Enfield Council will review its outsourcing arrangements after raiding reserves to plug a £9.2 million budget gap.

The council will also scrutinise its work with agencies and its management structure after admitting it is unlikely to make savings that had been earmarked for areas such as adults’ and children’s services.

A report discussed by the cabinet yesterday (Wednesday, September 12) revealed an expected £3.3 million overspend in adult social care and a £4 million overspend in the children’s and families budget during the current financial year.

The report also admitted moneymaking schemes such as renting out office space at the Civic Centre had failed to raise the expected revenue.

Cllr Mary Maguire, cabinet member for finance and procurement, said: “We are not in a good position, as everyone knows.

“Cuts have proved very difficult to deliver for a number of reasons, but work is continuing in departments to come up with further cuts and income generation intended to mitigate that shortfall.”

Cllr Maguire said there would be a “tight rein on agency arrangements and a review of all outsourcing” in a bid to close the budget gap.

Enfield Council has been forced to make £161 million-worth of savings since 2010 as funding cuts from central government have hit local authorities across the country.

It hiked council tax by the maximum possible amount of 2.99 per cent, plus a 2 per cent precept for adult social care, in March this year.

Neighbouring local authority Haringey Council also announced this week it would have to dip into its reserves to plug a £16 million budget gap.

In June, Barnet Council pledged to review its arrangements with outsourcing giant Capita after revealing it was facing a £9.5 million budget deficit.

Enfield Council leader Cllr Nesil Caliskan said around 70 per cent of UK local authorities were in a similar financial position.

But she added: “There have to be some lessons learned so we can move forward in a fashion that we do not have to rely on our reserves.”

Deputy leader Cllr Daniel Anderson added that the council faced “a very challenging and serious situation that will affect our residents very seriously in years to come”.