Suffolk County Council say it's finances are in good shape, but 'many unknowns' remain
Members of the county council’s executive met yesterday afternoon to discuss the latest projections of the authority’s finances.
Finances are in good shape but ‘many unknowns’ remain, a top councillor has said.
Members of the county council’s executive met yesterday afternoon to discuss the latest projections of the authority’s finances.
By this time last year, the council was estimated to be over budget by £22.3 million.
This time around, however, the council is projecting to be under the line by £2.5 million thanks to higher amounts of business rates collections than expected.
Cllr Richard Smith, the lead for finance, painted an encouraging picture of the council’s finances but warned of continued uncertainty.
He said: “Generally, when we have this first quarter outturn paper, alarm bells start ringing, the budget is well over where it should be and the forecast for the end of the year is alarming.
“This year, I’m delighted to say things are different, the first quarter budget outturn report is showing that we are on budget.
“But there are risks inherent with this forecast — there remains substantial work to be done to keep to budgets in the next few months and we have considerable uncertainty over cost pressures.”
Cllr Smith suggested the new Government’s budget and local authority allocations would be key to determining how the council sets its own budget in February.
“I’m in the early stages of thinking about next year’s budget and there are so many unknowns and so many uncertainties there, not least with the election of a new government with whom we have to work and we will work.”
“What we know is with inflation and other costs, our budget each year goes up, our reserves come down and the choices we have to make to set a balanced budget next February get ever higher.”
The council’s leader, Mathew Hicks, also added a degree of caution. He said: “This is hugely welcome, we’re not normally in this position but we don’t want to be complacent because we don’t know what’s coming up down the tracks.”
Last September, the bulk of the financial gap, covering two-thirds of the total, was driven by school transport and children in care.
Cllr Bobby Bennett, cabinet member for children and young people’s services (CYP), said although the service was still projecting a £800,000 overspend, the situation was much better this time around.
She added: “While we acknowledge this overspend, it is notable it is not anywhere near the same magnitude as it has been reported at this time in previous years.
“CYP is a demand-led service, if a child or young person needs our help, we must help them.”
On school transport, which includes transport for children with special education needs and disabilities (SEND), the council is only projecting an overspend of £200,000.
Cllr Andrew Reid, the lead for SEND, continued to warn that Government funding for the service was not enough.
He said: “We receive a particularly low level of funding compared to both national and our statistical neighbour average for the provision of SEND services via the high needs block.
“This is inequitable and clearly doesn’t reflect our costs or increasing demand.”
He explained that as demand outstripped the supply of local places, more children were having to be placed in independent settings, often outside Suffolk.
At the same time, schools struggling with the costs of SEND provision were increasingly having to ask for extra funding.
In total, this has led to an overall deficit of £101.2 million against its Dedicated Schools Grant reserve — the council’s own reserves are projected to reduce by just over £22 million to £157.9 million.