Charity alleges Slough council owes outstanding money

The council said it would not be appropriate to talk about its relationship with the charity

A charity has alleged a debt-ridden council still owes it money and legal fees after a dispute started last year.

Slough Crossroads, which provides care to disabled and vulnerable children and adults, has accused Slough Borough Council (SBC) of not paying its bills.

The charity said it received most of a £111,000 bill in June but claims it is still waiting on other money which is owed.

The council said it was not appropriate to comment as the dispute was ongoing.

SBC has been constrained since issuing a section 114 notice, which is considered the local authority equivalent of bankruptcy and means it could only spend on services deemed essential.

Slough Crossways told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) it wanted to pay staff £10 an hour and bring its service fees in line with what it charges other authorities from April 2021.

It said the council paid the increased fee for two months but then stopped. SBC declined to confirm or deny this claim.

After nine months, the council began to pay back the money in small amounts and then paid a further £54,000 in June, it has been claimed.

The charity said it had to stop services over the lack of money

The charity said it has been left with a £15,000 legal bill, invoices still not being payed promptly and have been blacklisted.

Trisha Young, chief executive officer of the charity, said: "That £15,000 could have [gone] directly into practical front-line support rather than solicitors, if only they had acted with one iota of professionalism and conscientiousness.

"We fear that as soon as we stop engaging with the solicitors, we will be back to square one."

The charity accused the council of putting their clients' welfare at risk as it had "no choice" but to stop their services.

The authority - which is facing a £479m blackhole and £760m of borrowed debt - needs to make £20m savings every year until 2029 and sell up to £600m worth of its assets over the next three years.