AN ‘ENORMOUS’ £20m overspend on schools in Westmorland and Furness is being forecasted.
Councillor Andrew Jarvis, cabinet member for finance and deputy leader of the Liberal Democrat administration, spoke about the financial risks the council faced at its cabinet meeting.
One of those risks was a near-£20 million forecast overspend in schools.
Cllr Jarvis said: “I must highlight the continued pressure on the dedicated school grants budget, particularly upon the high-needs block.
“This is showing a forecast overspend of £19.5 million this financial year. This is an enormous amount and represents 6.5 per cent of our total budget.”
At the end of the first quarter, the council’s forecast spend was £307 million, a net forecast overspend of £5.9 million.
Cllr Jarvis said: “The key drivers of this are from a forecast overspend of £2.2 million in adult services. This is almost entirely the consequence of it not proving possible to deliver significant savings.
“There is also a £2.1 million overspend in thriving places. This is driven by a variety of factors, the largest being the ongoing overspend in the grounds and maintenance contract and the higher cost of the waste disposal contract.”
The council has come under fire in recent months for its handling of grass cutting and bin collections.
He said officers were also forecasting a £2.6 million deficit in the cost-cutting savings including workforce savings being ‘around £2 million below’ those included in the budget – though he said other savings are ‘broadly on track’.
Cllr Jarvis said: “This is, in part, a timing issue, but also part of it reflects, on further discussions with unions, we will not proceed with proposed mandatory Christmas closures.”
The council had proposed at its budget meeting in February closing at Christmas for ‘the majority of staff who were not required to deliver essential services’.
But Cllr Jarvis added both officers and he believed the council is in a ‘much better’ financial position compared to last year with the forecast overspend being ‘much smaller’ than last year, with factors such as the higher-than-expected uptake of green bin subscriptions.
Talking about the overall picture, he said there is ‘nothing new here’, adding: “We continue to face a very significant risk, and given the huge cuts to our funding from government, we will have to deliver very, very material savings if we are to remain solvent.”
But he said he hoped ‘during this financial year’ the council would be able to ‘close that financial gap’.
Then select "Add to Home Screen"
