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03
Sept 2021
North Yorkshire County Council waves red flag over finances
North Yorkshire County Council has raised a red flag warning over its finances for the coming year, despite announcing a £2.8 million underspend for the first three months of this year.
The warning comes despite the council making annual savings of more than £200 million since 2011/12 in response to austerity.
Cllr Gareth Dadd, the authority’s executive member for finance, said that although budgets were always a best guess, the pandemic had shattered the council's traditional projections and its ability to budget with confidence.
He said:
Cllr Dadd added the council had drawn on £3 million of reserves to balance the books for the current financial year, which was an unsustainable move.
However, he said:
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Hospital and school transport overspends
Major issues threatening the council’s finances include hospital discharge costs and home to school transport, over which there is a projected £785,000 overspend for the year.
Cllr Dadd said the adult learning and skills service was also facing a substantial deficit, so the authority was examining how to overhaul the service.
Corporate director Gary Fielding added the authority was grappling with “completely unknown factors” and “starting to see worrying signs in some areas”.
He added the council faced massive uncertainty on demand for services, particularly for adult social care and children and families.
Mr Fielding said as demand is going up placements for care, especially home care, were becoming extremely challenging.
He said:
Mr Fielding said unprecedented levels of government funding through covid were masking numerous issues, as funding for services such as enabling hospital discharges, supporting vulnerable people, community work and preventing infections were due to end.
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