New savings will be needed to plug an extra £1 million hole predicted after the first months of Babergh Council's new financial year.

On Tuesday, members of the council's cabinet will be asked to discuss the council's financial performance for the first quarter of the financial year, covering the months of April, May, and June.

Council papers highlight a worsening of the authority's financial stead, with the first quarter's performance indicating the council will see a deficit just over £1 million deep by the end of the financial year — this is in contrast to the £132,000 surplus predicted during the budget-setting period in February.

One reason for this was an overspending in the delivery of services, partly due to the council not being able to identify savings in time — £540,000 in savings have already been identified.

The council has also seen a net £723,000 decrease in the income it gets from interest, due to the unexpected closure of one of its investment funds, as well as business rates coming in at a forecasted £244,000 under budget.

Although the council had set aside £2 million in February as part of a resilience reserve to help plug the predicted £6.7m gap over the next four years, the current extra predicted pressure would mean nearly half of that money would have to be used.

As part of next week's meeting, cabinet members will be asked to bolster this reserve with £538,000 transferred from its Expected Credit Loss reserve, bringing its financial resilience pot to just over £2.4 million.

The overall shortcoming means, however, the council will be taking further action to 'identify savings or additional income' to address the shortfall — these decisions are expected by the time next year's budget is approved.

In August, the council approved the controversial introduction of short-stay parking fees in a bid to help plug its budget gap — this is forecasted to generate a net benefit of £102,000 by the end of the financial year.