'Underlying challenges still remain': Scrutiny panel grills deputy mayor over Council's £1.2m overspend

The deputy mayor of Doncaster has defended the Labour administration’s decision-making over the last 12 months after the local authority reported a £1.2million overspend in 2025/26.

Cabinet member for environment and housing Councillor Glyn Jones, who deputises for the city’s directly elected mayor Ros Jones, was grilled by members of the City of Doncaster Council’s lead scrutiny committee on its financial performance in the last financial year.

The council reported a £1.2m overspend in 2025/26, using reserves to balance the budget at year-end.

However, as previously reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, this was an improvement on the projected overspend earlier in the year – £6.6m after quarter one, and £4.2m after quarter three.

Cllr Jones told the committee: “The underlying challenges still remain, including the £7.5m overspend in adult social care. These are not one-off challenges, but challenges that will be around for many years to come.”

The deputy mayor was asked by Reform UK’s Cllr Maria Hollingworth what the Mayor and cabinet, who make around 95 per cent of the authority’s key decisions, did throughout the year to address the projected overspend in adult social care through the year.

Jones said cabinet members had monthly “portfolio meetings” and weekly “executive meetings”, which helped keep them abreast of issues.

“These meetings highlighted issues and when they are identified, we will act on this with the advice of our senior officers,” he answered.

Cllr Rebecca Booth, who represents Bentley for Reform UK, asked the deputy mayor to reflect on any missed opportunities for cabinet to further address the end-of-year overspend.

“It’s a difficult question,” Cllr Jones said.

“Waste and recycling is reliant on the residents of Doncaster to play their part. As a society, we need to be conscious of our actions.

“For many people, they will simply throw stuff in the bin with little concern for the cost of its disposal.”

The deputy mayor said £35m was spent on waste services in 2025/26, £12m of which “was attributed to the disposing of waste”.

“Just imagine if we could reduce that sum. It would deliver some tangible savings that could be better invested into communities,” he said.

Jones said the council already does lots of educational work in communities about waste and recycling, especially in schools in hopes children will take the best practice they’ve learnt back home.

However, the deputy mayor, who represents Hexthorpe and Balby North, said the cabinet was proud of the work it had done to “ensure contingency budgets are suitable” through the year.

He said: “The children’s social care budget is challenging. It’s impossible to plan for and that’s why it’s important to have contingency budgets.”