Kingston Council is forecasting a budget overspend of £720,000 for the financial year 2026/27, according to a report presented to the Corporate and Resources Committee on Thursday, September 24, 2026. The projected overspend on the General Fund revenue budget represents a total expenditure forecasted at £210.43 million against a budget of £209.95 million.
Despite the overspend, the council views this as a positive position
compared to previous years. Sue Curden, Executive Director of Corporate Services, explained that the £720,000 overspend is comparatively at this time of the year is actually significantly lower than we've experienced in previous years.
This improvement is attributed to an ongoing transformation programme.
The ongoing transformation programme,
which began a couple of years ago, is credited with managing demand and improving efficiency. This has led to a flattening of the curve on the demand curve
and has resulted in underspends in adult and children's services in previous periods. The programme is focused on delivering our services more efficiently but also driving the prevention agenda for our highest demand led services.
Crucially, 93% of the savings identified within this programme are expected to be achieved either in the current year or over the next two years.
Historically, the council has reported relatively significant overspends
by this point in the financial year. In contrast, the last financial year concluded with a slight surplus.
This makes the current projected overspend of £720,000 a notable improvement.
The overspend is not uniform across all departments. The report details variances by directorate:
- Adult Social Care & Health: £0.14m adverse variance
- Corporate Services: £0.09m adverse variance
- Residents and Communities: £0.69m adverse variance
- Place: £2.14m adverse variance
- Children's Services: £0.92m favourable variance
- Chief Executives: £0.01m favourable variance
The net total variance before central items is £2.13m adverse, but this is offset by a favourable variance of £1.65m in Central Items, resulting in the overall £0.72m overspend. The report can be found in the Public reports pack for the Corporate and Resources Committee.
