Bradford Council’s debt has risen by more than £132 million in the past year and now stands at almost £1,300 per person.
New figures show that the Authority’s debt rose from £593,923,000 at the end of the 2023/24 financial year to £726,197,000 by March, a 22.27 per cent rise.
The Council has said this is largely due to the “exceptional financial support” provided by Government last year, which allows the Council to borrow money to help balance its books and avoid bankruptcy.
Figures released by the BBC’s Shared Data Unit this week reveal the “sobering” amount of debt facing Councils across the UK.
They show that neighbouring Leeds Council has £2,640,673,000 worth of debt, the second highest level in the UK. It amounts to £3,183 per person.
The local authority with the highest amount of debt is Birmingham – £3,352,457,000.
But the Council with the highest amount of debt per person is Woking, which owes a staggering £20,601 per person.
The national average Council debt per person is £1,791.
Councils can borrow funds to invest in projects such as schools, leisure centres and theatres – they can also borrow to invest in property that will bring in an income over and above repayments on the debt.
But the findings show the recent rise for Councils across the country is partly driven by a near tripling of short-term lending from central Government, which in some cases is being used to paper over holes in some council revenue budgets rather than pay for investments and town and city centre improvements.
Referring to Bradford’s debt, a Council spokesperson said: “It is sobering to see that debt levels of councils across the country have escalated since 2010.
“In Bradford our increase in debt is largely because of our exceptional financial support.
“It’s interesting to see that per head of population we are still below average nationally which demonstrates what a challenging time this is for local authorities.
“We have a robust plan to put the Council onto a sound financial footing in the future. This means our continuing drive to reduce the Council’s costs whilst managing the increasing demand for services will be unrelenting.
“We anticipate that the new formula funding that Government is currently consulting on will benefit places like Bradford. We’ll know more about the exact amount of funding the Council will receive later this year from Government but a more favourable financial settlement will help set us on a more positive financial trajectory than we’ve had for many years.”
