Caithness Map :: Links to Site Map Great value Unlimited Broadband from an award winning provider FRI 25TH JUL 2025    6:32:26 PM BST
This site uses cookies, by continuing to use this site you accept the terms of our privacy policy
Back To Top
Caithness.Org Quick Links
Home
Construction
Leisure
Manufacturing
Misc.
Primary
Professional
Public
Retail
Tourism
Transport
Site Map
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Feed 2.0 Loading...

Highland Council Takes Action To Address Overspends In Its Budget

29th August 2018

The Corporate Revenue Monitoring Statement for Quarter 1 (Apr - June 18), has been considered by the Council's Corporate Resources Committee. The paper sets out actions to address the projected 1% overspend of £5.1m.

Each of the Council's Service management teams have been tasked with taking the action necessary to achieve a balanced out-turn and have developed a plan to reduce expenditure and to increase income. Many of these actions will involve deferring non-essential spending, accelerating savings, and restructuring recruitment as indicated above. Every attempt will be made to minimise the service impact but members were advised that some impact on service is inevitable.

Budget Leader Cllr Alister Mackinnon said: "Services need to work within their budgets and the measures set out are designed to ensure that this happens. The Council’s reserves at around £8m are well below the minimum level recommended by Audit Scotland and it is vital that they are not depleted further by a year end overspend.

"I am confident however that we can deliver an improved situation by addressing the issues thoroughly now. We must remember that, although this is a serious issue which must be corrected urgently, this is 1% variance on our budget and it is common to expect a small deviation early in the financial year.

“We are not alone - all Scottish councils are facing financial problems. We have been and will continue to be open and upfront about the difficulties we face and I am inspired by the savings ideas that staff have come forward with.

“The budget team has an open door to ideas from members across the chamber and it is important that we all work together to deliver a balanced budget and to find ways of rebuilding our Reserves."

Cllr Mackinnon went on to say, “Our budget was set to protect jobs and we will continue to aim to continue to use redeployment where possible to avoid job losses."

Leader of the Council Margaret Davidson said: “I would like to thank Directors for coming forward with plans for corrective measures and thanks to the finance team for their early action in flagging up the very serious financial challenges so that these might be addressed at an early stage in the financial year.

“The biggest overspend concerns Looked After Children accommodated out of Highland. A plan to bring some of the children back to the Highlands and to improve the outcomes for these children, needs to be accelerated. We need to simultaneously be more efficient and make the best decisions for some of our most vulnerable children.

We will also continue to press the Scottish Government to give Local Authorities a fairer share of funding.”

An update on progress will be reported to the next Resources Committee in November 2018 reflecting the Quarter 2 updated forecasts.

Controls to reduce the overspend include:-

Escalation of recruitment controls.

Escalation of controls on overtime and extra hours beyond those contracted.

Review of all agency appointments

Tighter controls on travel

The position at this stage last year was a projected overspend of £2.678m.

Forecasting so early in the year is difficult and we have historically seen an improvement between the Q1 forecast figures and the actual position seen at year end. The projected overspend represents under 1% of the revenue budget and this has been identified early in the year.

There are 3 main areas of projected overspend:-

Care and Learning £2.772m largely relating to high cost placements for “Looked After Children”.

Community Services £0.611m which includes shortfalls against savings in car parking and public conveniences not yet taken

Unallocated Corporate Savings £1.745m mainly in Service Redesign but also including unallocated procurement and asset management savings.

 

Related Businesses

 

Related Articles

21/7/2025
Results Helpline to support pupils in the Highlands with SQA results
Young people in the Highlands can call a dedicated helpline offering expert advice to anyone receiving their full Higher, National, and Advanced results on Tuesday, 5 August 2025.   The pupils and students- along with their parents and carers - will be able to get support with their results through Skills Development Scotland's (SDS) Results Helpline, which opens from 8am on results day.  
Renewable energy firm ENERCON welcomed to Wick Business Park
Wick Business Park has welcomed wind energy technology company ENERCON as the first occupant of one of four new units completed last year.   ENERCON specialises in designing, producing, installing and servicing onshore wind turbines and has been operating in the Caithness area since 2013.  
3/7/2025
Bringing more empty homes back into use
Additional empty homes officers are being recruited to bring more privately owned houses back into use.   The new posts are being supported as part of a £2 million investment through the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership in 2025-26 which will see staff take a more proactive and targeted approach to tackling local housing issues.  
2/7/2025
Community-Led Local Development Fund distributes over £900k to support projects in Highland
The Highland Strategic Local Action Group (LAG) met in June 2025 and considered and agreed funding for 28 projects submitted to the Community-Led Local Development fund (CLLD), which makes up part of The Highland Council Community Regeneration Fund (CRF) programme.   CRF is an umbrella term used to cover multiple external funding programmes administered by The Highland Council.  
2/7/2025
Community benefits funding delivers educational resources to Highland schoolsThumbnail for article : Community benefits funding delivers educational resources to Highland schools
Highland Council has provided 12 ‘Talking Tub' resources for use in primary schools across the Highlands, in partnership with Union Technical who deliver community benefits as part of the Energy Efficient Scotland: Area Based Scheme programme.   Chair of Highland Council's Education Committee, Councillor John Finlayson, said: "This is a fantastic initiative being rolled out across Highland primary schools which brings innovation and inspiration to early years children.  
1/7/2025
Additional bins will help keep popular visitor spots tidy
Visitors will find it easier to dispose of their litter at several popular spots across Highland after the rollout of additional bins.  The rollout has been planned to support the tourism season as part of the Council's ongoing commitment to improve and support sustainable tourism in the area.  
27/6/2025
Accounts Commission commends Highland Council's culture of transformation
Members of the meeting of The Highland Council (26 June 2025) have considered and agreed the Accounts Commission's Best Value report, which was published in April 2025 and highlights organisational improvements across leadership, performance management and community engagement.   In April’s report, the Accounts Commission recognised and welcomed significant progress within the organisation since the 2020 Best Value Assurance Report (BVAR) and commended the embedded culture of transformation.  
27/6/2025
Thurso masterplan and community POD progress update
A new generation of community facilities is being planned for the Highlands.   At a meeting of The Highland Council (Thursday 26 June), elected members approved the work to date in progressing the Highland Investment Plan workstreams - masterplan for Thurso and agreed to nominate the current Thurso High School site as the preferred location for the new Thurso Community Point of Delivery (POD).  
27/6/2025
Highland Housing Challenge partnership makes positive strides
At a meeting of The Highland Council (Thursday 26 June 2025), Members received a progress report on the partnership approach and important successes since declaring a Highland Housing Challenge in November 2023.   Since establishing the ambitious Highland Housing Challenge, important successes included: A call for sites delivered 250 sites, with a potential 25,000 housing units which will support delivery against the target of an additional 12,000 houses over the next 10 years.  
25/6/2025
Highland Council to deliver housing energy efficiency upgrades with ECO funding
The Highland Council will deliver a transformative programme of energy efficiency upgrades across Council housing supported by a £9.2 million Energy Company Obligation (ECO) funding proposal secured by Union Technical.   The funding proposal will deliver approximately 1,000 individual energy efficiency measures to Council owned properties across the Highlands.