Wiltshire Council expecting £1.7 million overspend this year
They've said there are 'continuing challenges' in adult social care
It's expected Wiltshire Council will overspend by £1.7 million by the end of the financial year (2024-25).
The authority's released an update - and say that figure works out as about 0.3% of their overall Budget.
They've said 'continued challenges' for the adult social care department are behind the figures, along with ongoing issues with SEND school transport and less income being generated through planning fees than they expected.
The Council's promising that none of their reserves will be used to balance the books.
The authority's also working to reduce staffing costs and halting non-essential spending.
Despite the financial difficulties, the Council's reporting increased income from leisure services and from sign-ups to the green bin garden waste collections.
It comes as a 4.5% increase in tax bills is being proposed for households from April.
Cllr Richard Clewer, Leader of Wiltshire Council, said: “Our budget forecasting and position for 2024/25 emphasises the ever-changing nature of local government but we are committed to robustly managing our financing to ensure there will be a balanced position at the end of the year without using reserves.
“Our current forecasted overspend is predominantly due to the challenging landscape of adult social care but collectively as a council we are working together across the board to turn that around with a number of cost-mitigation measures already proving to be effective.
“Our proposed budget for 2025/26, which I’m pleased has now been approved to be debated at Full Council, demonstrates that our preventative long-term approach has given us financial resilience to respond effectively to challenges and still gives us the opportunities to be ambitious and invest for the good of the county.”