In the last few years, below the radar the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) has helped a number of authorities improve their financial resilience to avoid a s114 notice. This is when the chief financial officer (CFO) notifies the council that they are heading for a breach of the legal requirement to balance their revenue budget.

Those councils who have avoided such an outcome deserve credit for getting budgets back under control, and we hope there's a similar outcome for the ones we are presently supporting.