Reform-led West Northants council faces £13.1m overspend as care costs soar
West Northamptonshire Council is facing a £13.1m overspend this financial year as the cost of caring for children and adults continues to pile pressure on its finances.
A report due to go before the council's cabinet on Tuesday, September 15, says rising costs in children's and adult social care are among the main pressures on the council's finances.
The report forecasts that the council will spend £477.5m against a £464.3m budget in 2026/27, leaving a projected £13.1m overspend.
The council is already having to use £8.5m of its £10.1m general contingency fund to help balance the books, with the remaining £1.6m set aside for the pay award.
It comes around 16 months after Reform took 42 of the council's 76 seats at the May 2025 election.
Within weeks of taking power, Reform announced its own "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE) team would scrutinise council spending, with a team of software engineers, data analysts and forensic auditors threatened to be brought in to identify waste and savings. But the promised review never materialised.
The council's latest financial report shows that £3.3m of its £29m savings programme has so far been delivered or confirmed.
A further £16.6m is considered highly likely to be delivered by the end of the financial year, but £4.4m of savings are classed as at risk and another £4.7m are considered unlikely to be delivered this year.
The biggest pressure is children's services, with the Northamptonshire Children's Trust expected to cost West Northants £18.7m more than budgeted.
The report says the biggest single pressure is the cost of external residential placements for children, forecast to be £15.6m over budget because of an increase in placements earlier this year and further expected growth.
There is also a further £1m pressure linked to staffing and other costs, while the report warns the children's services position could deteriorate by another £1.6m.
Adult social care is forecast to overspend by £8.4m. The report says £8.1m of that pressure comes from the independent care sector, with factors including £6.4m from increased demand, £1.2m from inflation and higher National Living Wage costs, and £900,000 from a planned saving not being achieved.
The council had a £9.1m savings target for adult social care, but the report says £3.4m of those savings are now assessed as undeliverable this year.
And alongside the council's general fund challenges, there is a separate and much larger pressure in education.
The council is forecasting a £65.2m overspend on its ring-fenced education funding, mainly because of rising demand and complexity around special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
The report says the number of children with education, health and care plans has increased by 88 per cent since West Northamptonshire Council was created.
A shortage of places in local mainstream and special schools is also pushing more children into expensive independent placements.
The report warns that, even if the council receives £49.9m of expected government funding to help tackle its existing SEND deficit, the accumulated deficit could rise to £70.7m by the end of March 2027 if current spending pressures continue.
The £65.2m SEND figure is separate from the £13.1m general council overspend.
The financial report also warns that demand-led services such as adult and children's social care, as well as home-to-school transport, remain major risks to the council's budget.