Budget & financial climate

Tower Hamlets Council has a general fund expenditure of £961.6m, with a further £94.8m spent on the council's housing stock. The authority is also responsible for £32.4 million of Working Neighbourhood Fund for 2008-2011 and a capital programme for 2008/09 of more than £70.4 million. Future works include a £180 million Building Schools for the Future programme.

The council's overall financial position is sound, a view that is independently verified by the Audit Commission in its annual audit and inspection letter.

In 2008, in the wake of the Government's comprehensive spending review, the council set its first three year budget. However, looking further ahead it is clear that the future financial outlook will be more challenging. The council will continue to face considerable cost pressures associated with maintaining and improving its services over the medium term, but the tighter resource outlook means that not all of the commitments and service improvements identified will be affordable. This is the case with both revenue and capital budgets.

Meeting new cost pressures will require an increasingly rigorous approach to identifying efficiencies, productivity improvements and reprioritisation within services, and corresponding adaptations to the service and financial planning framework. With this in mind, the council has recently begun its planning process for 2011/12, with a view to ensuring that it can respond to tighter financial conditions while continuing to improve the quality of services.

Further information

For more information about the council and the borough, including key documents, use these links:

• Annual report & best value performance plan
• Comprehensive performance assessment
• Community plan
• Tower Hamlets Partnership
• Strategic plan
• Council news
• Council structure