City council leader says new improved finances are ‘remarkable’
DERBY City Council leader Baggy Shanker says the council’s financial position is in much better shape than it was almost a year ago – describing the progress made as “remarkable”.
But speaking at a cabinet meeting, he warned the authority is “not out of the woods” just yet and more work is required to steer the council to a safer position.
Councillor Shanker was speaking after new reports showed that the city council had managed to significantly reduce its forecast in-year overspend by more than £4million.
The overspend was initially reported at £6.1m by the end of the first quarter of this financial year (2023/24) due to rising pressures in adult social care and other public services. At the end of the second quarter of this financial year, the overspend forecast had increased to £6.5m.
But the latest figures show the forecast overspend is down to £2.4m.
The council says the savings have been achieved through “strict controls on spending and recruitment” – which it warned it would have to do at the start of the winter. The council says it has also generated more income and more business rates have been collected to help boost the finances.
At the start of the financial year, Cllr Shanker said the council’s financial picture was “absolutely dire”. Now he said they were in a remarkable position.
Cllr Shanker said: “I am pleased to say that the work we’ve been doing with our officers across the council to get a grip of the finances of this local authority is paying off. “There’s still an overspend predicted and that is not a good position to be in, but it is a remarkable position to be in given it was over £6m and now it is down to be £2.386m for this financial year.
“But again nobody is resting on their laurels. Everybody is still continuing to work really hard to make sure that figure is further reduced in the remaining quarter of which now there’s about six weeks left.
“We’re in a much better position financially than we were on May 24 last year. But let’s make it clear we are not out of the woods.”