Peterborough City Council’s budget overspend ‘much reduced’ but still stands at more than £2 million
Peterborough City Council is facing a £2 million plus budget overspend it has been revealed despite a ‘significant improvement’ in controlling costs.
A session of the council’s monthly Cabinet meeting held on June 23 heard how the authority’s year-end position for 2025/26 was an overspend of £2.6 million against a £202 million revenue budget (around 1.3 per cent over budget).
The overspend will be funded from the General Fund balance.
Presenting the report, Cabinet Member for Finance & Corporate Governance, Councillor Mohammed Jamil, reminded members of how the council’s fiscal metrics have looked over the past 12 months
“As you may recall from previous cabinet meetings, I was reporting that we were forecasting a significant revenue overspend during the past year,” he said.
“This peaked to a forecast of £7 million as recently as November 2025.
“Today I can report that we have finished the year with a much reduced overspend of £2.6 million”
This figure is a £3.3 million improvement to the £5.9 million overspend Jamil last reported in December.
While the councillor acknowledged the council’s financial position was “not where we want to be,” he said the report represents a “significant improvement” in the authority’s fiscal affairs.
Cllr Jamil – who is also Deputy Leader of the Labour Group – said the reduction in overspend had been achieved by “positive action taken across the organisation to address the council’s financial challenges during the year.”
Along with tighter financial management, the report outlined service savings and the use of grants as being important tools in helping navigate a financial year Cllr Jamil described as “really challenging”.
However, the report also shows that only 71 per cent of the planned savings programme was achieved. This leaves £6.6 million of savings still needing to be addressed.
Cllr Jamil also highlighted some of the “key service pressures” – such as children’s services, income shortfalls, borrowing costs and legal costs – which remain a priority for the council as it seeks to increase resilience and support the council’s long-term financial sustainability.
Cllr Jamil finished his report by reminding colleagues that the onset of Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) will see “significant change” take place across the organisation leading to greater fiscal challenges ahead.