Brent Reserves the Lowest in London

Figures released last week show that Brent Council's reserves (as a proportion of revenue expenditure) are the lowest  in London, although Harrow's are only slightly higher. The reserves are used for contingencies and also put aside for major projects. They are a necessary part of good financial management. Brent will be in trouble if sudden unexpected expenditure is required but at the same time the Borough faces damaging cuts.

Eric Pickles, Communities Secretary, used the large reserves held by some councils as a stick with which to beat them while anti-cuts campaigner cited excessive reserves as a reason why some councils need not  make drastic reductions in services.

Brent's low reserves show why the council was trawling through the carry forwards of individual schools with a view to clawing back non-earmarked surpluses.

These are the figures for Brent and neighbouring councils.

Borough	Non-school reserves £m	Revenue Expenditure £m	Non-school reserves as % of revenue expenditure
Barnet	43.9	538.9	8.1
Brent	13.3	548.8	2.4
Camden	96.8	474.5	20.4
Ealing	53.4	589.9	9.1
Hammersmith & F	28.3	331.7	8.5
Harrow	10.5	359.1	2.9
Westminster	37.0	418.2	8.9