HERTFORDSHIRE County Council is heading for a £24.4m ‘overspend’ on the amount allocated for the delivery of services, according to latest budget monitoring data.
At the start of the 2024/25 financial year, the county council allocated a revenue budget in excess of £1.1bn, to operate a range of services that include social care, highways, public health, trading standards and the Fire and Rescue Service.
But the latest ‘budget monitor’ report – based on data from the end of December – points to an expected overspend of £24.4m.
The data has been published in advance of a meeting of the council’s resources and performance cabinet panel on Friday (February 14).
At that meeting councillors will be presented with proposals that could see funding reprogrammed from capital budgets.
According to the proposals, a £20m contingency budget will reduce the projected £24.4m overspend to £4.4m, and if £6.6m is then reprogrammed from capital budgets, that would result in forecast underspend of £1.2m.
A final decision on whether to reprogramme the capital funding will be taken by a meeting of the cabinet, scheduled for February 24.
“Like many councils across the country, we are facing significant increases in demand and complexity of need across social care services,” says the report.
“Whilst we are not in the same position as some other councils who have declared financial distress, and are receiving exceptional government support, we do need to take proactive steps to maintain our position and reputation as a responsible and well-run organisation with strong financial management.
“As we approach the end of the financial year the forecast is an overspend of £24.4m, before any use of the £20m contingency budget.
“This isn’t the result of poor governance or financial mismanagement.
“Instead, we, like other local authorities, are continuing to see the impact of factors such as increased demand, complexity of need and higher than estimated increases in cost of externally commissioned care.”
The council had previously been predicting a services overspend of £20.1m, based on budget data from the end of September.
But since then they say there has been further demand and pressures seen in adults and children’s social care.
The report also highlights the delivery of £10m of in-year savings by the county council which is said to have been “critical in maintaining control over the in-year financial position”.
And this is in addition to the £41m of savings set to be delivered against the planned programme of savings, included in the initial budget plan.
Meanwhile the budget monitor report also highlights that the £778m schools budget is expected to record a £13.1m overspend by the end of the financial 24/25 year.
That is said to be driven by a £15m pressure within high needs funding, which is used to support children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
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