Barnsley Council facing £12m budget black hole

A report to the council’s cabinet state that the £12.5M pressures will be addressed from “resources set aside”, including the council’s reserves.

Finance bosses are particularly concerned about overspends in the children services and growth and sustainability directorates, both of which are reporting “significant and deteriorating overspend positions”.

Almost £4m of the overspend in children’s social care and safeguarding relates to the cost of placements for children in care.

The number of looked after children in the borough increased by 30 to 378 since the end of March.

The finance report states: “There is also a net cost pressure in fostering across in-house and external foster care due to more children being in foster care placements (287) than budgeted for at this time in the financial year (263).

“An overspend of £1.617M is forecast within children’s assessment and care management, predominately relating to staffing costs due to the use of agency staff to cover vacancies, sickness and maternity leave (£1.156M).

“Based on current capital plans it is anticipated that the council will need to borrow up to £240.3M by the end of 2024/25.”

Another “significant” overspend is expected to fund special educational needs services – the report forecasts a deficit of £4.2m, and discussions are ongoing with the department for education for “safety valve” funding.

An overspend of £2.6M is attributed to the environment and transport business unit, with £1m of this due to the rising pupils numbers and costs from service providers for home to school transport.

Car parking income has also fallen, with an overspend of £500,000, which will be partly offset by increased income from street works and waste disposal.

The situation is not unique to Barnsley – The Local Government Association warned last month that councils are facing additional cost pressures of £2.4 billion in 2022/23.

It warns that to avoid a 10 per cent council tax hike, local authorities may need to make savings equivalent to stopping spending on all cultural and leisure services such as libraries, swimming pools, open spaces, combined with spending on waste collection and Trading Standards.