"CHALLENGES ahead but a brighter forecast" is how Wiltshire Council has described its finances in its latest report.

The forecast overspend now sits at around £5.9m - which it says is down considerably from previous estimates, and a "significant improvement".

At the council’s Cabinet meeting in May, an overspend range of between £18m to £51m was estimated, this was consolidated to £50m in June and then reduced to £36m in the first overall budget monitor reported to Cabinet in July.

The Council say this is due to a number of factors, including the council "reacting quickly to the ever-changing situation", and the Government providing a number of financial packages to offset COVID-19.

The council has received £29m from Government to compensate for some of the pressures so far. In addition, Government previously announced an income loss scheme to further support councils.

Without having all the details on what the allocation will be and how it will be distributed, Wiltshire Council says it has made a "prudent estimate that this could bring in an additional £6m".

Additional money was also provided to the council to administrate and allocate for specific purposes – such as business grants and rate reliefs, hardship funding, bus subsidy, infection control fund and test and trace.

The council said: "Due to the unprecedented nature of the issues, it is not an exaggeration to say the financial situation changes on a week-to-week, and even a day-to-day basis.

"For instance, forecast costs associated with Home to School Transport alone will be reducing by over £6m from the May forecast due to schools reopening and the social distancing guidance on transport from September.

"Some of the ongoing challenges include some residents still struggling to pay their council tax having been impacted by the crisis.

"People at 5,600 households chose the option offered by the council to defer paying council tax for two months, but since then there has also been an increase of requests to make further payment amendments."

If anyone has any concerns about their ability to pay council tax they are encouraged to speak to the council’s team on 0300 456 0119* to talk these through.

Salisbury Journal:

Councillor Pauline Church, cabinet member for finance, said: “We are certainly not out of the woods and will likely still require further funding from the Government, however, our quick reaction to the financial challenges has afforded us some time to be able to plan in great detail.

"This will allow us to continue to help the county recover and get back strongly on its feet, in a way that is financially resilient.

“While this is an improving picture and we expect to deliver a balanced budget for this financial year, challenges remain and will do so for the foreseeable future.

“As we have done throughout this, we will continue to provide frequent full transparency on the financial challenges we face as a result of COVID-19, and our plans to meet these head on.”

This latest update was part of the council’s 2020/21 budget monitoring report which was recently presented at the council’s cabinet meeting.

The full report can be found at cms.wiltshire.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=141&MId=13585.