Hartlepool Borough Council facing 'significant use of reserves' to tackle near £10m predicted budget gap

Hartlepool Borough Council officers stressed they are working on “savings and transformation plans” for 2025-26 onwards as they anticipate “quite severe pressures”.

James Magog, director of finance, IT and digital, said they have a “significant” and “unprecedented” budget gap going forward.

His comments came following a report to the council’s audit and governance committee from Gavin Barker, at Forvis-Mazars, who audit the local authority’s accounts.

Its latest annual report recommends the council should “ensure the February 2025 medium-term financial strategy includes a medium-term savings plan sufficient to balance the budget in each year”.

He continued this should “fully address any underlying deficit deferred by applying one-off resources”.

More news: Number of Hartlepool people claiming council tax discount falls by hundreds following fraud crackdown

Mr Barker added: “We recognise the financial pressures are considerable and we realise the council has done everything it can to manage a challenging financial position.”

Mr Magog said: “We are working on savings plans, transformation plans, for 2025-26 onwards.

“At the moment, put simply, I cannot foresee a scenario where we balance next year’s budget without significant use of reserves, yet again, and that clearly puts more pressure on the reserves position.”

A recent council meeting heard the forecast general fund revenue outturn position for 2024-25 is an estimated overspend of £2.9million, which would place further pressures on the council.

Meanwhile in June councillors heard the budget deficit forecast for 2025-26 was predicted to be £9.985million amid a number of challenges impacting councils.