Independent review confirms scale of challenge to county council finances

Lancashire County Council has published an independent review of its finances which confirms that its long-term financial position is not sustainable, even if it makes significant further savings.

The report, which will go to Cabinet on Thursday 6 October, is an independent review of the council's financial position, carried out by the professional services firm PwC.

The review has looked specifically at the resources that the county council needs to deliver its statutory services. These services, which the council is required by law to deliver, include care for the elderly and vulnerable, safeguarding of children and young people, and highways maintenance.

County councillor David Borrow, deputy leader and portfolio holder for finance, said: "We asked PwC to provide an independent review of our financial position to establish the level of resources we will need to provide those statutory services that we are obliged to deliver by law.

"That independent review has now been completed and sets out in stark relief the scale of the challenge we face. The report has identified that the Council will need to make savings of £148m in 2020/21, even allowing for council tax increases of 3.99% every year for the next four years.

"Significantly, the report forecasts that the council's reserves, which we are currently using to balance our budget, will run out in 2018/19.

"The report also found that even if the council further reduced spending in every service to the level of lower quartile spending councils in England, something which no other council has achieved, it would still face an annual spending gap of £79m by 2020/21.

"This independent confirmation that our finances, like those of many other councils, are clearly not sustainable will help us to make the case to Government that they need to rethink how they support councils."

The report also identifies various contributing factors to the council's financial position, such as the council's relatively low income from council tax, which reflects the types of housing and relatively low levels of prosperity in the county. Lancashire has the third lowest council tax income of any county council in the country, per head of population.

The report is published as part of the papers for the Executive Scrutiny Committee meeting on Tuesday 4 October - http://council.lancashire.gov.uk/ieL...d=878&MId=5443

PWC? - couldn't spot a fraud in front of their eyes claims a current multi-billion pound legal action http://www.independent.co.uk/news/bu...-a7191356.html

History is littered with PWC failings.