ALL “non-essential” spending by Swindon Borough Council may be suspended until the end of March, such is the state of the authority’s finances.

That’s the recommendation in a report to be made by the Conservative administration cabinet member for finance, Keith Williams, to his cabinet colleagues next week – although an administration spokesman said the effect was not likely to be seen on front-line services.

The report says there is a £5m over-spend looming on this year’s General Fund budget- the council’s day-to-day spending on services.

Coun Williams will report: “The year-end projection, based on the position at the end of August, is that the overspend on the General Fund would be £5.3million.”

Just under half of that overspend comes from a pay increase for council employees made by central government which adds £6.5m to the council’s pay bill this year. Although that is £4.5m higher than the council had budgeted for, it had put aside £2m to cover such h contingencies – but the gap in just the pay bill is still £2.5m.

Another area of overspending is the children’s services department, which, if its rate of spending continued would be £7.1m over budget by April.

The department now has 45 children looked after on its books, up from 25 at the end of 2021. A shortage of staff also means residential placements, which are expensive, have risen from 35 at the start of the year to 43.

Coun Williams will ask for authorisation to: “Take actions to stop or defer spending that is not essential in the current financial year.”

A spokesman added: “This to things that are not essential in this financial year  – “this year” being the key part. This has largely been related to holding vacancies for a few months and delaying the recruitment process. This will largely be in non-frontline services but is not a decision to permanently delete the post.”

It is quite common for a spending gap of such magnitude to be reported at this stage of the financial year – thus far Swindon Borough Council has always managed to balance its books by the end of the financial year.

The leader of the opposition Labour group Jim Robbins said the need to stop spending was a concern: “It is very worrying that the council is having to cut back all non-essential spending.  We know that the government has tanked the national economy recently, but have the local Conservatives lost control as well? We know that interest rates are going up and that the council has nearly £400m of debt. Can the council service that debt?”

The report will be discussed by cabinet members when they meet on Wednesday.