Overview

• Regional breakdowns show sharp divergences, with the Liverpool City Region recording a £220m annual increase and Coventry’s debt standing at £257m.
• Surrey County Council’s borrowing jumped nearly 48% to about £1.07bn, while Woking remains the UK’s most indebted council per resident at £20,601, ahead of Spelthorne.
• The North East’s seven councils owe about £4.35bn, with Northumberland at £834.5m and South Tyneside carrying the region’s highest per‑person burden at £4,947.
• Analysts report a near tripling of short‑term central lending, which in some cases has been used to cover day‑to‑day spending rather than long‑term investment, drawing “payday loan” warnings from the LGIU.
• The government says the funding model is broken, citing more than £3.4bn in new grants and a pledge to reform local government finance as councils in areas such as East Sussex and East Lancashire report mixed debt trends.