Cash-strapped Slough Borough Council warns of £20m savings a year

The council effectively declared a state of bankruptcy which has stopped all non-essential spending

A cash-strapped council has said it will have to save up to £20m a year to end its financial crisis.

Slough Borough Council froze all non-essential spending earlier this month after it was predicted to face a financial black hole of £174m by 2025.

The authority has requested government permission to sell off assets, but its new chief financial officer has warned spending cuts would also be needed.

The council's leader described the financial problems as "alarming".

The Labour-run local authority had previously invested heavily in property and land for development and its chief executive said its problems stemmed from "a range of challenging financial issues".

'Overspend is alarming'

The council became only the third local authority to issue a notice under section 144 of the Local Government Finance Act.

This is effectively declaring a state of bankruptcy and means no new expenditure is permitted, with the exception of funding for services required by law.

Steven Mair, the council's new finance officer, said Slough would have to save £16m in 2021/2022, £18m in 2022/23, and £20m for the years after, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Mr Mair predicted the council's books would be balanced by 2026/27.

Council leader James Swindlehurst said: "Clearly, the scale of overspend is alarming, not least because Steve's predecessor had suggested we have a £2.4m underspend to chug into reserves."

Section 144 notices have previously been issued by Croydon Council in 2020 and Northamptonshire County Council in 2018.