Urgent action needed over council spending - report

Halton Borough Council is expected to go £20m over budget this year

A council is set to go almost £20m over budget this year unless urgent action is taken, a report has said.

Halton Borough Council's ruling executive board has been warned that the situation is of "great concern" and that measures to reduce outgoings must be taken "immediately".

The overspend as of the end of July was about £6.6m but could rise to £19.8m by the end of the year.

A report to the board said the government had been made aware of the council’s financial position and the Local Government Association had agreed to conduct a review of the council’s finances.

The biggest source of overspending is the local authority's troubled Children and Families Department, which was recently deemed inadequate by Ofsted.

Its net spend this year is forecast to be about £8.8m over last year, a hike of more than a fifth.

Agency workers

The report said the overspend was partly to do with the cost of hiring temporary social workers.

The current number of agency staff within the department is 63 but this number is expected to rise to 72 in future months.

The report said work was under way to reduce the ongoing reliance on agency staff, including the launch of a recruitment working group, a new in-house Social Work Academy, and recruitment and retention bonuses.

The cost of supporting children in residential care has also gone up due to a hike in the price of care packages and the complexity of support the young people required, it added.

The report recommended that all spending should be limited to only absolutely essential items, that executive directors should continue the "urgent action" to identify areas where spending can be reduced or suspended for the remainder of the current financial year or additional funding secured.

Halton Borough Council is currently part way through a three-year programme of cuts and restructuring.

This includes the closure of Ditton and Warrington Road Daycare Centres, and the planned closure of the council-run school meals service.