Torbay Council's budget gap widens

Tough talks ahead

Providing homes for children who can no longer stay in their own is costing Torbay Council far more than expected.

The increasing cost of children’s ‘social care placements’ is one of the main drivers towards a major overspend in the council’s budget.

Members of the cabinet will hear how the council is projected to overspend by £785,000 against the budget it set earlier this year.

The council will save half a million pounds by underspending on its financial services budget, but that will be more than wiped out by overspends in areas such as the social care placements and legal services, which come to almost £1million.

A shortage of suitable placements for children is driving up costs, and the council has recently had to make some expensive residential arrangements.

Increased demand for day services and placements is also leading to a likely overspend of £99,000 in the budget for disabilities.

The difficulty of keeping up with salaries paid by the private sector is fuelling the problems for the council’s legal services budget, which is heading for an overspend of £543,000.

Vacancies and absences have had to be covered by expensive agency staff.

Elsewhere in the budget report to the cabinet, Torre Abbey is also likely to cost around £100,000 more than expected. Falling income from weddings and the abbey’s cafe are among the reasons.

A report to a meeting of the council’s cabinet warns: “Robust financial management and control continues to be required from all services across the council in order to mitigate current and emerging spending pressures to ultimately achieve a break-even position by the year end.”