Concerns over 'ever-rising' cost of Gloucester City Council cyber attack

The cyber attack affecting online services, such as benefits and planning, has still not been fully resolved

Members of a council that was hit by a cyber attack are growing more concerned about the final repair bill stretching into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Gloucester City Council discovered its systems had been breached in December, with many online services affected.

It has created a reserve of £380,000 and received a total of £250,000 from the Government and Local Government Association to help cover repair costs.

But councillors remain worried about what the final bill will amount to.

Leader of the Liberal Democrat group, Jeremy Hilton, said the ruling Conservative group was "either refusing to estimate the final bill or doesn't have a clue to what it could be".

"The ever-rising cost to the city council in dealing with the recovery from the cyber attack remains a big worry," he added.

"I suspect the £630,000 already put aside is not nearly enough. I expect many council services to continue to suffer."

Financial impact

The council has been working with the National Crime Agency and the National Cyber Security Centre after the breach, which has been linked to Russian hackers.

Labour group leader Terry Pullen said there was still considerable uncertainty about the financial impact it was having, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

"We know that the council has allocated £380,000 into its reserves as an attempt to mitigate losses but it is felt that whilst this may help, the final costs could be significantly more than this," he said.

Hannah Norman, deputy leader of Gloucester City Council and also cabinet member for performance and resources, said when the full costs were known, the council would need to identify sources of funding.

"The costs will be split between capital and revenue - to fund this the council will either use other earmarked reserves, capital receipts or prudential borrowing," she added.