FINANCE officers at Swindon Borough Council have managed to balance this year’s budget under the most difficult of circumstances.

But planning for next year’s budget reveals a gap of £3.8m – even with an expected increase in council tax of 3.99 per cent.

Since lockdown began in March the council’s monthly budget updates have been forecasting an overspend. The figure stood at around the £18m point at one point in the summer.

But extra grants totalling £16.7m from government to support the council’s extra spending – and the first confirmed payment of £1.476m from Whitehall for lost revenue with more possibly still to come – means the council can breathe easier now.

Cabinet member for finance and deputy leader Russell Holland said:” I am as confident as I can be that the money from central government will allow us to balance our budget by the end of the year – although obviously I don’t know what’s going to happen with Covid between now and March.

His budget report to the council’s Conservative cabinet shows the council overspent its £149m day to-day expenses general fund by £16.6m. But that money has been reimbursed by government.

Coun Holland said: “The council has had to spend a lot of money providing personal protective equipment for care settings and on trying to help and protect the vulnerable.”

The council has also lost anticipated earnings from things like its car parks and facilities such as Steam Museum.

Coun Holland said: “We have just recently had confirmation of the first tranche of compensation at £1.476m for the first quarter of the year. We are looking at any shortfall from the later quarters and will be submitting them.”

Relief over being able to balance this year’s budget does not mean Coun Holland isn’t concerned about the budget for 2021-22 he must present to council in February.

He said: “We are working on the basis that we will be allowed to increase council tax by two per cent, with another 1.99 per cent ringfenced as a precept for adult social care.”

That still leaves, at the current stage of planning a funding gap of £3.8m. The main drivers of increasing costs are staff pay and pensions and the increasing demands on the council to fund social care for adults and support for children.

Coun Holland said: “We will be looking at making whatever savings we can to present a balanced budget and at this point I think we will – but there are very difficult decisions to be made.

“I wouldn’t want to increase council tax above what we’ve planned for, even if it was allowed – it’s a very blunt instrument when it comes to funding our services.”

He added that a solution needed to be found on how to fund increasing costs for supporting and caring for elderly adults.

“We have to have a national conversation about this," he said. "Every top tier council is in the same situation, and we must decide how we want to treat people. We can clap for the people who provide the services, but if we want increasing numbers of elderly people, living longer, with increasingly complex medical conditions, to be cared for properly, we will have to put our hands in our pockets.”