Nottinghamshire County Council members met on Thursday (3 September) at an overview committee meeting to discuss an updated financial monitoring report for the authority.
The authority approved its first budget for the 2026/27 financial year back in February, standing at £880 million, an overall rise of around £212 million in spending compared with the year prior, and cementing a 3.99 per cent council tax rise.
Updated financial reporting shows the council’s forecast overspend by the end of the financial year, which ends on March 31, 2027, has grown in the first few months.
Back in July, the authority said it was projecting an overspend of £1.5 million by the end of 2026/27. This has now risen to around £5.4 million as of the end of June.
The biggest part of that lies in the Children and Families department, which has a projected overspend of £3.6 million overall. Documents say this “is mainly as a result of an increase in the number of children placed in external children’s homes” over the last year.
The insolvency of a semi-independent contract provider in 2025 is also a “contributory factor”.
Speaking on the looming overspend, Councillor Stuart Matthews (Ref), cabinet member for finance, said: “This is early in the financial year, so the forecast will change as we progress through the year.”
Cllr Stephen Pearson (Con) said the increase in expenditure in the children’s department was a “concern” and questioned the steps the authority would take to bring it down, referencing the previous Tory council’s aims to buy homes to convert them for looked-after children and calling it a “cheaper” option.
He also stated that the national average cost for local authorities of a place for a child with a private care provider is currently around £6,000 a week.
Anne Coyle, executive director for children and families, said the council wants a “plethora” of services for children and is currently commissioning another provider.
She said: “There is no one answer to what is a big national crisis around caring for our children.”
Cllr Sam Smith (Con), leader of the opposition on the authority, noted the £1.2 million projected overspend within the economic development and asset management department, pointing out that £600,000 of it was due to increased maintenance costs and the impact of vacant and surplus properties under its ownership.
He said: “We’re all sat in one of those [buildings] now for this meeting. I would argue that’s costing us £1.7 million a year to maintain [County Hall] that we don’t need to do – I wonder if we have a plan to address that?”
Cllr John Wilmott (Ind) called the wider forecast overspend “alarming”.
Nigel Stevenson, the authority’s finance director, said the inflation rate is above what was expected when the council set the budget.
By Lauren Monaghan, Local Democracy Reporter