BLAENAU Gwent council is predicting a £229,000 budget overspend at the end of next March.
At a meeting of Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council’s Labour Cabinet on Monday, November 24, councillors received a performance report on this year’s budget as it stood at the end of September.
The council’s situation on its £197.038 million for 2025/2026 has worsened during the three-month period over the summer from the end of June, which showed a predicted overspend of £192,000.
The report explains that this £37,000 increase is due to increased forecast costs in the Children’s Services department.
At the end of June, the Children, Young People and Families portfolio which now includes Children’s Social Services were predicting a £1.19 million deficit on their budget of £92.31 million.
This was due to the increase in children’s homes residential placements.
The report explains that this overspend has now gone up to £1.674 million and the placements rose from six to eight by the end of June – since then the placements numbers have dropped down to seven.
The report said: “Despite the reduction in placement numbers, the complexity and intensity of needs have led to a higher- cost placement contributing to the overall adverse variance.
“These placements are projected to result in an increase of £1.3 million, assuming they remain in place for the remainder of the financial year.”
Council leader Cllr Steve Thomas (Labour – Tredegar) said: “The £229,000 overspend is very small in the context of a £197 million budget.”
He explained all other services were: “broadly on or slightly under budget.”
Cllr Thomas said: “The overall message is a tight but manageable position with clear pressure in Children Services and action plans under way.”
Cabinet member for Economy and Place, Cllr John C Morgan (Labour – Georgetown) flagged an overspend of £117,000 on winter maintenance which was contained in the report.
Cllr Morgan asked: “Is it due to the rain events we’ve had?”
Director of Neighbourhood and Environment Mark Thomas said: “There is a cost to the response to the storms that will have a relatively modest impact on our budget, and we’ll seek to manage that.”
On the £117,000, Mr Thomas explained: “This is what we expect our winter maintenance to cost so we’re projecting that, they have not been incurred at the moment.
“If we have another ‘Beast from the East’ that might well add pressure to the budget, but that’s where we stand at this moment in time.”
Cllr Morgan thanked Mr Thomas’ teams for all their hard work during Storms Claudia and Benjamin this autumn.
Cabinet were also required to agree a virement of £1.841 million from the Neighbourhood Services – Facilities Management budget over to the Children, Young People & Families – Facilities Management budget.
Virements are money transfers between council department, and the report explains this is: “as a result of changes to staffing structures and corresponding responsibilities, in line with the change in portfolio responsibilities.”
Cabinet approved the report and the money transfer.
