Pressure on council to balance books

Bosses said it was currently headed for an overspend of millions with mitigation measures needed to ensure it can deliver a balanced budget, as legally required, for the 2024/25 year.

But leader Mike Bird said adult and children social care services would always remain a priority for the authority and no-one would ever be ‘at risk’.

He and his colleagues also called on the Government to look at how it awards it settlements for councils to enable them to provide vital services effectively and within budget.

At a meeting on Wednesday, a council forecast showed a potential overspend of £19.75 million against what was budgeted in 2023.

Mitigation action identified £14.87 million saving to reduce the potential overspend to £4.88 million – an increase of more than £1 million on the position reported in October.

Councillor Bird said: “We have found ourselves in a far better position than some local authorities, some of whom have issued a 114 notice.

“But we are keeping our foot on the pedal to make sure we can balance the books in February for 2024 on the understanding we do maintain the mitigation measures.

“This is mainly the result of demand changes in adult and children’s social care which is an increase. It is expected further mitigation will be identified to make sure we outturn within budget by the year end.

“People out there believe, wrongly, all of their council tax goes to fund the budget. Twenty per cent of our budget comes from that council tax but the remainder comes from Government grants and income generation.

“It is important to understand we are delivering good services with good value for money and wherever possible, spending the Walsall pound in Walsall.”

He added: “We are looking to the future, sometimes without the facts, as with Government settlements it’s always a best guess and I have to say over the years, our team have guessed it correctly.

“There will never be a situation where adults and children are at risk in Walsall.

“Despite what opposition councillors might says about cuts or savings, our priorities are to make sure our children in care and our children’s services along with adult social care are the priority of this administration.”

Councillor Keir Pedley, portfolio holder for adult social care, said: “We await with baited breath once again for the settlement from Government.

“Sometimes settlements from national Government are guestimates and that’s very much the case for adult social care where settlements are guessed – how long people will live, with what conditions and how much that’s going to cost.

“It’s not we are overspending on delivery – people are living longer with more complex needs and the settlement isn’t enough to meet that need.

“Once again, I plead with national government to re-look at how they model our settlements and fund adult social care to ensure we continue to keep people safe and protected, which we do but we have the right funds to be able to do so.”