The leader of the Isle of Wight Council has admitted that the council is currently forecast to overspend by “around £5.7 million” this year.
Councillor Phil Jordan told a cabinet meeting on Thursday (October 10) that “a lot” of budgetary “pressure” was coming from adult social care and children’s services – services which he said the council has “very little” control over.
His announcement has come as councils across the country find themselves in a grim financial predicament.
According to a BBC Shared Data Unit investigation shared with local democracy reporters, 218 local authorities have agreed more than £3 billion in savings proposals for this financial year alone and are due to see an overall funding shortage of over £5.7 billion by 2026 – 27.
Councils have already implemented “all of the easy cuts” to non-statutory services, with children’s and adult social care services now having to face the worst austerity, according to the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU).
Dr Jonathan Carr-West, chief executive of the LGIU, told the BBC that the bleak financial situation was being made worse by a growing demand for, and a rising cost of, homelessness and social care services.
Cllr Jordan, who also represents Ryde North West, said:
“I think it’s helpful for me to say, but awkward at the same time, that currently our budget forecast overspend for this year is around £5.7 million – that’s under pressure – but it’s £5.7 million nonetheless.
“A lot of the pressure is coming from adult social care and children’s services. Those are services that we have very little control over because the demand is the demand.
“That said we are doing all we can to mitigate those rising costs and I know there are some great initiatives being brought forward by both directors of adult social care and children’s services and I thank you for some of the information you’ve given us on that.
“Our planning income is under pressure – that’s indicative of less planning applications coming through.
“Our bereavement services income is a 0.4 million pressure on income – again it’s a strange thing – people pass away or they don’t and use our services or they don’t.
“And so there’s little control that one has over them so it’s a matter of fact but nonetheless those incomes are down for that.
“And our temporary accomodation, which I know we have some initiatives in the pipeline for, some great initiatives, is under pressure also.”
The council leader did however point that the authority has a “treasury management underspend” of “£1.3 million”.
Treasury management activities are defined by the council as:
“The management of the organisation’s investments and cash flows, its banking, money market and capital market transactions, the effective control of the risks associated with those activities, and the pursuit of optimum performance consistent with those risks.”
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