Pembrokeshire County Council is expected to overspend by just over £2m, down from previous predictions of nearly £4m, with £10m pressure on the council coffers coming from projected overspends within Social Care & Housing.

Members of Pembrokeshire County Council’s February meeting of Cabinet received a report on the quarter three figures for the 2024-25 budget, highlighting an expected overspend of £1.4m at the end of the financial year, down from a November Q2 prediction of £3.9m.

The Q3 £1.4m overspend is increased to £2.1m when a projected £0.7m shortfall in 2024-25 council tax collection is taken into account.

The budget for 2024-25 was approved by council on March 7 of last year. This is the third budget monitoring report for 2024-25, with the predicted overspend up from £2.9m in the quarter one figures.

A report for members, presented by Cabinet Member for Corporate Finance and Efficiencies Cllr Joshua Beynon said: “The approved revenue net expenditure budget for 2024-25 is £303.5m. This budget was set against a backdrop of increased level of demand, complexity and cost of packages within our School ALN provision, Children’s Services, Adult Services and Homelessness. This increase in demand, complexity and cost of packages has continued into 2024-25 with material projected overspends within Social Care & Housing totalling £10m.

Cllr Beynon noted that these demand levels are projected to continue into 2025-26 and future years

“The projected outturn at Q3 2024-25 is £304.9m, representing a projected overspend of £1.4m. There is also a projected shortfall in 2024-25 council tax collection which will result in a £0.7m reduction in funding received. The resulting £2.1m shortfall will need to be funded from reserves in 2024-25.”

Members heard a moratorium on non-essential expenditure would remain in place for the remainder of the financial year.