Devon’s day-to-day spending budget could overrun by nearly £4m

Devon County Council’s day-to-day spending is predicted to bust its budget by nearly £4 million.

Significant overspends in children’s and adults’ services are the main contributors to the projected overshoot for the current financial year, and  savings targets have been missed.
The children and young people’s futures directorate overspent by £7.8 million in the first eight months of the financial year, with adult social care racking up an overspend of £3.6 million.
These departments make up part of the council’s services’ budget, which is used to fund daily expenses for children in care, and care for adults with physical disabilities.
The council believes it can achieved £43.3 million in cost-savings by the end of the financial year in April, but this is below the initial target of £49.6 million.
Furthermore, the services budget does not include funding linked to schools, on which it is predicting an overspend of around £51 million.
Cllr Phil Twiss (Conservative, Feniton and Honiton), cabinet member for finance, said the projected £3.9 million overspend is “eminently recoverable”.
He continued: “There is pressure in adults’ and children’s services, with the biggest pressure in children’s social care, especially in terms of care-related placements.
“We are facing challenges with delivery of services, and alternatives are being looked at to mitigate the situation.”
The council had reserves of £101 million last April, but this is set to reduce to £75 million, largely because of the contribution it has to make to reduce its special educational needs and disabilities (Send) deficit as part of a bailout agreement it secured with the government last year.
Finance director Angie Sinclair, said Devon’s reserves had previously put it “in the middle” of its 20 other county council peers but that “in recent years we have moved to the lower end”.