Leader of Northumberland County Council upbeat despite £500,000 overspend forecast

A report presented to the council’s ruling cabinet outlined the financial performance of the local authority at the end of December 2023 – the latest available figures.

The overspend forecast came after cash was transferred from the exceptional inflation reserve (£1m) and the business recovery reserve (£2m).

Without using reserves, the council would have faced an overspend on services of £3.527 million.

The report identified the pay award for council staff as a key issue, with the cost being “significantly more” than the 4% set aside in the 2023/24 budget.

However, the forecast overspend has fallen from the estimate produced in December. That report, which looked at the council’s financial performance to the end of September, predicted a net overspend of £949,000.

The council’s Conservative leader Glen Sanderson remained upbeat about the council’s financial position.

He said: “The report shows fairly promising progress in many areas of the council, and a good hold on all of those areas that are functioning very well.

“I’m very proud of all the staff right across the county council for being able to deliver the services that we are.”

In addition, members of the cabinet were asked to “re-profile” £55.961m of the council’s capital programme from 2023/24 to 2024/25 to “reflect estimated expenditure levels in the current financial year”. This is where expenditure is moved from one year to the next in order to ease pressure on the budget.

In September, a report stated that £15.9m of the capital programme would be re-profiled into the following financial year. At the time, the council’s finance chief Jan Willis explained that the issues with the capital programme were not budget related.

She said the size of the council’s capital programme was “out of kilter” with the local authority’s capacity to deliver, and that proposals would be brought forward to tackle the issue. Ms Willis also blamed delays with external funding and inflation in the construction industry, which forced the administration to “go back and look at business cases” resulting in further delays.

The cabinet unanimously agreed to approve the re-profiling of the capital programme and to note the forecast overspends.