Council must find extra £6m to plug budget hole

Children’s services is one of the departments facing spiralling costs, the report says

Barnsley Council's financial position is worse than initially thought and the authority has to find an extra £6m to fund services next year, it has been revealed.

A new report to go before the authority's cabinet next week said it expected to exceed its budget for 2024/25 due to unexpected costs in several departments.

This could lead to a larger budget funding gap than anticipated by the council, which has previously been estimated at £19m.

To address the shortfall, the cabinet is being asked to approve taking £636,000 from its savings.

Departments are also being tasked with reviewing their services to find more savings given government funding for the next financial year is still unknown.

The report said children's services was one of the departments facing spiralling costs despite a decrease in the number of children in care across the borough.

Increased waste costs

The service has been particularly hard-hit because of the rising costs of residential placements and fostering services, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The report highlighted the cost of placing children in external residential care had increased due to a shortage of available placements, with some costing more than £8,000 per week.

In addition, the council was spending more on supporting young people leaving care, due to a lack of affordable housing and delays in processing asylum claims.

A £1.8m shortfall has been identified in the authority's environment and highways department due to rising waste collection costs and higher operational costs.

The report added that the council holds £30.5m in unapproved funding, mostly from developers and school grants, which will be allocated to specific projects once the necessary approvals are made.

It said the council expects to save £3m through service improvements and a review of its assets including buildings and land.

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