Northumberland County Council delivered a balanced budget at the end of the last financial year despite huge overspends in key departments. Both the adult social care and children’s services budgets overspent by more than £4 million. As late as December, council officials were forecasting an overspend of £1.7 million by the end of April. However, underspends in other departments proved enough to offset the pressures. Adult social care overspent by £4.25 million, with almost 300 residents requiring packages of care costing more than £100,000 a
year. Children’s services overspent by £4.98 million, with much of this driven by expensive out-of-county placements for looked-after children. Speaking at Tuesday’s meeting of the council’s cabinet, portfolio holder for finance Coun Nick Oliver said: “Officers have done their best to bring us in at a balanced budget. “We have come in with no overspend. The pressure is in the same places that it has always been, and that is true of all councils. “We have had huge pressure on adult social care and we
have seen a £4.25 million overspend despite the fact that we increase the budget every year. Demand keeps growing and growing. “We have 276 packages that are costing the council more than £100,000. These packages for very important for individuals and the families involved, but it is a huge pressure. “We have 222 of these cases that relate to adults with learning disabilities, and the average cost is £174,000. That gives you an idea of the level of intervention in some of these more serious
cases. “Children’s services have seen a £4.98 million overspend. That would be worse if we hadn’t taken a proactive approach over recent years to try and develop more capacity in the county. “I think the position would have been millions of pounds worse off if we hadn’t done that.” Coun Oliver also admitted that the council’s vital BEST programme – which aims to modernise council services and cut costs – was running behind. However, he claimed this was not a major problem. He added: “We
are slightly behind on BEST, but I’m calm about that. These are timing issues. “We have seen £9.5 million of financial benefits this year alone. A lot of it is coming to the implementation phase – we will see some significant improvements this year.”
Northumberland County Council, balanced budget, adult social care overspend, children's services overspend, Coun Nick Oliver, BEST programme, out-of-county placements, looked-after children, learning disabilities care packages
So they overspent like crazy but somehow “balanced” it?? Sounds like accounting magic.
£4 million here £5 million there and they’re “calm.” Meanwhile my taxes are going up and nothing feels better. Also what is BEST even supposed to be, like a rebrand?
I don’t get it, if adult care was overspent by 4.25 and kids by 4.98, how did they not overspend overall. Did they just delay bills to next year? Kinda feels like that.
Out-of-county placements? That’s what happens when they won’t build the services locally, then they pay way more somewhere else. And “behind on BEST” like ok sure, timing issues while people are still waiting for care… seems like the same story every year.