FINANCE chiefs at Bracknell Forest Council (BFC) are preparing to make £15 million of savings over the next three years as the coronavirus pandemic takes its toll on the authority’s purse.

Around £10 million of spending reductions had already been planned by the council but an extra £5 million in savings in now on the cards.

This comes as the impact of the pandemic has forced the council to spend extra on a range of services while also having to cope with a big loss of income from lost fees and charges.

READ MORE: The cost of the coronavirus to the council so far

Added up, BFC is facing additional costs of between £6.8 million and £14.2 million by April 2021 — figures which have been deemed the ‘best case’ and ‘worst case’ scenarios respectively.

Depending on how much extra the council is forced to spend, the worst-case scenario could leave the authority £5.5 million over-budget by the end of the financial year.

Both the best and worst-case situations include the £6.5 million of government funding the council has received.

The best-case scenario could see BFC come in £1.9 million under-budget, however, as this projection includes the government’s promise to reimburse 75 per cent of lost car parking income.

More details are expected to be announced on the government’s lost-income commitment soon, and “once the level of support has been confirmed this will be built into the forecast position which will have a positive impact on both scenarios”, a BFC report read.

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It continued: “This, together with Bracknell Forest’s long track record of sound financial management, provides some confidence that the Council will be able to live within the resources available to us in the current year, without having to draw significantly from available reserves.”

But financial bosses at the council also acknowledged the country’s situation remains “extremely unpredictable”, with a further coronavirus peak a possibility in addition to a potential “prolonged economic downturn”.

Work had got underway to prepare the council’s medium-term financial position earlier this year but “the focus of the organisation” turned to supporting residents deal with the impact of the pandemic in March.

That work to prepare for the 2021/2022 budget has started up again but now the council will have to consider extra spending caused by the pandemic as well as a loss of income from business rates changes.

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The government’s local authority finance settlement is set to be revealed in December and will also be taken into account for future budgets.

Considered altogether, it is reported that “the council needs to plan to deliver £15m rather than £10m of savings over the next three years to compensate for increased spending pressures and reduced income over that period.”

The authority’s top team will discuss the council’s financial position at a meeting on Tuesday, August 25.