Hillingdon Council will now need to provide MHCLG with regular progress updates until the notice is reviewed in 12 months’ time. If it does not make improvements, it could face more intervention from the government.
The Labour MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Danny Beales, said that the “fact that people in Hillingdon work hard, pay their council tax, and are met with poor services and an administration that has been proven to be financially unsound is a disgrace”.
He added: “The Best Value Notice is an important intervention by this Labour government to deliver meaningful change.
“This must serve as a much-needed wake-up call to Hillingdon Council that their approach of business as usual, and rearranging deckchairs whilst the Titanic sinks, is failing residents and will not be allowed to continue.”
Hillingdon’s financial position was described as “critical” in an annual report, external by the council’s independent auditors, Ernst & Young, published in February, and council documents show that the borough expects to overspend, external by £584,000 in its general fund by the end of this financial year.
The council has applied for EFS for two years running and has so far used £145m of the £150m that government ministers had agreed.
EFS, external is where central government gives councils that are experiencing extreme financial pressures permission to use borrowing, or their capital budgets (which usually fund buildings and equipment) or the sale of assets to fund some of their day-to-day spending.
The number of London boroughs requiring EFS has risen in recent years.
This year, nine councils in the capital, external were granted EFS requests by the government, including Barnet, Croydon, City of London, Haringey, Havering, Hillingdon, Lambeth, Redbridge and Waltham Forest.
