Somerset Council is forecasting an overall overspend of £29.1 million for 2026/27, just three months into the financial year.
The Liberal Democrat-run Council's Quarter 1 report describes the position as a "matter of significant concern" and says the current level of expenditure is not financially sustainable. The largest pressures are in Children, Families and Education, forecast to overspend by £14.6 million, and Adult Services and Housing, by £11.8 million.
Around £29 million of the pressures are expected to be ongoing, potentially increasing the Council's budget gap for 2027/28 from £58 million to around £87 million if they cannot be addressed.
Speaking at a recent council meeting, Councillor Bob Filmer (Brent division) acknowledged the hard work of officers and councillors in responding to the financial challenges facing Somerset Council. However, he pointed out that concerns around rising demand-led service costs had been raised repeatedly since discussions on local government reorganisation began.
Referring to continuing overspends identified in the council's latest financial monitoring reports, Councillor Filmer posed what he described as the "£64 million question" to senior officers. He asked:
“Are we actually capable of stepping up that pace and make that step change now to address this? Because we now are at the stage where we are looking at not having those reserves that we can call on in terms of selling off assets going forward.
"At the moment we've been talking, we've been saying all the right things and we've been trying to do all the right things, but it hasn't got us to where we need to be. So are we confident that we can now make that change at this point in time?”
In response, Chief Executive Duncan Sharkey said he believed the council could increase the pace of change but warned that many of the solutions required are long-term rather than immediate.
He explained that reducing pressure on services such as adult and children's social care depends on investing in prevention and early intervention, helping people before they reach the point where costly statutory support becomes necessary.
Mr Sharkey also highlighted the need for a council-wide approach to transformation, focused on prevention and neighbourhood working rather than individual service-based programmes.
