County Hall in Preston. Pic: Blog Preston Lancashire County Council has bucked a national trend by giving a boost to its budget reserves. The authority e
Revealed: The cost of Preston Guild Hall standing empty and the path to re-openingThe authority ended the 2023/24 financial year with £181.1m in its main reserve account – £15.9m more than had previously been expected.
A study earlier this year by accountancy firm Grant Thornton found that 40 percent of councils were at risk of seeing their reserves drop to less than five percent of their annual revenue expenditure within the next five years – a position the firm described as “financial failure”. According to the analysis, one in five local authorities faces that fate within the next 12 months.
A report recently presented to cabinet members confirmed that the reserves remained sufficient to support the county council’s budget beyond the period covered by its medium-term financial strategy, which ends in March 2027. The transitional reserve is forecast to fall to £159m by the end of 2025/26.
In addition to the transitional reserve, Lancashire County Council has seven other receive pots available to it – including £23.4m in its County Fund, which is set aside to cover the authority against a serious emergency situation, such as widespread flooding. It could also be used in the event of a “critical and unexpected loss of income to the authority”, as well as for general cash flow purposes.
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