Doncaster Council set for £6.6m overspend amid ballooning cost of social care
The authority is hoping to balance the books by the end of the financial year
The City of Doncaster Council is forecasting a £6.6million overspend at the end of the 2025/26 financial year in its Q1 performance report.
Mayor Ros Jones and her cabinet reviewed the authority’s performance over the first three months of the financial year in a meeting on Wednesday.
Addressing the report, Mayor Jones said: “The financial position remains a challenge and based on current information at quarter 1 a £6.6m overspend is projected for the year.
“This position includes various overspends, including shortfalls against income targets, which are being partially offset by one-off contingency budgets.”
Jones told the meeting that the main overspend facing Doncaster Council was on adult social care – approximately £6m.
She added the council would be taking action over the course of the year in efforts to reduce the current projected overspend, in hopes of reaching a balanced position at year end.
The performance report also revealed a project overspend within the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), specifically relating to funding for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Currently, Doncaster Council forecasts a £17.1m overspend within the DSG High Needs Block grant for SEND spending.
A statutory override, recently extended into 2028 by the government, means the DSG is “effectively ringfenced”, the report to cabinet said.
It means DSG expenditure does not currently count against local authorities’ general budgets, but will once the override ends in 2028.
The report states: “It is not yet known exactly how the government will expect councils to deal with their deficit balances once the override ends beyond 2028.”
Councils will be hoping for answers when the government outlines its ‘Schools White Paper’ in Autumn 2025, which is expected to include plans for SEND reform.
The performance report suggests the reforms “may reduce the demand on the DSG”.
Reform UK councillor Karl Hughes attended cabinet to quiz the Labour administration on SEND deficits.
He asked: “What specific measures are you taking to prevent these spiralling deficits from overwhelming the council’s finances, especially given the statutory override only delays the impact until 2028?”
In her response, the mayor highlighted that 65 per cent of UK councils are “at risk of not setting a balanced budget when the override ends in 2028”.
She said: “In Doncaster, we have worked hard to limit these impacts, opening new specialist provision, and focusing more effort on supporting schools to meet needs at an earlier point, alongside developing strong scrutiny and monitoring processes.
“This has reduced the predicted growth in the deficit to the current figure of £37.6m, projected to increase to £54.8m by 31 March 2026 which is lower than the originally predicted DfE figure of £59m for March 2026.
“This council will continue to work with urgency around this overspend – developing significant increases in the availability of specialist places, with over 500 places planned over the next three years and supporting schools and families to meet needs as early as is possible.
“We have established an efficiency group to look at how we can drive down the overspend, which is chaired by a Service Director reporting directly into the Executive Leadership. We did the same a couple of years ago around the general fund, which was effective in reducing overspend.”