I know many people will be concerned about last week’s announcement that a Section 114 Report has been issued by the council’s chief finance officer and what the impact of this will be.

The Section 114 Report doesn’t mean that the council is “bankrupt” or insolvent. We have sufficient financial resources to meet our current obligations and to continue to pay staff, suppliers and grant recipients this year. 

Essential services the council provides such as caring for vulnerable people, protecting children, collecting bins and gritting the roads will continue. 

However, until a meeting of all city councillors takes place on 18 December, spending controls already in place will be further tightened with spending immediately stopped that is not already contractually committed or otherwise agreed by the chief finance officer. 

The Section 114 Report has been issued as the council is forecasting an overspend of £23.3m in the current year due to issues which are affecting local authorities across the country, including increased demand for children’s and adults’ social care, rising homelessness and the impact of inflation.    

Past issues relating to financial governance which led to the appointment of an Improvement and Assurance Board, and an overspend in the last financial year have also impacted on the council’s financial resilience and ability to draw on reserves. 

To help answer some of the questions people will have about Section 114, there are a set of FAQs on a dedicated page on the council’s website which will be regularly updated with key information relating to the report and the council’s response.

As part of its statutory duties, the council must look after children who are at risk. Like many other councils across the country, Nottingham has seen a rise in the number of children in its care.

At present, the city has over 700 looked-after children and around 200 registered foster carers. This means we must use more costly private fostering agencies and care providers to meet the extra need, often having to place children outside the area. Again, this an issue for many other local authorities.

Using the city’s own carers not only means the local children can live and continue their education in their own community. It also means the council is not forced to pay often large sums to external providers, making savings for local Council Tax payers.

The city needs more people to come forward to be foster carers and provide warm, stable, loving homes for its looked after children. Foster carers get a tax-free allowance to cover the costs of looking after a child.

Anyone who wants to find out more about fostering can go to the city’s fostering website www.fosteringnottingham.com

Children are only brought into the care of the council as a last resort.  The Council and partners have been working hard to develop Early Help for struggling families. The partnerships website is here Homepage | Early Help Nottingham  

I am very grateful to the Guru Nanak's Mission Nottingham for allowing me to accompany my colleague, Cllr Angela Kandola, to celebrate Guru Nanak Dev Ji's birthday at Gurdwara Baba Budha Ji on Haydn Road.

Guru Nanak Dev Ji was the founder of Sikhism and one of the key principles he said was to share your food - the principle of what GNM is all about.

We know now is a difficult time for many people and I am grateful to the Mission for the work they do in providing hot meals to homeless people in our city. You can find out more about their work here - https://gurunanaksmission.uk/