Council 'could go bust' without government help

Norfolk County Council's Conservative leader Kay Mason Billig says the authority is struggling to make ends meet

The leader of Norfolk County Council has warned that the authority could go bust unless the government helps with its growing financial pressures.

Kay Mason Billig says the authority is dealing with a number of funding challenges in particular the growing cost of helping children with special educational needs (Send).

Her comments come as figures obtained by the BBC show that spending pressures on councils across the country are getting worse.

The government says it recognises the challenges faced by local authorities and is ready to speak with any that are experiencing financial difficulty.

Mason Billig told the BBC's Politics East programme that when it came to assessing the scale of the challenge facing her council on a scale of one to 10, "we hit 10 ages ago, we are just trying to make ends meet".

When asked if the Conservative-run council could go bust, she replied: "It depends on what the government does; it's in their hands, they could easily send us over the edge."

Last week MPs from across the East of England discussed the poor provision for Send in Parliament.

The Labour MP for Norwich North, Alice Macdonald, said there were problems with school transport, recruiting and retaining specialist staff, and the soaring cost of defending decisions when parents object to a child not receiving an educational health care plan.

Education Minister Catherine McKinnell promised to address the challenges but warned there were "no quick fixes".

Growing budget shortfall

Most authorities including Norfolk County Council have seen their cumulative budget shortfall over the next two years increase

Figures obtained by the BBC show that many councils are facing a growing shortfall in their budgets.

The problem is most acute in county councils which oversee the big spending departments of social care, children's services and highways.

Norfolk County Council, which is halfway through trying to make savings of £41m this year, is also predicting a cumulative shortfall of £91m by 2026. Some of that may be covered by using reserves but there will also be tough decisions.

A government spokesperson said: "We have inherited a crisis in local government which is facing significant challenges and there's no shying away from the scale.

"We are committed to fixing the foundations of local government. Working hand in hand with councils like Norfolk, we are moving towards multi-year funding settlements to provide long term stability and ensure the sector gets back on its feet."

Councils will be looking to this month's budget to see if the government will help in any other ways.

Other suggestions include lifting the cap on how much they can put up council tax by or giving them permission not to have to balance their budget every year.

And they would all like it if the Chancellor could find some more money for them in her budget.