DEVON County Council faces a £28-million budget shortfall but councillors have slammed central government for its ‘chronic underfunding’ and ‘short changing’ of the county.

Councillors said that the actions by central government were leading to massive overspends being forecast in social care, adult care and health services and children’s services, writes local democracy reporter Daniel Clark.

Last week’s cabinet meeting heard that the total projected overspend at month four for 2019/20 was £4.3-million. And along with the cancellation of a planned contribution of £8-million and a funding shortfall of £15.8-million, the council was projected to go £28.1-million over its budget.

Cllr Stuart Barker, cabinet member for resources management, said that the county was monitoring the budget, that there would be improvements during the year and that the month four position was always the worst.

A number of savings initiatives have been proposed to try and mitigate these pressures, but they are currently under review. The Government has announced additional funding for SEND (children with complex special educational needs and disabilities) in 2020/21, but not for the current year. The meeting heard that given the size of the projected deficit — £15.8-million — it was suggested that the deficit is not dealt with at the end of this financial year but held on the balance sheet as a negative reserve.

Mary Davis, the county treasurer, said: ‘This would allow the deficit to be managed across several years and give time for service managers and schools to develop recovery plans. It would also give time for government, if it was so minded, to review this area and put funding streams on a more sustainable footing.

‘It is not a solution but it is a mechanism that gives more time for a solution to be found. The size of the reserve will have to be monitored to ensure that it stays within a level that is manageable within the overall financial resources of the council.’

The budget position in the report outlines: Adult care and health services are forecast to overspend by £6.7-million; adult care operations is forecasting to overspend by £5.7-million, as a result of residential and nursing price and volume pressures; adult commissioning and health is forecast to underspend by £197,000; mental health is forecasting an overspend of £1.2-million; children’s services are forecasting an overspending of £4.8-million; children’s social care is forecast to overspend by £3.1-million. Disabled children’s services are forecast to overspend by over £1-million. The non-Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) element of education and learning is forecasting an overspend of £1.7-million; the DSG High Needs Block, SEND is forecasting a funding shortfall of £15.8-million for the current financial year.

Leader of the council, Cllr John Hart, added: ‘Nearly every council in the country is faced with huge extra costs for both children and adult care. We’re doing what any prudent administration would do.

‘For example our special needs costs are rising so much because we have to place children in expensive private schools. Just this week we have opened a new special school in Tiverton and we are planning another for Teignbridge next year. This will allow us to manage costs better and it means we can offer vulnerable children school places closer to their homes and families.’

A report outlining the position at month six will be brought to the November cabinet meeting.