Steven Mair has been appointed as the new interim director of finance for Bradford Council amid the authority’s financial difficulties.
It is understood that Mair was appointed to the position last month. He succeeds Christopher Kinsella, who was interim finance director at Bradford from November 2022.
This comes as Bradford Council has made headlines recently due to its difficult financial situation.
At the end of last month, the authority reported that it had increased its application for exceptional financial support by £22m to £80m due to the “challenging financial times”.
The authority has previously stated that it would be forced to issue a section 114 notice if it does not receive capitalisation directions from central government in both 2023/24 and 2024/25.
According to Bradford, its main financial challenges lie within the continued rising pressure of children’s social care and adults’ social care, with the authority’s projected spend on these services this year equivalent to 87% of the budget agreed for 2023/24.
Slough and Thurrock
Mair has previously been an interim chief financial officer and section 151 officer at Thurrock and Slough Borough councils, both of which are under government intervention and have been issued with section 114 notices in the past.
In 2021, Mair joined Slough Borough Council after the previous s151 had resigned amid a damning auditors’ report. In July of the same year, Mair issued the council with a section 114 notice due to the “extremely serious nature” of Slough’s budget deficit at the time.
After leaving Slough, Mair was appointed as the interim chief finance officer at Thurrock Council in September 2023 following the authority being issued with a section 114 notice over its failed commercial investments.
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