Nottingham City Council’s financial progress has “fallen short” of what the Improvement and Assurance Board (IAB) expected, according to a new report.
The report by the IAB, which is currently overseeing the council’s recovery and chaired by Sir Tony Redmond, found that despite the authority making some progress in terms of finance, its overall improvement has been too slow. Concerns were highlighted over the council’s estimated £12.2m budget gap for 2022/23, which is “actually an increase on the previously reported position”.
It also stated that overall, the council’s financial planning process is “simply moving too slowly and without the required focus” to achieve necessary improvement.
“Taken as a whole, in terms of finance, some positive progress has been made and should be acknowledged but overall, the extent of progress falls short of what the IAB would have expected by the end of November 2022,” the report said.
It detailed that the IAB is also “disappointed” at the pace of change in improving the authority’s quality and application of accounting practices, which are currently of concern.
Room151 Networking: A safe space for creative thinking
Commenting on the report, David Mellen, Nottingham City Council’s leader, said: “The council has already made many of the improvements expected of us by the IAB and the government.
“We recognise there is much more work to do to increase the pace of the changes and to put the council on a solid financial footing despite the huge budget pressures we and all councils are facing currently.”
In a letter to Sir Tony Redmond, Lee Rowley, local government minister, wrote that he had decided against escalating intervention in Nottingham following the latest IAB report.
—————
FREE weekly newsletters
Subscribe to Room151 Newsletters
Room151 LinkedIn Community
Join here
Monthly Online Treasury Briefing
Sign up here with a .gov.uk email address
Room151 Webinars
Visit the Room151 channel
