In the same week as local government minister Angela Rayner suddenly announced a u-turn on the overhaul of local government, announced in December 2024, after concerns it was about to lose a judicial review brought by four councils in England, Oxford City Council (pictured) disclosed a £3.8m budgeting error meaning it could not balance its budget for the current financial year.

Alistair Rush, group finance director at Oxford City Council blamed a ‘technical error’ in its housing funding calculations, which meant the wrong inflation figure was used to work out annual rent rises for council houses. As a result, the council has had to draw down half of its housing reserves to cover the shortfall.

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