The county council will not be forced down the same path as Northamptonshire’s bankrupt authority, a leading politician has insisted, as the predicted overspend in the failing children’s services rockets to more than £4 million.

Bucks County Council’s (BCC) cabinet met this morning (November 12) to discuss “serious” budget pressures as it continues to attempt to cope with major cuts from central government.

The struggling children’s services is now set to bust its budget by £4.1 million by the end of the next financial year – a £2.4 million increase from 2017/18.

Cabinet member for children’s services, Warren Whyte, said the figures show BCC is “investing hugely” in the county’s looked-after young people, adding an increase in demand has led to further budget pressures.

He said: “We as a corporate body is investing hugely in children’s services, well above what is budgeted and what is forecasted for.

“I know this has caused some interesting challenges within the council to help mitigate that…

“Primarily the increase in looked after children – that continues to be a significant pressure, where the children’s services department is having to accommodate more children as looked after children as foster carers, or even through to adoption.

“We are taking on more children than we had budgeted for, that is just over 500, and that is consistently the case for several months now.”

Work is continuing within the service to save desperately-needed cash – including the creation of new children’s homes within Bucks in a bid to reduce the cost of out-of-county placements.

The news prompted leader, Martin Tett, to assure the cabinet and residents BCC will not go down the same route as Northamptonshire County Council, which has been forced to make major cuts to services in the face of a £70 million shortfall.

Cllr Tett said: “I am well aware where the big financial pressures are and I want everybody watching to be comforted that we are taking this issue very very seriously.

“I am very determined we are not going to become another Northamptonshire. We manage our finances extremely prudently and we will take whatever action is necessary to maintain our financial security.”

BCC is facing a £6.9 million overspend across the service portfolios – including a £2.25 million shortfall within health and wellbeing and another £0.99 million in education and skills.

However underspends within planning and environment as well as £6.9 million in non-portfolio services brings the overall budget pressures down to £0.2 million.

This is a “significant improvement” on the predictions revealed at the end of July – when council chiefs feared the overall budget would be bust by £1.2 million.

Cabinet member for resources, John Chilver, said: “The forecast revenue overspend is now £0.2 million, which is a significant improvement on the position as at the end of the previous quarter – and I think this shows the effectiveness of our financial management actions to control the budgetary pressures we are facing.”