‘Desperate action’ agreed on Shropshire Council overspend

A meeting of the council's cabinet heard the authority would not meet its savings target of £15.5 million this financial year due to an unforeseen increase in demand for things like adult and children's services.

The quarter two financial monitoring document presented to members indicated that £2.74 million of the savings was not currently going to be met, but that it was possible to bring this down to £1.29 million.

The savings which are not expected to be delivered in quarter two relate to adult social care, education and efficiencies in administrative buildings.

Councillor David Minnery, portfolio holder for finance, said the council's position had "improved considerably since the first quarter" when it was projected that more than £6 million in savings would not be met.

But Councillor Roger Evans, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, disagreed. He said: "I would have said it was worse than quarter one."

He highlighted that in the report the initial projection was an overspend of £8.21 million, before a series of 'management action' proposals identified savings of £6.92 million to bring the figure down to the one they were now faced with.

"Without that, we would be desperate," said Councillor Evans.

'Failing'

"But they are one-offs, so I'm not sure where we are going to be next year.

"I'm not sure where the council is going, but the way it's going it will not be able to deliver the statutory services that are needed."

Councillor Evans said the one-off savings – including a recruitment freeze, procurement freeze and encouraging staff to work from home on Fridays – were "desperate action".

He added: "I do not think we are better off than in quarter one and I think the cabinet is failing the other members of this council and the residents in its management of the policies and the finances of this council to let us get into this desperate state."

This was rebuked by council leader Peter Nutting, who said the council's budget was being "managed extremely well".

Councillor Nutting said: "I am very confident of this year's funding and next year's funding and we are managing the economy of this council as best we can."

The report said ongoing pressures on the budget included increased numbers of residential and foster placements and increased agency costs, unachieved saving carried forwards from previous years relating to family hubs, a projected reduction in income from Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group in adult social care and concessionary fares and unachieved savings relating to CCTV provision.

Cabinet members voted in line with the report's recommendation to agree the management action plan in order to bring the overspend down from £8.21 million to £1.29 million.