Coventry finance chief ‘encouraged’ by overspend
The biggest overspend in the first three months to the end of June was in adult services and housing which was £2.1m over budget
Figures released by Coventry City Council show that there was a £1.6m budget overspend in the three months to the end of June with the cost of providing adult social care packages the biggest culprit.
But the figures have not fazed the cabinet member responsible for finance who said he was ‘encouraged’ by the position three months into the new financial year.
A report considered at the council’s audit and procurement meeting this week Tuesday explained that while there were overspends in a number of departments, the biggest was in adult services and housing which was £2.1m over budget. Most of this was due to the cost of care packages for adults and older people and also an increase in the number of people with learning disabilities needing intensive one-to-one support.
Cllr Richard Brown, the cabinet member for strategic finances and resources, said: “Last year there was an overspend of £7.1m and in past years we have had some quite challenging overspends forecast and have then spent the rest of the year trying to manage that.
“We robustly monitor and challenge this at every instance and while I am moderately encouraged by the overspend compared to where it has been been in previous years, I know those underlining challenges are still there.
“We will not take our foot of the gas for one second and this is especially challenging for us in Coventry because we have to run a tighter ship than most because we are significantly underfunded. If our spending power was at the national average then we would be £17m better off and if it was an the West Midlands regional average we would be £40m better off.
“There is another fair funding consultation going on and we have made our views clear. The biggest element of that is council tax equalisation and we await the response to those. It would have a huge impact on us because with around 80 per cent of our properties being in council tax bands A and B against a national average of around 45 per cent, we are at a disadvantage in terms of raising council tax and it does impact unfairly on places like Coventry.”
Cllr Brown added that it was important to note that the council still had an ambitious capital programme. This includes the City Centre South project and the City Centre Cultural Gateway development together with the construction of Woodlands School and secondary school expansion plans.