County council bosses say its financial position continues to have a generally “positive outlook” - despite disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 2020/21 revenue position at the end of the financial year was £825.6m, against an approved budget of £844.8m, an underspend of £19.232m or 2.28% of the revenue budget.

The capital programme for 2020/21 outturned at £127.810m out of a total agreed delivery programme budget of £160.420m, primarily as a result of slippage due to the pandemic.

However a package of agreed savings of around £30m had to be delayed due to the necessary focus on the response to the pandemic with those costs covered Covid emergency response funding provided by the Government. Those savings now need to be delivered in 2021/22 along with another £13m of additional agreed savings, bringing the total level of budgeted savings for 2021/22 to £43m.

Cllr Alan Vincent, deputy leader of the council, said: “This has been an exceptional year due to the pandemic and I am pleased to say the council has managed the financial aspects very well.
“We received a significant number of different grants from the government at various points through the year to support additional activity to help our local communities, which was very welcome. Some of this funding has continued into this financial year.

“There does however remain significant pressure on our budget overall, and prior to the pandemic a savings programme was agreed to ensure we are able to balance our books in the years ahead.

“As we recover from the pandemic, we will continue to monitor the situation very carefully, particularly areas of high demand such as children's and adults social care, to ensure we continue to provide the best value services for the people of Lancashire we can, while protecting the most vulnerable.”