The decision to take the section 114 route, effectively putting the council into bankruptcy, was taken after auditors Grant Thornton warned that the accounts for the last two years underestimated the scale of the equal pay settlement together with concerns that the Council had no plans to in place to cut costs quickly enough or raise additional finance.  

Last Friday, 1 September, Grant Thornton raised concerns that the provisions for equal pay in prior year accounts, 2020/21 and 2021/22, had been materially understated which meant the Council would have exhausted its general fund balance on an accounting basis. There was also insufficient money in the reserves to cover the claims.