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Executive councillors will meet next Tuesday (17 September) to discuss the £23.5m overspend we’re currently facing for this financial year.
We've successfully identified nearly £12m of savings by implementing a range of immediate controls, with spending postponed or cancelled wherever possible, but a further £11.6m needs to be found to balance the budget by the end of March.
Costs for social care and other key services mean that without further immediate measures we will face a significant overspend.
There are also growing pressures for the years ahead, as demand for services continues to increase.
The number of vulnerable children and adults needing social care support is increasing, alongside an increase in the complexity and cost of their need.
This in turn is increasing demand for social care services, housing and home to school transport.
We have a legal obligation to balance our budget and spend in-year.
Failure to do so would put us in the territory of issuing a Section 114 notice, meaning income is not sufficient to meet the costs of providing services.
In these circumstances, the government would step in and reduce the council's services to the bare essentials, which would have significant impact on local communities and the area.
Although we’ve successfully identified nearly £12m of saving so far, radical measures are needed to find the other £11.6m.
We’ll do everything we can to avoid the worst outcomes but everyone should be prepared for non-essential services to be reduced or withdrawn.
We’ll also continue to lobby central government for additional and fair funding for our valued services.
This is not a one-off financial challenge and our budget gap for 2025/26 and the following two years has also increased to £30m.
Next week’s Executive meeting starts at 3.30pm on Tuesday 17 September at the Town Hall in Weston-super-Mare and people are welcome to attend.
The reports being considered and a link to watch a live broadcast are available on our website.
Exploring a devolution deal
A potential devolution deal with the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority will be considered by our councillors next week.
The King’s Speech in July outlined government plans to widen and deepen devolution across England through a new English Devolution Bill.
This would transfer more power out of Westminster and into the hands of local people, to boost regional growth and give local leaders new powers over areas like transport, skills, training and employment support, as well as over housing and planning.
Our Executive councillors will consider the recommendation that we pursue devolution conversations with the government and our neighbouring councils at the meeting next Tuesday (17 September).
We want to promote further growth and reduce inequality for North Somerset residents but to do that we need new sources of funding and more local control.
If we want to have the same opportunities as other parts of the country, accessing more powers for North Somerset and our region, we need to secure a deal that works for us and the established West of England Mayoral Combined Authority.