The cash-strapped county council is set to bust its budget by more than £100,000 amid major challenges within children’s social care and education services.

As the financial year draws to an end, the final budget for the next four years will be presented to Bucks County Council’s (BCC) cabinet on Monday following a series of intense scrutiny meetings last month.

Members will also discuss major overspends of £7.1 million across frontline services as council departments battle increased demands.

Rising costs of school transport for pupils with special educational needs (SEND) has led to a predicted £1.91 million overspend within the education and skills department at the end of 2018/19.

There is also a forecasted overspend of £4.95 million in children’s social care due to a rise in the number of children entering the care system and increasingly complicated cases.

Further predicted overspends of £0.47 million within resources and £1.355 million in health brought the overall figure up to £8.65 million.

However huge underspends within planning and environment means BCC is set to bust its budget by £120,000 by the end of the financial year.

The report, due to be presented to cabinet on Monday, said: “All portfolios are continuing to work on action plans to mitigate their own pressures.

“In addition, all portfolios have carried out a detailed review of their budgets in order to identify actions to bring the overall council spend to within the approved budget.

“Proposals for future years budgets are being stress-tested to ensure ongoing pressures are addressed.

“Given the wider national context and the well-publicised challenges facing single- and upper tier authorities the current forecast outturn reflects positively on both the focus and the deliverable management actions taken to control the budget within the current year.”

Within BCC’s capital budget – which funds major building schemes – there is set to be an underspend of £15.09 million at the end of the financial year.

The report adds: “This is partly due to some schemes being deliberately put on hold for specific reasons (e.g. unitary decision), partly due to slippage and partly due to some genuine underspends.

“However, some areas of capital expenditure have been deliberately accelerated, and all revenue consequences of the overall underspend have been fully accounted for in the revenue forecast outturn.”

During Monday’s meeting members will be asked to discuss the budgets planned for the next four years – from 2019/20 to 2022.

Challenges within SEND funding could face BCC with a  £600,000 funding  black hole  -which would have to be plugged with cash from other budgets.

Council tax is also set to increase by 2.99 per cent, or 74p a week for a band D property.

The papers due to be presented to the cabinet next week outline a series of proposals, including setting aside cash to assess the condition of street lights across the county.

It is also recommended that more money should be put into the pot allocated to the transition to a unitary authority in the county, which will be in place by April 2020.