Middlesbrough Council is the latest local authority to consider requesting extra financial support as it tries to avoid having to issue a Section 114.
The unitary executive will next week be asked to allow officers to make the request to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) to cover a budget shortfall of around £6.3m for 2024/25.
A Middlesbrough Council spokesperson said the council has launched a public consultation on £14m of budget savings proposals to recover its financial position.
They also said that work on a transformation programme to reduce spending and deliver better service outcomes has started but ‘will not be fully developed in time to achieve a balanced budget for 2024/25.’
‘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.’
