Neath Port Talbot Council faces £1 million overspend in 2024-25 budget
Members of Neath Port Talbot Council have heard how a projected overspend of more than £1 million has been reported on their revenue budget after the first few months of the 2024-25 financial year.
Speaking at a scrutiny meeting held on September 5, officers presented a report to councillors which highlighted a potential £1.8 million worth of overspends across the council as of June 2024.
The report which contained details of all underspends and overspends in various directorates was also noted at a cabinet meeting on September 11, alongside another report on the council’s capital budget which now totals £77.9 million.
Like others across the country the authority based in south-west Wales has outlined what they expect to be a series of financial challenges in the coming years, with overspends currently being reported in different areas.
These include areas such as education and leisure, children’s residential care and elderly domiciliary care, as well as the borough’s home to school transport services, spends on country parks, and building maintenance.
Officers said the papers were a forecast of the council’s financial situation which predicted where they thought they would be at the end of the year, taking in to account what they knew about changes to services.
The report read: “The Council’s net revenue budget for 2024/25 is £376.599m (£360.973m in 2023/24). When the budget was set a number of service savings and efficiencies were required totalling £8.828m.”
It added: “The overall budget position as at June 24 is a £1.862m overspend. As the financial year progresses, services will need to continually review expenditure and income in their areas to mitigate the impact of the
overall budget overspend.”
It was also noted that officers will look to bring in additional cost saving and
income generation measures in year in order to reduce the current
overspend position.
By BBC LDRS
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