A quarter of English councils could deplete their reserves to levels that threaten their financial sustainability in the next two years amid soaring service demand, Grant Thornton has warned.
Middlesbrough Council has become the latest authority to request additional government support to balance its 2024-25 budget and avoid a Section 114 notice.
Encouraging councils to use reserves as a one-off quick fix during the funding crisis is “misguided and unhelpful” and could put more authorities at risk of Section 114 notice, a finance director has...
The continued expectation that councils will simply use their declining reserves to balance their budgets shows the government does not understand why authorities hold them, a finance director has...
Continued budget pressures and likely Welsh Government funding cuts could leave councils with a £750m funding gap by 2027, university researchers have warned.
Not reducing a forecast £6.1m overspend this year would fully deplete the risk reserve at Derby City Council and put financial stability at risk, officers have said.
Growing care demand and rising costs following a decade of underfunding have created a forecast £132m gap in Hampshire County Council’s finances by 2025-26.
Financial pressures at Derbyshire County Council are “greater than ever experienced before” and have prompted the authority to propose stopping all non-essential spending to try to deal with a £46.4m...
Only around a quarter of councils’ usable reserves can be used to shore up services and meet demand, despite government figures suggesting larger sums might be available, experts have said.
Falling council reserves are pushing many towards issuing a Section 114 notice, but people in central government often misunderstand their importance – making the issue “challenging”, an expert has...
Dwindling reserves and a forecast £17m gap in Medway Council’s budget this year have put the authority’s finances at risk and led to calls for more funding for the sector.
Rising service demand and debt costs have led two borough councils to warn they risk issuing section 114 notices, with one perhaps coming as soon as October.
Almost three-quarters of councils in England have used reserves to pay for ballooning adult social care costs – a fact care leaders have highlighted as unsustainable.
Unsustainable spending and repeatedly missing savings targets could lead to Southampton City Council depleting its reserves by 2025, and the authority risks having to issue a section 114 notice.
The soaring cost of living combined with a decade of austerity could see up to a sixth of English councils fully deplete their reserves in 2023-24 without substantial spending cuts, experts have...
Sheffield City Council’s finance director has warned the authority might struggle to deliver this year’s budget because the £25m of reserves it set aside to meet overspends has been “essentially...
An English city council expects a multi-million-pound funding gap in its 2022-23 budget, partly fuelled by rampant inflation and social care pressures.
North Yorkshire County Council is set to use £7.7m of reserves to balance its 2022-23 budget, to smooth the transition to becoming a new unitary authority by avoiding cuts.
