Suffolk County Council finances £11m better off than previously thought - report
The overspend has reduced, thereby easing the pressure on the council’s reserves to £37.9m in total
Last updated 8th Nov 2023
Suffolk's finances are £11m better off but not yet out of the woods, according to the latest financial report.
In September, the county council announced it had a forecasted overspend totalling £22.3m, forcing the council to extract a total of £56.9m from its ‘rainy day’ reserves.
Now, the new Quarter 2 financial report's revealed the overspend had reduced to just over £11m, thereby easing the pressure on the council’s reserves to £37.9m in total.
The overspend identified in September was yesterday revealed to have been mainly offset by an unexpected £10m surplus from the sale of energy as well as an increased income of £7m from business rates.
Cllr Richard Rout, the cabinet member for finance and environment, welcomed the good news and said this highlighted the ‘hard work’ from the council.
He added: “By Q3, I would hope the measures we are putting in place to mitigate and reduce those overspends start to take hold.
“We want to get that down to as close to being on budget as possible.”
Over the last few months, councils across the UK have reported increased financial challenges as a result of a multitude of factors including the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and persistent high inflation.
Central Government funding for local authorities has seen major cuts and, while Cllr Rout promised to continue lobbying for more money, he also pointed out Suffolk ‘would not be the only ones knocking on the door’.
With the main drivers of these pressures — school transport, children in care, and adult care services — still seeing increased demand, he also insisted the council maintains “utmost regard to residents and the services they use”.
He continued: “While we will do our utmost to mitigate that, being on budget in the context of those challenges is, is very difficult.
“We now have to look at how we deliver those services going forward and what is achievable.”
Due to the lag between financial developments and their respective reports, measures put in place by the council will only manifest in the coming months.