Nottingham taxpayers could be forced to pay for a new set of Government advisers tasked with monitoring improvements at the council.
Three commissioners arrived at Nottingham City Council in February 2024, around three months after the authority’s then finance boss declared it effectively bankrupt.
The officials, who are experts appointed by the Government to oversee critical changes in crisis-hit local councils, came at a cost of £1,200 per day for the lead commissioner, plus £1,100 each per working day for two other officials overseeing transformation and finance.
The total cost to the taxpayer as of April last year was around £430,000.
Two years later, the commissioners are departing, with their final report noting improvements to finance have been “significant in such a short time frame, indeed almost unimaginable”.
Their work will conclude on 22 February, and all decision-making powers will be returned to the council.
However, Government oversight will remain in the form of two ministerial envoys, who will supervise a new committee that will keep tabs on continued improvements at the council.
These officials have come at a cost to taxpayers at other authorities in the past, with daily fees typically in the same ballpark as commissioners.
Council leader Cllr Neghat Khan (Lab) said: “Whilst I acknowledge the need for light-touch assurance, I question whether it is right for Nottingham taxpayers to be responsible for further costs, particularly if they remain the same as those paid to commissioners.
“The Government have themselves recognised that commissioners are no longer required, so I don’t think it is proportionate for taxpayers in Nottingham to continue to bear similar costs, particularly as the council had initially sought lighter-touch support through sector expertise, such as the LGA, as opposed to further ministerial directions or the appointment of envoys, which would have come at a much lower cost and with greater value for money.”
In an update on 4 February, Alison McGovern, Minister of State for Local Government, said she was “very encouraged” by the progress made, but emphasised the Government was not yet satisfied the council was meeting its best-value duty for local taxpayers.
Therefore, a further – but reduced – package of statutory support is being deployed to the council for 18 months, which will be reviewed after 12 months.
A committee will be set up, comprising some external members with relevant expertise.
The committee will be overseen by the two ministerial envoys, “who would work collaboratively in an advisory capacity to further the progress already made”.
They are entitled to a fee for each day of work, which is met by the council, and thus the taxpayer.
These fees are set at around £1,100 per day for the lead envoy, up to a maximum of 120 days per year, and £1,000 for assistant envoys, according to costs at other councils with similar arrangements.
Cllr Andrew Rule, of the Nottingham Independents and Independent Group, added: “It appears that the Secretary of State does not have complete confidence in the leadership’s claim that the council has its house in order, as shown by the fact that he has chosen to impose ministerial envoys on the council, at the council taxpayers’ expense.
“The fact that ministerial envoys have no reported powers of direction immediately raises questions as to what effective action they can take should the council start to drift in a wayward direction.
“It may be recalled that the improvement board started with no powers of direction, and under its watch commissioners were finally appointed, leading to questions of what ultimate value the board contributed to the council’s improvement journey.
“I would hope the leader and deputy leader will be writing to the Secretary of State in this vein to seek justification on how this represents value for money for the hard-pressed Nottingham ratepayer, who is again facing an increase in council tax, part of which will be absorbed in the costs of ministerial envoys imposed by the Labour Government; why not simply leave one of the three current commissioners in post who has knowledge of the city, rather than risking charges of needlessly reinventing the wheel?”
The Government was approached for comment regarding the costs, but fees were not disclosed.
The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government said a representation period for the continued but reduced intervention closed on 11 February.
“Ministers are now considering all representations received and will announce their decision in due course,” a spokesman added.
“Failure should not be rewarded, and councils under intervention must meet the cost of their own improvement.”
