Councillors discuss ongoing work to deliver balanced budget amid challenging times
Councillors have been reassured that plans are in place to drive down a projected overspend and balance the books for 2023/24, as local authorities across the country face significant financial difficulty.
The underlying financial position for Lancashire County Council remains a challenging one, but strong financial management and decision-making means a balanced budget at the end of the financial year is achievable.
Several mitigations have already been put in place that bring the underlying forecast overspend down from £18m to an estimated £7.6m in 2023/24, representing 0.73% of our agreed revenue budget.
Children's and Adult Services, which relates to the care for some of the most vulnerable people in Lancashire, continues to place the biggest pressure on the budget.
The largest areas of spend within the Children's Social Care Service are for residential and fostering placements for children in our care and the cost of the social work teams particularly the use of agency workers.
Similarly the pressures in Adult Services are largely due to national recruitment and retention difficulties, coupled with sickness absences leading to a reliance on agency workers. Social Care absence has improved as a result of steps taken by cabinet and officers but more work is needed.
Members of the cabinet were told at a meeting on Thursday 5 October that the focus will remain on continuing to tightly control and drive down costs wherever possible, while we continue to focus on delivering quality services to residents.
Cllr Alan Vincent, deputy leader of the County Council, said: "While we do find ourselves in difficult financial times, the outlook is much improved from what was forecast at this time last year.
"Nationally, these are challenging times for local authorities, with many councils finding themselves in very difficult circumstances and a number issuing S114 notices.
"Through prudent management and a strong focus on finances, this is not a position we find ourselves in, though we cannot afford to get complacent.
"Action plans are being developed for the areas projecting significant overspends and we are doing everything we can to deliver a balanced budget by year end.
"We are extremely grateful to our hard-working staff who are going above and beyond to deliver quality services to residents that deliver the best value for money.
"All of the areas will remain under detailed review as we continue to focus all our efforts on balancing the books while keeping services running efficiently and effectively."