Balanced budget delivered in Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire County Council’s final outturn report for the 2018-2019 financial year has revealed that the authority delivered a balanced budget, with an underspend of £4.5 million.

Matt Golby, leader of the council, said that the £4.5 million balance will be transferred to a budget delivery reserve to support the council’s ongoing financial health in 2019-2020.

The balanced budget announcement is an improvement of £34.6 million on the position reported in July 2018 when the second Section 114 Notice was issued and an improvement of £3.5 million from the provisional outturn report approved by the cabinet in May.

Golby said: “This is a remarkable achievement and goes to show the hard work and commitment of everyone involved in getting our finances back on track. Let’s not forget that our financial challenge stood at £64.2 million at one point in the past financial year, so to be reporting an end-of-year underspend is a considerable accomplishment.
 
“In July when we issued the second Section 114 notice we were forecasting a £30.1 million overspend. Since then we have worked tirelessly with our new management team and the Commissioners and we have made solid progress to close this gap.
 
“While the progress we have made as an organisation in terms of our financial situation is extraordinary, the position we were in was so grave that even with such progress our financial position remains extremely fragile. Therefore the hard work will need to continue to make sure we are in a strong position for the transition to the two unitary organisations.”