Council will not meet planned savings targets due to Doncaster's pandemic expense

Documents seen by councillors show DMBC is expecting a shortfall of around £5.3 million but this is manageable for the financial year, bosses said.

But pressures on budgets may become more apparent in the next financial year as finance chiefs at the council say the budgetary situation is ‘fluid and ever changing’.

Finance chiefs said the council has acquired ‘new and additional costs’ to support the continuation of vital services.

Lost income through reduced trading activity or the ending of services along with a delay in delivering savings to achieve a balanced budget was also experienced.

Council tax payments and business rates payments have dramatically reduced as lock down began, businesses closed and staff furloughed.

Bosses anticipate the cost of local authority services will increase at the same point the available income through council tax and business rates will come under pressure.

Given the exceptional circumstances, the Government recognised the financial challenges and provided additional Covid-19 pressures funding. Around £21.8 million has been provided to Doncaster Council to date.

Sennette Wroot, senior policy and insight manager at Doncaster Council, said: “Over the last six to eight months Doncaster has had to deal with significant disruption with the Flood emergency, the Hatfield Moor fires and the response to the Covid 19 pandemic.

“During this quarter we have been presented with significant challenges to service delivery as a result of the pandemic lockdown and restrictions applied.

“We have worked closely with government bodies, partner organisations and local communities to provide essential support to residents that have been affected by the restrictions.

“By allocating £13.3m of the emergency funding across budgets within the council, service managers will have robust budgets that they should be able to manage during the rest of the financial year.

“It will be for directors to decide how to allocate the emergency funding within each directorate in accordance with the principles.”