Council predicts £2m overspend for the year

Sunderland City Council says demand on care services is fuelling the predicted overspend

Increased spending on social care has led to a city council predicting a £2m overspend for the year.

Sunderland City Council said its care services had continued to experience high demand and challenges around complex cases.

This includes adult services and the home-to-school transport provided by children's services.

Labour councillor Alison Smith said the council was facing increased costs from "providers looking to mitigate inflationary and other pressures they are facing".

The authority revealed the shortfall in its third quarter review for the 2024-25 financial year.

But finance officers said the figure was an improvement from its previous estimate of an overspend "in excess of £5m", according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The reduction was helped by increased returns from investments as well as reduced energy costs.

The council is currently in the middle of a £7.2m savings review.

Smith said 83% of the plans had been successfully carried out, while 4% were making good progress, however, 13% of the programme's schemes were experiencing delays.

She added the predicted end of year overspend could be met from the council's general inflation and risk reserve.