Hillingdon still faces 45-million-pound hole after 175-million-pound bailout, west London council must cut deeper while government absorbs its school debt

Hillingdon Council in west London is £45 million short of balancing its books despite securing almost £175 million in emergency government support. The Exceptional Financial Support package staved off a Section 114 notice — the local government equivalent of declaring bankruptcy — and allowed the Conservative-run borough to redirect £40 million into rebuilding depleted reserves. External auditors told the council's Audit, Finance and Performance Committee that without the bailout, the authority would have been out of reserves by the end of the last financial year.

The rescue arrived; the hole remained. Council papers show the borough must find £45 million in additional savings by 2028/29, on top of £48 million of cuts and efficiencies already planned for 2027/28. Central government has agreed to absorb around 90 per cent of Hillingdon's historic schools debt, worth roughly £69 million — yet officers still expect a residual bill of £7.7 million to £10 million when those arrangements end in 2028. "If we don't deliver to those higher margins, we won't get out of [Exceptional Financial Support]," deputy Section 151 officer Pete Carpenter told councillors. Chief executive Tony Zaman put it more plainly: the council is "way past anything that's straightforward and easy".

What falls on residents is specific: parking charges up 70 per cent, every dog waste bin in the borough scrapped, homeless families moved out of expensive hotel placements into longer-term private rented accommodation, care contracts renegotiated, care leavers shifted into shared accommodation, and fees raised on garden waste collection, cemetery services and planning applications. The full programme becomes clearer when provisional budget proposals are published in the coming weeks.

Greenwich council, across the city, meets this week to vote on raising its councillors' basic allowance by 42 per cent — from £11,906 to £16,882 — against a forecast £30 million budget gap, at a cost of up to £800,000 a year. Council leader Anthony Okereke, whose own total allowance would rise from £68,506 to £82,562, concedes the move will be unpopular but argues that talented residents are being priced out of local politics and that some councillors go into debt to serve. Green leader Tamasin Rhymes is in line for a 57.7 per cent increase; her deputy Stewart Christie would see his remuneration nearly double. Labour and the Greens hold 48 of the 55 seats, and approval is expected. The Conservative group calls it "a reckless use of council taxpayers' money", noting that Labour's own report to council admits the £30 million shortfall.

Hillingdon's savings list ends with the dog waste bins. Greenwich's ends with an £82,562 allowance for its council leader.