Decision

RESOLVED:

1. Approved West Northamptonshire Council’s proportion of the former County Council’s balance sheet (as set out in Appendix A).
2. Delegated responsibility to the S.151 Officer to finalise and complete a binding disaggregation agreement of Northamptonshire County Council’s balance sheet between the councils to reflect the agreed position. Including the ability to make reasonable adjustments to the disaggregated balances, in agreement with  North Northamptonshire Council, where errors or omissions come to light that may need correcting.

REASONS RESOLVED:

On 31st March 2021 Northamptonshire County Council (NCC) and the District and Borough Councils in Northamptonshire ceased and were replaced on the 1st April 2021 with two new Unitary Councils West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) and North Northamptonshire Council (NNC).

Whilst the District & Borough Councils’ balance sheets have been aggregated Northamptonshire County Council’s balance sheet needed to be split or disaggregated between WNC and NNC. The high-level principles for splitting the balance sheet were agreed by both shadow authorities prior to vesting day.

Whilst most balances on the NCC balance sheet were able to be disaggregated based on the agreed principles there were several balances which were technically more difficult to allocate. These were largely related to entries around accounting for assets, borrowing and the subsequent cash split.

The split involved analysing large volumes of data, covering several years, that in some instances was incomplete and not easily identifiable to an asset. The assets had already been split, based on geography. We have now agreed how to allocate what previously was the unallocated balances where incomplete information was available.

Work between the West and North has now concluded, and the final balance sheet disaggregation supports the following: -

·         The final cash figure for the demised Northamptonshire County Council being split broadly equally between the two authorities.

·         Application of the broad principles that were agreed prior to vesting day

·         A fair and reasonable split for both authorities

·         An agreement that allows both authorities to begin finalising their accounts.

ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS:

It could be agreed not to split the closing balances of Northamptonshire County Council. This would:

·         Prevent us from being able to prepare accounts for WNC and NNC.

·         Prevent us from being able to confirm reserves, balances and other assets and liabilities of the two new authorities.

·         Lead to formal arbitration which would be time consuming and costly.

For these reasons this option was rejected.