Council reserves climb to £25.8bn

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Local authorities in England were held reserves of £25.8bn at the end of the last financial year.

The Local Authority Revenue Expenditure and Financing: 2018-19 Final Outturn released by the MHCLG revealed all council general fund revenue account reserves increased by £1.88bn from £23.9 bn to £25.8bn at 31 March 2019.

The aggregate change within non-ringfenced reserves was an increase of £2bn.

Much of this increase was driven by a net increase of £776m in the Greater London Authority’s revenue reserves, largely due to TfL refinancing rolling stock for the Elizabeth Line.

Excluding the GLA, total net additions to non-ringfenced reserves was £1.2bn in 2018-19.