Money for local councils: Calderdale Council set to make £3.1m of savings but still fighting to balance its books

While savings agreed for 2024-25 are on track for delivery, Calderdale Council is still experiencing financial challenges with the latest forecasts predicting an end of year overspend of £8.4m against agreed budget.

So far, Calderdale is on course to make about 75 per cent of the savings it needs to make across council directorates, with work ongoing in other areas.

Work is ongoing to meet the potential overspend which they are told is largely due to increased demand for services, many of which the council has to legally provide.

They include children’s residential care placements, special educational needs and disabilities’ (SEND) children’s home-to-school transport requirements, extra support for SEND pupils in mainstream schools and demand for home care when people are discharged from hospital and care home costs.

Increasing demand for temporary accommodation to support households facing homelessness, waste collection and disposal costs are up, and the cost of provision for unaccompanied asylum seeker children currently are exceeding government grant allocation.

The cost of solicitors provided through locum arrangements to cover a range of specialist roles, including childcare and adults social care and commercial matters, is also an issue, says a report cabinet members will consider when they meet on Monday, August 5.

The report to cabinet members from director of resources and transformation, Becky McIntyre, includes a “traffic light” savings tracker which shows around 75 per cent are rated “green” and the rest “amber” with no areas in red.

Each quarter of the year councillors receive reports on savings targets .

Recent years have been challenging for Calderdale and other local authorities who have grappled with the need to make savings, including service cuts, against a background of grant reductions from central government, rising costs in recent years and spiralling demand for statutory services it has to provide.

Statutory services are taking up around 70 per cent of the council’s day-to-day spending.

The report shows two out of three savings areas in young people’s services, including reducing youth service targeted services and reducing the role of preventative work in the Youth Justice Service, have seen work completed.