A SENIOR councillor has confirmed that a predicted overspend of almost £29million by Cumberland Council could be reduced to £17.514 million.

Councillor Barbara Cannon (St Michaels, Labour), the portfolio holder for financial planning and assets, was speaking to members of the council’s business and resources overview and scrutiny committee in Workington on Tuesday (October 24).

She was highlighting points from a report, which was written by chief finance officer Catherine Bell, on the quarterly budget monitoring for the council which estimated the overspend would be £28.914 million by the end of the current financial year.

Her report outlined the council’s financial performance against budget for the period April to June 2023, along with the forecast position to March 31, 2024.

According to her report, one of the headline messages at the end of the first quarter of 2023-24 was the predicted overspend of £28.914 in the revenue budget – £17.862 million in children and family wellbeing; £5.489 million in business transformation and change; and £5.152 million in adult social care and housing.

Cllr Cannon reminded the committee that when the budget was originally decided councillors were told that there a “level of uncertainty” over the council’s future financial position and a possible increased demand in statutory services for children and adults had been “flagged up”.

She said that anticipated additional financial support from central government had not been delivered and added: “I think I said [at the time] it was going to take two or three years to set [the new council] up.”

Cllr Cannon said there had been a number of “deep dive reviews” into areas of the council to identify where savings could be made, including cost reductions of £3.2 million will be delivered from adults social care, health and wellbeing, and £1.2 million from children, family and wellbeing, and the estimated overspend could be reduced to around £17.5 million.

Speaking at the meeting Ms Bell told members that the financial situation was not unexpected because councils across the country were also finding themselves in a similar situation.

Councillor Jimmy Grisdale (Seaton, Labour) said Ms Bell had done a “great job” in compiling her report but admitted the figures went over his head. He added: “There’s councils up and down the country that have gone bankrupt.”

Cllr Cannon said that any council with responsibility for children and adult services was finding themselves facing the same pressures.

She said council services had been “cut to the bone” and added: “For 13 years we’ve not had enough money into these pots. Senior teams are working really, really, hard to save money.”

Councillor David Moore (Gosforth, Conservative) wondered what progress was being made with selling council assets and added: “I go into council buildings that are half full.”

Councillor Lucy Patrick (Harraby South, Labour) agreed that government funding had been reduced and wondered what had led to the predicted overspend.

Ms Bell said there were a number of factors including no additional support from the government and high rates of inflation.

According to the report, as at the end of June 2023, the council’s approved budget was £303.279 million, current net budgeted expenditure on services was £305.848 million, and the projected outturn on services was £334.762 million (including expenditure funded from earmarked reserves and planned contributions to balances).

Members of the committee noted the contents of the report.