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Council provides financial update as its draft budget is approved to be debated by Full Council

As Wiltshire Council agrees for its 2025/26 proposed budget to go forward to Full Council, it has also provided its third formal financial update of the 2024/25 financial year with the local authority continuing to keep a close eye on its spending to ensure it balances the books at the end of the year.

Published 5 February 2025

As Wiltshire Council agrees for its 2025/26 proposed budget to go forward to Full Council, it has also provided its third formal financial update of the 2024/25 financial year with the local authority continuing to keep a close eye on its spending to ensure it balances the books at the end of the year.

At the end of the first quarter there was a forecast overspend for the year of around £8.2m with the quarter two position showing an underspend of £861k. The third quarter position, based on information up to the end of December 2024, is a forecasted net overspend of around £1.7m, equivalent to around 0.3% of net spend. The council will continue with its cost control measures that it's had in place since quarter one and is confident that no reserves will be required to bring the budget into balance. It's important to emphasise that the overspend is only forecast at this stage, and not actual.

Much of the forecasted overspend during the year has been due to continued challenges in social care that authorities across the country are experiencing, particularly adult services - with increased demand and the higher cost of care packages, particularly for cases that are complex. There also continues to be challenges related to SEND transport and less income generated through planning fees and charges than was expected. The area of adult services is now forecast to overspend more than the previous quarter - with the current total at around £6.9m. To manage this, the council will continue to put in place a number of cost mitigation actions through spend reviews and additional actions to bring that figure down.

Across the organisation the council has put in a number of measures, including the management of vacancies to reduce the cost of staffing, and challenging and halting non-essential and discretionary spend wherever possible.

Despite the forecasted modest overspend, the council continues to see positive financial results for a number of its services, including increased income for leisure services, and the income generated from the council's garden waste collection continue to be strong, which is likely to cover the cost of delivering this non-statutory service.

Wiltshire Council's Cabinet also approved the council's proposed budget for 2025/26 of around £527m, compared to last year's £490m. The 2025/26 budget proposals were published in January, confirming that the council has opted to propose to not increase the Wiltshire Council element of council tax by the full amount government has permitted - instead, proposing to raise it by 4.5% (2.5% for basic council tax and a 2% adult social care levy) rather than the full 4.99% allowed. If agreed, this would see an increase of £1.56 per week for those in a Band D property for the Wiltshire Council element of council tax. The adult social care levy will raise £7m and will help to fund the £20m of inflation and demand growth that has been built into the Adult Social Care budget. 

The most significant areas of spend outlined in the proposals are:

  • Adult services - £194m   
  • Families and children - £75m   
  • Highways and transport - £43.4m   
  • Environment (including waste) - £49.5m  
  • Education and skills - £38m 

Cllr Richard Clewer, Leader of Wiltshire Council, said: "Our budget forecasting and position for 2024/25 emphasises the ever-changing nature of local government but we are committed to robustly managing our financing to ensure there will be a balanced position at the end of the year without using reserves.

"Our current forecasted overspend is predominantly due to the challenging landscape of adult social care but collectively as a council we are working together across the board to turn that around with a number of cost-mitigation measures already proving to be effective.

"Our proposed budget for 2025/26, which I'm pleased has now been approved to be debated at Full Council, demonstrates that our preventative long-term approach has given us financial resilience to respond effectively to challenges and still gives us the opportunities to be ambitious and invest for the good of the county."

The 2024/25 quarter three update and 2025/26 draft budget were both discussed at the Wiltshire Council cabinet meeting on 4 February and the full reports can be found at Cabinet Agenda - 4 February

A Public Budget Webinar, hosted by Cllr Clewer and Cabinet Member for Finance, Cllr Nick Botterill took place on 4 February which saw them talk through the council's budget proposals. A recording can be watched at YouTube

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