Nottingham City Council will soon have spent up to £1m on two programmes as it attempts to balance its books and improve its operations to prevent further Government intervention. Even more consultants are being hired as the council looks to begin its second £500,000 programme "to ensure sound financial management".
Just weeks ago it was revealed the Labour-run authority's transformation academy programme, whereby existing staff are skilled-up so they can take on more responsibility and lessen the need for external consultants, will be costing somewhere in the region of £500,000. And the council has now signed off up to £500,000 to develop another programme.
Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) will be given a contract to help deliver the objectives of the newly-coined 'finance recovery programme'. The need for the programme is perhaps even more critical upon the discovery of an estimated £40m of misspent cash from the council's ringfenced Housing Revenue Account (HRA), £15m of which unlawfully transferred from a pot of cash intended for council tenants into the authority's general fund.
