Improvement Plan and Spending Control

In the face of these major challenges and the need to secure the financial sustainability of the Council given its current reliance on Exceptional Financial Support, the Council will be focussing on three key objectives: securing its financial sustainability, improving Children’s Services and outcomes and developing and delivering plans for inclusive growth.

The need for the financial actions arises because a structural gap of £120m at 31 March 2024 has been identified. This is an unprecedented level of financial pressure caused by several internal and external factors. These factors include the impact of austerity, increasing demand pressures on social care and other services much of which is driven by high levels of deprivation, and a system of funding local authority services that fails to take Bradford’s needs and local resource base properly into account. This has been compounded by delays in addressing key pressures and  budget gaps appropriately. In some years budget savings were not delivered in full and mitigating action was not identified.

Given the scale of this challenge Bradford Council engaged with Government to secure solutions that would help to secure financial sustainability. The then Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities (DLUHC) (Now Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government) commissioned an  independent review of the council’s finances which was conducted in August / September 2023, and reported at the end of February 2024, by CIPFA (Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy). This review and resulting action plan can be found here: CIPFA External Assurance Review

The six key CIPFA recommendations have been resolved. Of the forty-four other CIPFA recommendations thirty are in progress and fourteen are complete.

Bradford then applied for Exceptional Financial Support for £80 million in 2023-24, and £140 million for 2024-25. Government have supported the 2023-24 request and has indicated that it is minded to support the 2024-25 requirement. A Best Value Notice was, consequently, issued to Bradford Council by the Government on the 29 February 2024. This a formal but non-statutory request for the Council to engage with Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to provide assurance of improvement. This assurance is being delivered through our Improvement Plan which is currently under development. This document will also replace our Corporate Plan for 2024 to 2025 and form the plan we will measure improved productivity against.

Grip and control in this area is driven by our Bradford Budget Emergency Response Team and Financial Stability process. This evidenced through our budget process for 2024-25 and 2025-26 that includes:

• The elimination of non-essential expenditure secured through a spending panel structure.
• Major reductions in revenue budgets in 2024-25 through to 2029-30.
• A significant asset disposal programme.
• Ceasing all but essential recruitment.
• Review of fees and charges with resulting projected increased income.
• Continuing our review of the Council’s Capital Investment Programme.
• A planned review of traded services not operating under a full cost recovery model.
• A planned contracts and procurement review.