The Treasury has written to local authority finance officers to confirm a new discount rate for borrowing for housing spending from the Public Works Loan Board.
CIPFA’s chief executive warns that government proposals to restrict council investment in commercial property could signal a more prescriptive approach.
The government has announced plans to cut the Public Works Loan Board interest rate - but only after it has introduced measures to ban councils borrowing to invest in commercial property.
Local authorities dived back into Public Works Loan Board borrowing this week after the interest rate on some loans dropped below 2% following the coronavirus outbreak.
The maiden bond launched by the UK Municipal Bonds Agency is the first step in a sector-wide shift away from the Public Works Loan Board, local government finance figures have said.
The Public Works Loan Board interest rate hike caused “dismay” among councils, according to Sarah Pickup deputy chief executive of the Local Government Association.
Treasury management takes a new turn as local authorities knit investment strategy with local growth, social and regeneration ambitions. Karen Day reports.
The government must remove the hurdles it has set down if it is serious about tackling the escalating housing crisis London is facing, writes Lewisham mayor Damien Egan.
The government’s failure to engage with local government before hiking Public Works Loan Board interest rates was “completely unacceptable”, the shadow communities secretary has told PF.
In the last financial year the value of loans made by the Public Works Loan Board increased by 42%. The LGiU’s Jennifer Glover explains looks at why that might be.
Local authorities are struggling to repay loans as a result of a “pernicious” rule change by the Public Works Loan Board, a financial risk analysis website has said.
The government has confirmed plans to abolish the 223-year-old Public Works Loan Board and transfer its functions for lending to local authorities to the Treasury.