Critical month ahead as Bedford council faces tough financial decisions
Bedford’s mayor has warned that there is a “critical month” ahead as councillors question whether authority may need Exceptional Financial Support.
Bedford Borough Council may be only weeks away from deciding whether it must seek government Exceptional Financial Support (EFS), the mayor told last night’s Budget and Corporate Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Thursday, December 4).
Councillor Christine McHugh (Lib Dem, Goldington) pressed him on the authority’s financial position during scrutiny of the latest budget savings proposals.
“To date the portfolio holder for finance has said he’s not sure if the council will need EFS,” she said.
“Are you at a position now where you think the council will,” she asked.
The question followed months of warnings about the council’s finances and a Medium-Term Financial Strategy showing a £58.6 million budget gap by 2029/30, including £32.5 million in 2026/27.
Mayor Tom Wootton (Conservative) replied: “It’s a very fair question, because are we or are we not going to manage [the situation]?
“It’s a very difficult question to answer. At the minute, one hopes that we can get out of this without it.
“It’s a very critical month, and those really tough, difficult decisions have got to be made at the time of year when everybody else is thinking about other things.
“So officers are going to probably have to be in between Christmas and New Year.
“New Year will be a very strained time for our finance team, and those sort of really tough decisions will have to be made,” he said.
A report presented to the committee said the current savings proposals do not meet the full gap identified in the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) and it is “critical” that further work is still undertaken to bring forward a balanced budget in 2026/2027.
EFS has been used nationally only in cases of acute financial distress, typically when councils cannot set a balanced budget without government permission to borrow or use capital receipts for day-to-day spending.