Guildford Borough Council (GBC) faces severe financial challenges over the next few years, because of increasing demand for services, the state of the UK economy over the last year (with high inflation and rising interest rates), and a succession of government funding reductions over many years.
Currently GBC believes it can balance the 2023-24 General Fund budget, with the use of cash-backed reserves if necessary.
However, the situation for future years remains uncertain, where future expenditure could exceed resources. In this case The Council’s Chief Finance Officer has a statutory duty to consider issuing a Section 114(3) Notice. This would be extremely serious for the Council and residents. It requires the Council to cease all non-essential expenditure and reduce operational and service delivery costs immediately.
Guildford Borough Council plans to review the financial situation in the October’s full council meeting.
Further details on the General Fund Budget Update 25 July 2023 report to Borough Councillors is available on the GBC website here
Articles in SurreyLive can be read here, and in the Guildford Dragon here