William Eichler 18 January 2024

Middlesbrough council leaders vote to apply for £15m bailout

Middlesbrough council leaders vote to apply for £15m bailout  image
Image: Red Carpet 2020 / Shutterstock.com.

Council leaders at Middlesbrough Council have voted unanimously to apply for a £15m bailout from the Government to avoid effective bankruptcy.

The struggling local authority is facing a budget shortfall of around £6.3m for 2024/25 due to ‘persistent high inflation’, increased demand on services, and insufficient Government funding.

Middlesbrough Council has launched a public consultation on £14m of savings proposals, including axing 75 full-time equivalent posts, but has also voted in support of a request for exceptional financial support to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC).

A spokesperson for the council said ahead of the vote: ‘The council is taking this decision in order to seek to avoid the more severe consequences of issuing a Section 114 notice, which have been issued recently by other local authorities, but that risk remains if a balanced budget cannot be achieved by the statutory deadline of March 11.’

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