Bucks Council nearly £300m in debt as BBC data uncovers new data

Bucks Council is in £289 million of debt, it can be revealed, although its leader insists it is a “prudently run” authority.

The huge sum was the total debt amassed by Buckinghamshire Council in the second quarter of the 2023-24 financial year.

This means that the debt per person was £521, based on the county having a population of 555,257, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Bucks Council leader Martin Tett told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that some debt was inherited from the former district councils which were amalgamated as the council was founded as a single unitary authority in 2020.

He said: “I appreciate that this figure of course seems high but for an organisation of our size, this isn’t outside of normal financial management.

“It also has to be viewed in the context that we are a recently formed new authority that inherited the debt of five legacy councils.

“It’s forecast that this debt level will decrease by more than £3 million by the end of the current financial year.”

Bucks Council’s debt was analysed as part of a study of 380 UK local authorities by the BBC Shared Data Unit.

The team extracted debt data from the borrowing and investment live tables published by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

While the analysis shed new light on the dire financial situations of many local authorities, it also showed that a total of 38 UK councils had no borrowing as of September 2023.

Bucks Council, which has just published its draft budget, is also under significant financial pressure, as demands and costs for its core services such as social care and temporary accommodation have ballooned.

However, Councillor Tett stressed that the council’s millions of pounds of debt was unrelated to the strains on its budget.

He said: “I’ve made no secret of the fact that we are facing significant budgetary pressures, but this is not related to our debt level – servicing the debt makes up a fraction of our budget.”

The council chief also suggested it would be more relevant to look at the council’s ability to pay for and service its debt, rather than the actual debt figure itself.

He said: “Where Buckinghamshire Council is concerned, while the level of absolute debt may seem high, this was secured at low fixed rates.

“CIPFA’s Financial Resilience Index indicates that Buckinghamshire Council is on the low end of the risk spectrum on debt financing, and all debt costs have been fully covered in the financial plans of the council for many years.”

Councillor Tett also highlighted that the council is independently audited by a statutory external auditor “who has not highlighted any concerns”.

He added: “We therefore remain a prudently run council that can service this debt well within our budgets and unlike many other councils, are in a position to produce a financial plan that balances our books until 2027.”

Councillor Tett also cited the council’s Energy for Waste Plant, which was funded through borrowing, as an example of how borrowing enables key council activities.