Nottingham City Council’s head of finance said the council is not able to deliver a balanced budget for this year, which is a legal requirement. As a result it has issued a section 114 notice under the Local Government Finance Act 1988.

At the halfway point of the year, the council forecast a shortfall of £56.89m which was partly offset from one-off in-year management and corrective actions, including use of £9.42m in reserves, reducing the net deficit for the year to £23.35m. This was not sufficient to cover the shortfall. The council’s annual budget was set at £261.8m for 2023/24.

In the s114 report, Ross Brown, corporate director, finance and resources and Section 151 officer pointed to a ‘limited financial control environment in place at the Council’ and said the board had ‘instigated significant controls through the Finance Improvement Plan to improve clarity and transparency’.

Brown