Wandsworth Council has overspent its adult social care budget by £1.79 million, newly published figures reveal — despite promising only a year ago to balance the books by delivering nearly £2 million in efficiency savings.
The shortfall is detailed in Paper 25-230 [pdf], which will go before councillors at the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee next week. It forms part of a broader £2.17 million overspend across adult social care and public health — a warning sign that, once again, reality is colliding with the council’s financial optimism.
It is not an isolated incident. As Putney.news has previously reported, Wandsworth is already grappling with a £38.9 million black hole in its Housing Revenue Account, driven by soaring maintenance bills and legal liabilities.
Its SEND (special needs) deficit has also ballooned to £39.8 million, rising by more than £6 million in just twelve months despite targeted investment in early intervention and in-borough specialist places (Wandsworth now has among the highest levels of SEND capacity per capita in England).
Added to those issues are other long-standing concerns over the council’s reliance on uncertain property income, heavy borrowing to patch up its budget, and a £7m pensions deficit.
The promise in adult social care of internal savings — specifically £1.9 million in “efficiencies” — now looks increasingly hollow. The latest figures confirm what many suspected: the savings were, in the council’s own words, “not fully achieved.”
Savings that never appeared
In explaining the failure, council officers point to rising demand for services, especially among older residents and people with complex disabilities. The cost of care itself has also gone up, with contract rates for residential and nursing placements pushed higher by inflation. At the same time, staff shortages — particularly in occupational therapy — have left the council reliant on expensive agency cover, undermining its ability to reconfigure services or reduce costs.
Efforts to ease pressure through preventive care, assistive technology and service redesign have not yet matched the pace of demand. While some innovation is underway — including pilot projects using AI tools to streamline assessments — these remain early-stage and have not delivered large-scale savings.
To cover the gap, the council has turned — once again — to its reserves. It’s a temporary fix that can’t be repeated indefinitely.
The report itself warns that “continuing reliance on reserves to manage overspends is not a viable long-term strategy.” That echoes what councillors and auditors have been saying throughout the past year: Wandsworth is now routinely spending more than it brings in, with multiple departments missing targets and leaning on emergency funds to stay afloat.
Worrying pattern
What’s emerging is a pattern. In recent years, the council has based its financial planning on three core assumptions: that it can find large-scale savings through service “efficiencies,” that it can generate long-term rental income (some from properties that have yet to be built), and that it can borrow to invest without tipping into long-term structural deficits.
But these pillars are showing cracks. In Putney and elsewhere, council-owned shopfronts have struggled to find tenants. And while borrowing continues, the income needed to justify it remains uncertain.
Added to all this, Council tax is already certain to go up under local government reform plans, and repairs and social care services are under strain. Committees across housing, health and children’s services are raising concerns about the sustainability of the council’s approach, and about the growing gulf between projected savings and actual outcomes.
The adult social care overspend might, on its own, seem manageable. But in the context of a broader pattern — missed savings, rising liabilities, growing debt, and unproven income strategies — it’s another sign that Wandsworth’s finances are not under control. And the consequences are no longer abstract: they’re already being felt in homes, schools, clinics and care centres across the borough.
