Harrogate Borough Council is forecasting to spend £2.5m more than budgeted in its final year of existence, a meeting has heard.

The council’s revenue budget for the year is £21.8m and it was predicted to overspend on this sum by £701,000 at the previous quarterly update in July.

But last night’s overview and scrutiny committee heard the figure had increased to £2.5m in the latest quarterly forecast for the period to October.

Gillian Morland, service finance manager at the council, said the “two really big variances” were utility prices and larger than expected staff pay increases.

Gillian Morland speaking at last night’s meeting.

Ms Morland said utility bills were £1.7m above budget and staff pay was £1.1m higher than expected following the 2022/23 pay award.

She told the meeting the council had locked into a 12-month rate for electricity but gas prices were “more complicated and it is possible we could see a reduction of up to £600,000 on the overspend that’s quoted in the report”.

She added the council had budgeted for a 2.5 percent pay increase and the agreed figure turned out to be almost 6.7%.

“As things stand we are looking at a sizeable overspend this year.

“We are hoping overspend will come down but we do have sufficient funds to cover it.”

John Mann, the Conservative councillor for Pannal, told the meeting the overspend was “typical of most councils”, which were dealing with similar issues relating to rising utility bills and pay awards.

Harrogate Borough Council is one of seven district councils, which along with North Yorkshire County Council, will be abolished on April 1 to make way for the new North Yorkshire Council.

Read more:

• Council closes Jennyfields house amid anti-social behaviour concerns
• New branding for North Yorkshire Council revealed

A single mum with four children from Harrogate has opened up about her experience of struggling to pay the bills to try and break the stigma around poverty.

Kayleigh Cooper lost her job manning the phones in the evenings at a taxi company early in the coronavirus pandemic.

So overnight, after never worrying about money, she started to wonder how she could afford her rising living costs while also feeding her children.

She gets Universal Credit and food vouchers but they have not been able to cover her costs.

Read more:

• Community grocery for people in need opens in Harrogate
• Unemployment in Harrogate district falls despite end of furlough

Ms Cooper felt ashamed about her situation at first. But after reaching out for support, she now wants to let others know that they do not need to “suffer in silence” like she did. She said:

“I was really struggling to feed my children on a daily basis. A lot of people pretend they are doing alright, I have done it myself. But we need to talk about the issue otherwise it gets swept under the rug.

“For me I never had to worry about money before this. Since losing my job I have had to make those choices between paying the utility bills and buying food.

“It’s not just those without a job though, there are plenty of people with jobs who do not have enough money to live off too. Sometimes they struggle even more.

“My anxiety has been a lot worse. It really has had an impact on my mental health. However since reaching out for support I feel like I have had a weight taken off my shoulders.”

Reaching out for support at the new community grocery

A neighbour told Ms Cooper about the community grocery run by the Resurrected Bites team, which opened last month at New Park Primary Academy Community Hub.

She was hesitant at first but broke down in tears when she finally decided to go and ask for help.

People pay £5 a year to sign up as members and are then entitled to pay £3, £6 or £9 depending on the size of their family. The value of the items for the £3 shop would usually cost around £30.

She posted this picture online of a shop that cost her £9 to try and break the stigma.

It has a wide range of tinned, fresh food and frozen food. The shop also stocks toiletries, sanitary products and nappies in various sizes.

The shop, which can be found in one of the school’s separate buildings on West Street, just off Skipton Road, is open daily every Tuesday and Thursday between 9.30am and 3.30pm. Ms Cooper added:

“It has lightened me because I know even if I have £10 or £15 that week that I can go down to the community grocery and get meals for my children.

“I have used food banks in the past but I have had to pass things on because I won’t use it.

“So the beauty of it is that you get to choose what you take. They have everything you could need and the people there were so lovely.

“I wanted to post pictures so other people could see what they could get. I didn’t expect it but my post got a really positive response.”