In order to set a balanced budget for the last two years, the council has been reliant on "exceptional financial support" from central government in the form of a capitalisation directive. "What the government will expect is, having had two years of exceptional financial support now, we can start to demonstrate that we're starting to manage our budgets within the overall levels of income - that is, that our income and expenditure match. "That does not rule out that we may need some further support, and in fact I'll be having discussions with MHCLG this week. "We'll be still making the case that, should we need exceptional financial support for next year (and that case is not proven one way or the other yet), that it should be available to us." The projected overspend of £5,409,000 for the current financial year is being predominantly driven by rising demand for children's and adults' services.