Barnet Council is taking early action with the aim of bringing a forecast overspend for 2024/25 back within the council’s overall budget before the end of the financial year.
Like other local authorities, Barnet is facing severe financial pressures while the council’s budget has reduced in real terms by over 50% since 2010.
The forecast overspend amounts to around 5% of the council’s overall general budget – around £20m – and is caused largely by increasing demand for services that the council has a legal duty to provide such as adult social care and temporary accommodation.
The council always closely monitors its budget, and identified early in the Financial Year that an overspend was likely unless action is taken now to address it. This year, throughout the summer, the council held a series of Cabinet Member-led budget panels to apply rigorous scrutiny and challenge to all areas of council spend.
Each directorate has now produced a recovery action plan which, when implemented, will help the council to get back on track. These action plans include further in-year service efficiencies and further strict controls on spending, including recruitment.
Cabinet Member for Financial Sustainability and Reducing Poverty, Cllr Ammar Naqvi, said: “As the local government sector remains under severe financial pressure, Members established an early warning system to address any potential budget overspend in 2024/25.
“We are also looking at the pressures on next year’s budget. While we have some difficult decisions to make ahead of us, we will leave no stone unturned to contain this year’s overspend and to bring the budget back on track.”