East Sussex County Council looks set to draw more from reserves
East Sussex County Council may need to draw an extra £10m from reserves to balance its books at the end of this year.
The figures were set out in a monitoring report looking back at the second quarter of the year, which was considered by the council’s cabinet on Tuesday (December 10).
According to the report, the council expects to see a total overspend of £24.2m by the end of the financial year, with the majority of this coming from the authority’s department for Children’s Services.
While the overall impact is expected to be mitigated by other elements of the budget, the overspend is expected to result in an unplanned draw of £10.5m from the council’s financial management reserve in 2024/25. This is in addition to the planned draw of £14.3m, which has already been agreed.
Council leader Keith Glazier (Con) said: “The overall finance position continues to remain challenging … the total forecast revenue overspend for services is £24.2m. It was £23.4m at quarter one; an increase of £800,000.
“This is primarily due to the forecast overspend in Children’s Services of £13.9m due to the pressure of early help and social care and homes to school transport.
“Also projecting overspends are Adult Social Care at £10m and Business Services at £800,000, whilst Communities, Economy and Transport are forecast to underspend by £600,000.”
This financial position saw concerns raised by David Tutt, leader of the council’s Liberal Democrat group.
He said: “I think you’ve perhaps become master of the understatement when you say the financial situation is challenging. It is dire, let’s be honest — a £24.2m overspend [and an] eighty-odd million forecast deficit as we go forward.
“We have worked together and will continue to work together to lobby government, but I think we all have a shared nervousness to what we may or may not get from the £700m that is going to be used to target areas of deprivation.
“Although we have worked hard to ensure that the areas of deprivation in East Sussex are known to government … it is a very worrying situation going forward and I don’t think anybody would deny that.
“I will be a little bit critical of the stance that the administration took in budget setting in February. We have every year for the past few years drawn attention to the pressures on Children’s Services and said there needs to be more realistic budgeting and that those pressures need to be taken into account.”
Labour’s Trevor Webb said: “I can assure people that the Labour group on East Sussex County Council have been strenuously lobbying … and we have been made assured that Stephen Kinnock, the minister for care, was aware of the areas of deprivation in Hastings and throughout East Sussex and that is going to be one of the areas of deprivation which could be in that budget.”