Leicestershire Council Council may need to borrow £166m by 2025

Leicestershire County Council says it may need to borrow £166m by 2025 as a result of increasing financial pressure and the Covid-19 pandemic.

It also needs to make an extra £23m in savings by 2025, in addition to existing cost-cutting targets.

The authority also estimates it will spend £13.5m over its budget this year due to the cost of adult social care.

Its financial position was set out at a meeting of the cabinet on Friday.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), the impact of the pandemic on the national economy had increased the financial pressure the council had already been facing, along with low investment from the government.

Adult social care remains one of the main areas of concern, said the authors of the cabinet report.

The £23m savings will be made on top of £57m that have already been identified and approved in additional savings in its agreed budget plan in February.

Of the £13.5m overspend, about £11.3m will go towards home care services, particularly where patients are being discharged from hospital and need extensive care packages put in place.

There are concerns the gap between funding and spending will continue to increase, with the council estimating there could be an additional overspend of £10-20m by 2025.

The authority is looking to lower costs across its services, which could see the closure of nine council-run day centres in Leicester, which are for adults with complex needs. The service could be taken over by private companies.

Conservative councillor and cabinet member for resources, Lee Breckon, said: "We are having to navigate an extremely uncertain position and we are under no illusions about the scale of the challenges we face.

"It is becoming increasingly harder in the circumstances we now face to balance the books in the longer term.

"We will continue to press the government to deliver a fairer system of funding councils which does more to help those like Leicestershire that are near the bottom of the pile.

"We continue to work with partners in the NHS to ensure that continuing funding is received to match the increased expectations of discharge times."

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