressures in 2022/23.

"Emerging pressures during 2022/23 relate to energy standing charges, the recent pay award proposal, general inflation particularly in areas such as school transport and cost of living and staffing pressures.

"Inflationary and demand pressures are being experienced across services and will need to be carefully monitored during the financial year.

"Currently, there is a balanced overall position with the pressures being met from an underspend in the Policy Budget and some drawdown of service reserves.

"An efficiency target of £500k has been set for the year and services are currently working towards achieving their targets. There are some issues remaining relating to unachieved savings targets from previous years.

"Adverse variances are being projected for some services this year and the use of reserves will be required to resolve these issues in the short term."

The meeting will take place at 6pm and can be watched via this link.

The full agenda can be found here.