City council hits 'major milestone' after money woes

Nottingham City Council, which had to effectively declare itself bankrupt in 2023, has said it is "happy" that its government‑appointed commissioners are preparing to leave.

Lead commissioner Sharon Kemp said they initially found an authority that was financially unsustainable and lacked a clear plan to fix its problems.

But she said that, with their help, the council had made "significant progress", and her team will finish its work this week after two years of oversight.

Ethan Radford, the council's deputy leader, said he had been "determined to get rid of them", and the council's chief executive officer described their leaving as a "major milestone".

The Labour-run council effectively declared itself bankrupt in 2023 because it had an in-year budget gap of £23m, and faced a £53m budget gap for the following year.

The authority blamed government funding levels, but opponents pointed to high-level financial blunders.

In 2024 the Conservative government sent in the commissioners to oversee improvements.

New councillors took over, the authority sold assets, cut jobs and services and used millions of pounds of extraordinary financial support (EFS) to plug the gap in its finances.

Kemp said it had become a smaller authority in some areas, but it worked better.

In its latest budget, the council is not planning to use any reserves or EFS and is predicting a £1m underspend.

Kemp said work was still needed, particularly in improving support for young people and making sure adults using social care get the support they need quickly.

But she added: "When we arrived we found a council that wasn't financially sustainable and didn't have a plan to be financially sustainable.

"There was poor governance in terms of decision-making.

"We now see a leadership that has a clear vision for the city that has aligned its budget with the implementation of those actions and that gives us confidence that there is the capability and capacity to continue to improve."

She and her two colleagues will be finishing officially on Sunday, and are set to be replaced by a panel of advisors.

The commissioners had the power to overrule the elected officials, but did not use it at any point.

They were also paid between £1,100 and £1,200 a day each for their time, which came from Nottingham's tax payers.

The latest figures show they cost about £430,000 in fees and expenses up to April 2025.

For context, the council is considering investing £500,000 in this year's budget to provide free swimming for the city's under 16s.

Asked whether that cost of the commissioners represented value for money, Kemp said: "How do you cost prevention? When councils get into difficulties, it is very costly.

"If you think about the number of external organisations many councils will work with to try and secure improvements, against that measure it's certainly value for money."

Radford would not comment on whether it had been worth the money, but said the city's residents who "suffered from 14 years of austerity" should not have had to pay for them.

"They've provided a level of support that probably couldn't have been found elsewhere in the market," he added.

"We were determined to get rid of them in the two-year time frame and do what needed to be done in order to do that.

"We're happy we're in a position now where that has been achieved."

Kemp, who said she had become attached to the city and enjoyed exploring it on regular runs, added leaving was "happy sad".

"I'm happy the council has made progress...this is a great city, there's lots of things that are here for the city to be able to achieve.

"I know we'll all be watching with interest because we are really vested in the city achieving the ambitions that it wants to," she said.

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