Worthing council facing 'difficult decisions' amid £2m overspend

The council is currently projected to spend £2.3million over budget this year, even after using reserves.

It is reviewing major projects, with some ‘reprofiled’ to later years, and staff and service cuts have not been ruled out to make savings at a time of high inflation, rising energy bills, and increasing demand on the council’s housing department.

Responding to fears of service and staff cuts, council leader Beccy Cooper said at a media briefing earlier this month that there ‘may well be some difficult decisions to make before the year’s end’.

Dr Cooper said: “We have found our costs absolutely soaring. Our in-year budget is looking like we’re going to continue to have to make savings. We have found efficiencies that have allowed us to keep our front-line services but inevitably, to be absolutely honest, there may well be some difficult decisions to make before the year end. By December you’ll see how many savings we have found within the current budget.”

Dr Cooper said available assets and any possible income streams which could prevent cuts were being looked at. She said current funding pots from central government, such as the Shared Prosperity Fund and Levelling Up Fund, were ‘not long-term sustainable funding’.

“After 12 years of austerity, for Jeremy Hunt to come out and say ‘we might have to make further efficiency savings to the public sector’, well good luck,” said Dr Cooper. “We really are working as best we can right now on the minimum, with all the costs going up.”