Cabinet member for finance Simon Radford says the council will ask central government from £88 million of exceptional financial support for 2026/27 reports David Floyd

Hendon Town Hall and (inset) Simon Radford

Barnet Council’s finance chief says the authority should be proud of its achievements despite applying for an even bigger bailout than last year, while the opposition leader labelled the administration “a financial disgrace”.

Last year, the council applied for £55.7 million in exceptional financial support (EFS) from central government enabling it to close the gap in its 2025/26 budget through a combination of asset sales and borrowing.

Now cabinet member for finance Simon Radford will tell a cabinet meeting tomorrow that the council will need to apply for support again in 2026/27, with the expected figure this time around likely to be £88 million.

Speaking to Barnet Post this morning, Cllr Radford said: “We should be very proud of what we’ve achieved” in terms of delivering high quality services that have received positive ratings from regulators including Ofsted, the CQC and the social housing regulator, while keeping within its budget for the year.

However, he explained that rising costs from temporary accommodation and social care meant that the authority would need to seek even more additional support this year.

Central government is currently undertaking a review of local government finance, the Fair Funding Review, which is expected to report later this month.

Cllr Radford said that he expected the impact of the review to be “at least net neutral, if not net positive” in terms of the funding the borough receives based, in particular, on an improved understanding of deprivation within the borough and the impact of high housing costs.

Despite this apparent good news, Barnet Post asked whether this year’s bigger request for EFS showed that the overall situation is getting worse.

In response, Cllr Radford expressed optimism that a combination of preventative action and better use of new technology would eventually enable the council to bring down costs while maintaining high quality services but added: “The challenge is getting trickier because demand and complexity are going up.”

However, he also highlighted the authority’s strong focus on value for money saying: “Every pound that goes out of the door, it’s like a pound coming out of our pockets.”

This year, the council engaged the services of consultancy, Peopletoo, to identify additional savings the council could make beyond those already identified by council officers.

While their report is not publicly available, Cllr Radford said the consultants, who had been paid around £700,000, had identified £9 million of potential savings which were now being considered. He added: ““Even a pessimist would say they’ve identified more savings than they’ve cost.”

In terms of the wider picture, despite his optimism about both short term savings and the long term role of preventative measures, Cllr Radford admitted: “It would be pollyannaish to say local government doesn’t face a massive challenge.”

Responding to news of the EFS request, Conservative opposition leader Peter Zinkin slammed the council’s approach pointing out that, based on current forecasts, the gap between the council’s income and expenditure was on course to grow even bigger in future.

Cllr Zinkin told Barnet Post: “The council objective at the start of this year was to begin reducing the deficit they failed. Instead the deficit has not gone down and over the next few years is forecast to increase to over £200m each year.”

“Not a single word on the reality that central government is basing our grant on band D council tax of over £2000. The Barnet level is around £1500.”

He warned that the council may have “a secret plan to increase council tax to £2000”.

He added: “This administration is a financial disgrace and refuses to admit to residents where their financial recklessness has led.”

“How can EFS be granted for a second year with no plan to fix the budget. Unless a deceptive government is conspiring with a deceptive council to hoodwink the public?”

No news is bad news

Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.

The audiences they serve know less, understand less, and can do less.

If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, yearly or one-off donation.

Choose the news. Don’t lose the news.

Monthly direct debit

Annual direct debit

£5 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else, £10 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else and a print copy posted to them each month. £50 annual supporters get a digital copy of each month's paper before anyone else. £84 annual supporters get a print copy by post and a digital copy of each month's before anyone else.