SOMERSET County Council is forecasting a £24 million overspend if current rates of spending continue for the rest of the year.
Now it is calling for “collective pressure on the Government” as it wrestles with the impacts of falling funding and increasing costs,.
And leader of the council, Cllr John Osman, will be writing to the Prime Minister setting out the huge pressures facing the authority.
The council’s cabinet member for resources, Cllr Harvey Siggs, has also joined colleagues from across the South West lobbying the region’s MPs to make clear the impact that falling funding is having on local authorities.
This week the council cabinet discussed the first quarter financial report which forecasts an in-year overspend of £24m – if the current rates of spending continue for the rest of the year.
The biggest projected overspends are in adult social care (£12.8m) where demand for increasingly expensive support continues to rise, and children’s services (£9.5m) where use of agency staff to reduce workloads and improve performance have added significantly to spending.
“We must remember that these are projected, not actual overspends,” said Cllr Osman.
“We have a comprehensive plan to bring them down but that doesn’t change the fact that this is a serious situation.