The severe pressure on local government budgets now means section 151 officers confront a tricky call on whether they can make a judgement on the robustness of estimates and the adequacy of reserves.
There surely can never have been a more challenging and stressful time to be a section 151 officer in a local authority. Nothing is exactly as it seems. Years of austerity mean that the room for manoeuvre in budgets is small. Add to that the unusual circumstances of what looks as if it will be the whole of the 2020-21 financial year, and the fact that the government has only been able to provide a one-year settlement, and longer term financial planning is nigh impossible.
But as budgets are strained to breaking point, a new i
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