Suffolk County Council warns current funding “not sustainable” for delivery of frontline services
The warning comes as the county council is forecasted to overspend its yearly £688.1m budget by 4%
Last updated 5th Sep 2023
Suffolk County Council’s deputy leader has warned current funding is “not sustainable” for the delivery of several essential services.
The warning comes as the county council is forecasted to overspend its yearly £688.1m budget by 4%, totalling £29.3m.
Although this overspend will be partly offset by an additional Section 31 grant and income from the pooling of business rates, SCC will still be over the line by £22.3m.
Richard Rout, SCC deputy leader and cabinet member for finance and environment, said the overspending is a result of the UK’s uncertain economic state coupled with high demand for certain services.
He explained: “Although the country is now starting to see price rises slowing and energy costs beginning to drop we are still suffering the cost impacts of various global shocks.
“We’re seeing councils around the country having to reduce services and put spending freezes in place so that they can balance the budgets for this year.
“The funding we’re receiving is not keeping pace with the demand and cost of the services that we provide, particularly within special educational needs. ”
This follows reports earlier this year suggesting councils across the UK are expecting to be £5.2bn short of balancing their budgets by April 2026.
The bulk of the excess spending comes from school transport and children in care, making up two-thirds of the total.
This includes the transport of children with special education needs and disabilities (SEND), an increasing number of which also require 24-hour assistance from multiple carers, totalling £22,700 per week, per child.
Cllr Rout continued: “In Suffolk, we need to start thinking about how we reduce these overspends in these key areas.
“It’s now the time for us to sit down internally and start looking at our budget, and exactly what we need to do to bring this overspend back into control.
“Those are the conversations we’re starting to have internally because this level of overspending isn’t sustainable.”
Although part of the problem to do with excess spending was caused by increasingly scarce levels of Government funding, Cllr Robert Lindsay, the financial spokesperson for the opposition group, believes this is a result of Conservative-led ‘political budgets’.
He said: “We proposed an alternative budget in February, which wouldn’t cover the entire deficit but would’ve raised an extra £3.4m by not capping the increase in council tax.
“There aren’t any more cuts to be made, they’ve cut everything to the bone — I worry deeply that they won’t even be able to provide statutory services.
“Locally, Conservatives have to accept some responsibility.”
Nevertheless, Cllr Rout assured the council was in a “strong position” due to built-up reserves, and any measures would not disturb frontline care services.
Instead, the council will look at ways to deliver services more efficiently through transformation programmes.