Windsor and Maidenhead council is ‘out of control’, Conservatives have claimed – as news emerged that spending is on course to be £16 million over budget this year.

A new report to leaders at the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM) shows how the council’s financial woes are worsening. It points to spiralling costs of temporary housing and social services.

The report says: “Like all councils with social care and housing responsibilities, RBWM continues to face considerable financial risks that could have a significant and immediate impact on its finances.”

It says that its adult social care department is on course to be £5.5 million over budget, and its children’s services department £4.5 million over budget.

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The council’s ‘place’ department – responsible for both housing and parking – could overspend by £6.1 million.

That’s because the number of people it is helping to avoid homelessness is higher than expected, while its income from parking charges is almost £1 million lower than expected.

The report says: “The number of homeless households continues to increase and is now 305 which is above our previously assumed peak of 300, and at a much earlier stage of the financial year.”

The report also says finance staff have uncovered more historic accounting errors that the council is now having to make up for.

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It says the council had previously overestimated the lifespan of some of its assets, and that this affects how much money it sets aside each year to pay off their associated debts.

In total the council says it is now on course to overspend by £16.1 million, which it hopes to cut down slightly to £14.5 million using contingency funds.

Conservative opposition councillors have claimed that the overspend shows council leaders have ‘failed and are out of control’.

A statement from the Windsor Conservatives said: “In the last 18months despite pre-election promises, the Lib Dem run Council has failed to control budgets, failed to pull through savings, not delivered required transformations and presided over millions of pounds of spiralling overspends.”

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The statement also claimed council leaders had delayed taking action to rein in spending after Liberal Democrats and independents took control in May last year.

And it accused them of ‘calling residents to pay huge amounts more in council tax’. Council leaders have sought permission for the government to increase council tax beyond the five per cent cap.

They say several years of council tax cuts and freezes have left the Royal Borough underfunded.

Independent councillor Lyne Jones – responsible for finance – said she and council staff had spent several months discovering problems that built up under previous administrations.

She told the Observer: “When we came in we were still in a discovery phase. You can’t take action against things you don’t know about.” She added the council leadership had now ‘put a lot in place already’ including a panel to review spending.

The predicted overspend is set to be discussed by council leaders at a meeting on Wednesday, December 4.