North Northamptonshire Council reports £13.8m overspend
A leading councillor, responsible for finances, has blamed national government for “failing” local councils
A leading councillor, responsible for North Northamptonshire's finances, has blamed national government for “failing” local councils, as the authority has reported a large £13.8 million overspend on its budget for the last year.
North Northamptonshire Council’s (NNC) executive signed off on its end-of-year accounts for 2025/26, having to raid its reserves to finish the financial year on budget. An executive meeting was held at its Corby Cube headquarters on Tuesday, June 9, to discuss the council’s position.
Members were presented with a budget report from the council’s executive member for finance and deputy leader, Cllr Graham Cheatley, which highlighted the council’s overspend against its £406m general fund.
The overall budget was set in February 2025 by the previous Conservative administration, but was overseen by the Reform UK administration which took control in last year’s local elections.
The main pressures have once again come from the children’s and adults’ social care departments, which have respectively gone over budget by £13.9m and £3.7m.
These have been partially offset by underspends in other council services. Savings of £24.6m were also delivered out of £28.6m efficiencies that were budgeted for the 2025/26 year.
Councillors present were quick to blame a lack of government funding for the continued budgetary pressures, which are mostly driven by increased volume and complexity in demand-led statutory services.
Cllr Cheatley said that councils all over the country were “being squeezed from every direction” and added that the cost of social care alone consumes up to 58 per cent of local budgets.
“More councils are relying on exceptional financial support and Section 114 bankruptcy notices, once rare, have become normalised,” he told the chamber.
“It’s the direct consequence of years of neglect by successive governments, now compounded by a Labour administration that has failed to deliver a genuinely fair funding settlement.
“We are being asked to deliver more services to more people with less money.
“This authority will continue to manage its finances responsibly, but I want to be absolutely clear that without a proper long-term and genuinely fair funding settlement, councils like ours cannot continue to absorb these pressures indefinitely.”
Leader of NNC, Cllr Martin Griffiths, also echoed comments on the responsibility for the overspend, saying that the council “is not failing, it is being failed by national government”.
The three Labour MPs in North Northants have previously told the LDRS that there had been a ‘marked improvement’ in the levels of investment local authorities are receiving compared to the previous government. They also highlighted that they had delivered the first multi-year settlement in the council’s history and directed £60m of further investment to the area through Pride in Place funding.
Last year, in 2024/25 NNC reported a slight overspend of £400k against its approved net budget and in 2023/24, an overspend of £9.2m was recorded.
The authority has had to approve dipping into its reserves to balance its books, however it warned that this method is not sustainable in the long term. NNC started the year off with £128.2m in its general fund reserves and ended 2025/26 with an estimated £114.7m left over.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has been contacted for comment.