Peterborough council forecast overspend of £5.4m 'usual for this time of year'

The comment was made by council leader Cllr John Holdich following the publication of the May 2019 Budget Control Report on Monday.

Peter Carpenter, acting director of corporate finance, presented the report, saying: "The current budget position for 2019/20 as of the end of May includes an overspend of £5.457 million."

Cllr Holdich asked if any members had any comments to make on the report, but none did.

It was then that Cllr Holdich commented: “Well, this is the usual position for this time of the year, and it normally sorts itself out as the financial year progresses.”

The report shows the key financial variances leading to the overspend were: a failure to deliver cost effective shared services in finance, HR, legal services and highways, amounting to £3.36 million; the Serco partnership, costing £1.341 million; additional costs for the home to school transport service of £0.372 million; additional housing accommodation at £0.945 million, and underachievement of parking income of £0.3 million.