Title

FINANCE

Senior Nottingham councillors refuse to back budget cuts

Senior members of cash-strapped Nottingham City Council have refused to recommend a report that proposed £20m in budget cuts.

Senior members of cash-strapped Nottingham City Council have refused to recommend a report that proposed £20m in budget cuts.

Council leader David Mellen said the majority Labour administration had decided there was ‘little to recommend' in a report that proposed cuts to library provision, the number of community protection officers and grants to the voluntary sector.

Officers had put forward the proposals in a bid to fill a £60m budget gap forecast for 2024-25 after being instructed by a Government-appointed improvement and assurance board to bring forward all savings they considered possible.

Cllr Mellen said this directive - a condition of receiving exceptional financial support - created what felt like a ‘no-win' situation for councillors.

However, he said the Labour group would ‘seriously consider' the council's duty to agree a balanced budget at a meeting next month.

In November, Nottingham issued a section 114 notice due to its inability to deliver a balanced budget for the 2023-24 financial year.

FINANCE

Government 'stands ready' to rein in private providers' profits

By Ann McGauran | 16 June 2026

The Government is prepared to bring in local profit caps to rein back private providers of children’s placements and temporary housing, communities secretary...

FINANCE

The role of internal audit for councils under pressure

By Diana Melville | 16 June 2026

Diana Melville says financial pressure exposes weaknesses in governance, control and capacity, and internal audit must adapt assurance approaches, strengthen...

FINANCE

Former councillor rages at lack of accountability for Brum failures

By Joe Lepper | 15 June 2026

Senior officers and commissioners at Birmingham City Council should be held to account for their ‘failures’ at the under-intervention local authority, accord...

FINANCE

40% of West Surrey revenue budget to be absorbed by servicing debt

By Dan Peters | 11 June 2026

Some 40% of one of the new Surrey unitaries’ net revenue budget will be absorbed by servicing debt, it has emerged.

Popular articles by Ellie Ames