Coventry City Council cabinet report to highlight pressure on local government
The Council's Cabinet will consider a report next week which explains its financial position so far this year
A report is to be published next week by Coventry City Council's Cabinet, looking at the authority's financial position so far this year.
They say it highlights the same pressures which are being faced by many areas of local government, with predictions currently predicting a £1.6m over-budget forecast for its net revenue spend.
At the same point in 2024/25, there was a projected overspend £7.1m.
The Council continues to face budget pressures within Adult Social Care, with overspends also being reported in Property Services and Development, Regeneration and Economic Development and City Services.
Coventry councillors say these financial pressures are being caused by a combination of continued service demand, complexity and market conditions in social care, legacy inflation impacts, and income shortfalls due largely to the economic climate.
Continuing difficulties in the external markets for adult social care are well documented around issues including the cost of highly complex cases and higher than planned levels of inflationary increases in placement costs.
Cllr Richard Brown, Cabinet Member for Finance said: “The Council spends 83 per cent of its budget on social care and housing and homelessness so any challenges in social care are going to affect our longer-term budgeting.
“I believe that we manage our finances extremely carefully and I know in terms of social care and housing and elsewhere we are doing everything we can to mitigate the impact of the national market and the demand for these services.
“It isn’t unusual to forecast an overspend at this point in the year, but we can’t be complacent and must continue to be vigilant in our financial planning.
“When we set the budget earlier this year, we were able to find £2.2m for a series of highways and street services improvements only because we had managed our finances carefully in all aspects of our budget.
“We need to continue to manage our finances prudently in order to focus our efforts on boosting frontline services that impact everyone.”
The Council’s capital spending is projected to be £187.6m and includes major schemes progressing across the city.
Cllr Brown added: “Our officers proactively work together to mitigate the underlying pressures that have been recognised within this forecast.
"This includes regular reviews of financial forecasts, continuation of recruitment controls, and to seek alternative funding opportunities from grants.”