More savings ‘vital’ at council as £7.2m overspend forecast

FINANCE chiefs at Swansea Council are worried that not enough savings are being made this financial year and that additional measures may have to be put in place.

The latest forecast is a £7.2m overspend, although a one-off saving of £500,000 will help.

In a report going before a council scrutiny panel tomorrow, they said recruitment, overtime and discretionary spending should be put on hold, except in exceptional circumstances.

They added that senior staff savings needed to be accelerated in the corporate services and place – or environment – departments, and that heads of service should be reminded they cannot go in the red.

“The initial scale of potential overspends for 2017-18 are significantly in excess of any potential sums available to offset that shortfall,” said the report. “The current indication, in line with previous years’ first-quarter monitoring, is that there needs to be urgent and decisive action to pursue additional savings.”

Adult social services is responsible for £4.3m of the predicted overspend this year. Higher costs and increased demand are to blame but there is still time to balance the books.

Corporate services, which provides back-office support to frontline services, is forecast to spend £1.9m more than planned.

The council needs to save £16m this financial year.

The Labour administration has been at pains to say the cuts have not been of its own making and were instead due to a reduction in central government funding.