Worcestershire County Council must act to avoid a projected overspend of £12.5m this year, a report has warned.
A document setting out the council’s budget position in September, six months into the financial year, said the forecast overspend was primarily caused by pressures within social care and home to school transport.
The report said this financial year was ‘an extremely challenging time for local government’ amid inflationary and demand pressures and a ‘large degree of financial uncertainty’.
Worcestershire has already used £7.9m in risk reserves this year.
The report also warned that the council was struggling to deliver £38.4m of planned savings, with a ‘significant’ risk that £6.3m of these savings would not be made.
It stressed that closing the financial gap was ‘essential’ to the council’s sustainability and resilience as it worked to set its budget for 2025-26.
It warned that setting next year’s budget was ‘once again a challenging process’.
The council currently faces a £25m budget gap for 2025-26.
It said that after using some of its reserves in recent years, ‘tough choices’ would need to be considered.
