The financial position of Bracknell Forest Council is stable with an underspend despite pressures on caring for adults and children.
Throughout the year, the budget of the council is monitored to identify increases and potential decreases in spending, and to ensure that set budgets are being adhered to.
For the 2024/25 financial year, which ended in March, Bracknell Forest was the only council in Berkshire to have an underspend.
A report to the council’s Labour-run cabinet revealed an end-of-year spend of £96.614 million, which represents an underspend of £742,000 compared with the approved budget.
That figure is subject to an audit by KPMG.
Monitoring is also occurring for what is actually being spent for the first quarter (Q1) of 2025/26, the current financial year, covering April to June 2025.
Based on existing calculations, figures show a predicted underspend of £2.275 million, which becomes a potential overspend of £410,000 once emerging issues and risks are added.
The overspend is predicted to be for the increased cost of looking after children and adults in care, which councils have a duty to provide.
These calculations were presented at a meeting of the council’s overview and scrutiny commission.
Susan Halliwell, the chief executive of the council, said: “We’re looking at a complexity of cases within adults and children’s services and that undoubtedly has an impact on our budget.
“So, whilst we are reporting a much better position for Q1 than we did last year, this time last year, if you recall, the significant overspend that we were forecasting due to emerging issues, we do have a slight overspend that we’re forecasting, and the majority of that is in relation to uh people’s services.
“That said, we’re managing it very closely and keeping a very close eye on the interventions that we can undertake to make sure that we come in against budget.”
The figures were presented in a wider report of the council’s performance compared with the targets it has set.
Councillor Caroline Egglestone (Labour, Bullbrook) pointed out that new homes delivered were in the red.
Between April and June, 126 homes were actually completed, which was less than the 150 homes expected to be delivered.
Mrs Halliwell explained: “We will have a forecast in the local plan as to what we think we should be delivering and what our target should be for each year.
“That, though, is dependent on developers coming forward with planning applications. So it’s not something that we can necessarily influence in terms of improving it.
“However, if the market picks up, then it will improve. That can change, but at this stage it’s looking like we’re not going to be delivering on the target within this year.”
