Covid crisis adds £36m to council’s spending
AN additional £7m spending boost for vital Devon County Council services is set to be agreed.
Inflation-busting increases in spending had been agreed by Devon’s ruling cabinet before Christmas.
But new announcements on funding were subsequently made by the Government and councillors on Wednesday agreed to an increase of a total funding boost of nearly £36million on under-pressure services.
The draft budget, unanimously agreed by the cabinet, of £578.4 million will now mean an extra £35.6 million for services where demand is consistently increasing compared to the 2020/21 budget.
Cllr John Hart, leader of the council, said: “I’m very pleased to see increased targets compared to what we agreed in December of just over £7 million. We have put more money into adult care and health and children’s services and we have set aside £14.8 million for Covid funding for the first quarter of the new financial year. We are also putting in £3.3 million to fund the cost of the 2.2 per cent increase in the national living wage.”
County treasurer Mary Davis Mary Davis said circumstances had changed considerably over the past month and that it was hard to imagine that a return to normal will happen quickly and led to a review of the targets.
She said: “Some savings previously identified do not now seem feasible. Other areas need bolstering to increase the resilience of the council.” £14.8 million has been built into the budget for Covid funding for the first quarter of 2021/22, the meeting was told, with Cllr Hart saying that it will help manage some of the risk.
Dr Phil Norrey, the council’s chief executive, added that they were pushing very hard to meet every week with central government to move beyond emergency short term measures and sticking plaster funding to longer term recovery, but he said: “It is hard to get anything out and a reluctance to discuss it at the moment.”
If councillors approve the budget in February, it will mean an extra £21.6 million for adult care and health and £11.3 million more for children’s services. There will also be a £300,000 reduction to the highways revenue budget to £57.5 million, but Cllr Hart said this would be handled through the capital budget which would be debated in February.
It comes as the position at month 8 for the 2020/21 budget sees the council set to overspend by £1.9million, a reduction of £823,000 from month 6 forecast of £2.7 million, with Mrs Davis saying that if this overspending materialises then it can be accommodated by not making the full 2020/21 planned contribution to reserves which would leave the Council in a break-even position.
The dedicated schools grant projected deficit, relating to Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, is forecast to be £30.4 million, up £2.6 million since month six.
Mrs Davis said that in line with Department of Education guidance this deficit will not be dealt with this financial year but carried to future years. When added to the 2019/20 deficit of £19.7million, which was carried forward as a deficit reserve as per government guidance, the current year forecast deficit is expected to be £50.1 million by the end of 2020/21.