Lancashire County Council is not financially sustainable and would have spent all its reserves by 2018/19, a new report has warned.
An independent review of the council’s finances, conducted by PwC, has found that even with significant savings, the long-term financial position of the council is not sustainable.
The review looked at what resources the county council would need to deliver its statutory services. It found that even if it reduced spending in every service to the level of lower quartile spending councils in England, it would still face an annual spending gap of £79m by 2020/21.
The council’s deputy leader and portfolio holder for finance, cllr David Borrow, said: ‘The report has identified that the council will need to make savings of £148m in 2020/21, even allowing for council tax increases of 3.99% every year for the next four years.
‘Significantly, the report forecasts that the council's reserves, which we are currently using to balance our budget, will run out in 2018/19.’
The report will be presented to council’s cabinet on 6 October.
