Herefordshire Council overspend stubbornly high

Herefordshire Council is heading towards a 10-million-pound overspend this financial year – but bosses say this figure still be reined back to £2 million.

The local authority forecasts where its total spending will end up based on how much it has actually spent in each quarter of the year. And a report ahead of a meeting of the council’s cabinet tomorrow (November 28) shows the needle has barely moved since the previous quarter.

The report blames “increases in demand across social care budgets, temporary accommodation and special educational needs transport services” for the stubbornly high figure.

But nearly half of the £10.2 million forecast overspend, £4.7 million, is accounted for by what are classed as central services, a relatively small part of the total budget.

One positive to emerge is that the children’s and young people’s directorate, the biggest over-spender in the last financial year, is on target to stay within its £65-million budget this year.

The report says changes to the way the council is run can still bring in savings of £8.2 million for the year, bringing the eventual overspend down to just £2 million.

As well as halving the central services overspend, it plans to save £1.6 million on what are classed as corporate services.

But attempts within this to cut the council’s mobile phone costs are likely to bring just £20,000 in savings out of a hoped-for £170,000, the report shows.

The council is due to spend £213 million this financial year, up from a budgeted £193 million in the year to this April – which it overshot by £8.7 million.