To ask how are they going to balance the books ?

[Moaning5]

I work in public finance.
Everyone knows cuts are planned, voluntary redundancies are being sought, services reduced, etc. Yet still we are forecasting massive deficits, literally millions.
I have no idea how they will balance the books. They don’t know. We are producing forecasts with totally unachievable recoveries just to appease the councillors.
It’s causing me massive anxiety, I’m having to document everything budget holders are instructing me just to cover myself when it comes back to bite.
Any advice or has anyone been in a similar position? Or anyone currently experiencing this ?

Take voluntary redundancy

We’ve never stopped there being austerity since 2008. Am f we’d gone back to bountiful times there might be something to cut.

The books won’t balance. Local authorities have been on a one way journey to bankruptcy, due to increasing social care budgets and demographic shifts, that has been known about for at least 20 years. Each successive elected central government is just hoping that the status quo will last just long enough to be the problem of the next.

Exactly what my IFA said to me several years ago about the issues of an ageing population and a plummeting birth rate - that every govt looks no further ahead than the next election and are happy to leave it to the other guys to sort out. And so on and so on.

You aren't appeasing the councillors. Do you think they are stupid? They have known, and having been screaming warnings about this, for two decades. It isn't the councillors you are appeasing. The council is required by law to balance the books, or to declare a section 114. A section 114 is worse than an unrealistic budget; although right now unrealistic budgets are getting closer and closer to section 114's anyway.

Everyone, or pretty much everyone, in local government is working with this. But it is what it is. To be honest, if your anxiety is that serious then you need to get out - it is not going to get any better.

It's the same everywhere.

Pretty much everyone I know in local govt is at breaking point because they are being asked to do too much with too little and we are heading towards a brick wall. It's the consequence of more than a decade of austerity.