Latest news with #finances
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Over half of English councils face insolvency under £5bn deficit, MPs warn
Councils in England face being overwhelmed by billions of pounds in debts and reforms that are divorced from reality, according to an influential committee of MPs. In its inquiry into local government finances, the public accounts committee (PAC) told the Treasury and other departments to urgently address the estimated £5bn deficit on high needs spending – mainly on special educational needs – that will hit council balance sheets at the end of the financial year, potentially driving many insolvent. Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the PAC's chair, said: 'Our inquiry heard that the government is concerned about local authority finances. But the lack of urgent action to come forward with a plan to address the fast-approaching cliff edge for under-pressure authorities would seem to suggest it is comfortable with the current state of affairs as normalised background noise. 'Alarmingly, scrutiny of council finances can now provoke a sense of deja vu, with the same unfixed issues seen over and over.' Since 2021 councils have been able to keep high needs deficits off their balance sheets through a 'statutory override' granted by the previous government. But the accounting manoeuvre expires in March 2026, the end of the current financial year. The inquiry said that the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Treasury and the Department for Education 'should work together to set out their solution for ensuring local authorities can achieve a sustainable financial position when the statutory override ends in March 2026. The solution must include how cumulative deficits will be treated.' Louise Gittins, chair of the Local Government Association, which represents councils, said: 'We expect the government to provide urgent clarity on how it plans to address high needs deficits, which are projected to rise to £5bn next year, as part of its forthcoming special educational needs and disabilities reforms. 'Over half of councils have warned us they will become insolvent next year when the statutory override flexibility ends and we continue to urge the government to write off these deficits.' The committee also accused the government of creating 'significant uncertainty' over a string of promised reforms and reorganisations, including for funding, special needs provision and social care. Clifton-Brown said: 'Aspirations for wide-ranging reforms seem to be unengaged with a reality in which local authorities do not have good and strong capacity to fundamentally change the way they work.' But Jim McMahon, minister of state for local government, said: 'These claims are not supported by the evidence. From a standing start we have set out a clear plan to fix the foundations of local government and have wasted no time in taking action as part of our plan for change. Sign up to Headlines UK Get the day's headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion 'We've taken action to restore the audit system to a functioning state, recast our approach to council best value and we are laying legislation to bring in a new local audit office. 'The spending review provided over £5bn of new grant funding for local services, and that's on top of the £69bn we have already injected this year to boost council finances.' Last week the Guardian reported that council leaders in England say the multibillion pound high needs deficits have become a 'burning platform' that will push scores of councils into bankruptcy within months. Ministers aim to publish a schools white paper in the autumn, including reforms to education, health and care plans, known as EHCPs. The plans give children and young people up to the age of 25 the legal right to support from local authorities' high needs budgets, for conditions such as autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and speech, language and communication needs.
Reuters
10-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
French budget minister warns of IMF, EU oversight risk
PARIS, June 10 (Reuters) - France must put its finances into order or face the risk of being placed under the supervision of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or of European institutions, Budget Minister Amelie de Montchalin said on Tuesday. "Today, we need to seize the budgetary weapon again, get our house in order, and put it back in order, because if we don't, others will decide for us," Montchalin told RTL radio. "There is a risk of supervision by international institutions, European institutions, our creditors," she added when asked if France faced a risk of supervision by the IMF. French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou plans to unveil proposals in July to get public finances under control, hoping to push through a 40-billion-euro ($45.62 billion) budget squeeze in 2026. France has a long history of flouting EU overspending rules and is currently running the biggest public sector deficit in the euro zone, at an estimated 5.4% of economic output this year. ($1 = 0.8768 euros)
Daily Mail
07-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
I'd never paid a bill until my divorce at 57!
A few months after my divorce, my mother asked me who my car insurer was. I just looked at her blankly. I didn't have car insurance, I hadn't got an MOT on my car – I later realised I didn't have home insurance either. None of it had crossed my mind. I was extraordinarily lucky nothing went wrong. At the age of 57 I hadn't paid a household bill or had any handle on my finances since I had married almost 30 years earlier. Now divorced, I didn't have a clue where to start. Rob and I married on my 30th birthday – I wanted to get married before I turned 30. We had four children – my stepson and three children of our own. All of that time, Rob managed our money and I didn't question it. I just put my earnings in our shared account and that was that. I kick myself now for being stupid and naive. But my dad had looked after my mum and Rob looked after me. It felt like a sort of safety net for me. I had a full-on job in the travel industry, then setting up a complementary health centre and as a yoga teacher – and to be honest the household finances never interested me. Every so often I would ask him: 'How are our finances?' but it would often be late at night and he'd reply: 'Why are you talking about this now?'. I'd say just because I was a bit worried, but then I'd wake up the next morning and not think about it again. We never defaulted on payments and weren't having anyone knocking on the door. But he was not always entirely reliable – that could be very tough. My oldest son definitely had a bit of a chequered education because we kept running out of money and so we had to move him to other schools. But he's done fine – they're all OK. Then during Covid we were in lockdowns and couldn't be out and about doing our thing. And if relationships are already not working as they should, they become even more fractious and difficult in those conditions. It damaged a lot and soon after we separated. Once our finances were split I had to learn to do things for myself. I didn't even know what that meant. I've always been useless at maths – when I sat down to do my maths O-Level, I walked into the exam, wrote my name at the top of the page, drew a triangle and walked out because I didn't know it or want to do it. So I was terrified at the thought of sorting my finances. Around that time at a yoga retreat in Greece, I was speaking to a lovely fellow and confided in him that I really missed my dad because he would have known how to help me. And he told me about his financial adviser, Louisa, who was good at explaining and talking you through things. So I built up the courage to see her. And to my surprise I immediately felt safe with her – I could sense that she knew how to talk with people like me who are a bit rudderless and useless on finances. Strangely, the thing I was most terrified of was feeling like a fool. It makes you feel so vulnerable. She helped me to set up an Isa and explained that I should move my allowance of £20,000 from my savings into my Isa every year to protect it from tax. Louisa also helped me track down a pension that was started for me when I was working for a hotel group at age 27. You don't think about them at the time, but even small sums can be worth something meaningful years later if they've been invested. She talked me through how risk works and worked out how to invest my pension in a way that means it is growing but doesn't keep me up at night worrying about it. My confidence has grown and I know how to read the regular statements I'm sent about my pension. I look for the balance and how much it has grown – by 14 per cent last year – but I also know that sometimes it can fall and not to panic about it. I also know how to get help when I need it – I'd rather stab myself than do my tax return, but even though my accountant does it I know how to check my cash flow – my incomings and outgoings. Now that I've got my ducks in a row – I know who my insurance is with, where my mortgage is for my home in south London, how my pension is growing – I feel so much lighter. I still would rather play tennis than look at spreadsheets, but I now know how to do it. I'd advise anyone who leaves the finances to their spouse to share the responsibility – I wish I had. You never know what is around the corner – divorce or worse. My mother was also left in the same position as me when my father died, because he always looked after their finances and she hadn't learned how to do it. Make sure your bank accounts and investments are in both of your names so that you both receive the statements and see what you have. Even if there are household bills that your spouse pays, make sure you know what they are so you would know what to do if you had to take over the responsibility. When you're married to someone you share bringing up your children, you share cooking, you share your bed, you share your life – you should share your finances. I think it's part of your commitment to one another. So share the load, have an open mind and be willing to learn. Even if your husband or wife is good at managing the money, don't feel intimidated to ask: shouldn't this be a shared responsibility? Start managing your money 'It is not unusual for people to start thinking about their finances for the first time when they get divorced,' says Charlotte Ransom, chief executive of wealth manager Netwealth 'Being widowed, retirement, selling a business or getting an inheritance are also common triggers – as well as things in the news such as a Budget statement. 'Women in particular find themselves in this position after a divorce, because the husband is more likely to already have had a wealth manager. It's never too late to start. Often people come to me and say, 'I'm embarrassed that I didn't take charge of this earlier.' But the important thing is that you've done it now. 'When people do engage with their finances and find out they won't stretch to the things they want to do, they still go out feeling good. They have some control and transparency about what they have and can plan. What is terrifying is when you're just playing around in the dark.'
Daily Mail
07-06-2025
- Automotive
- Daily Mail
I'd never paid a bill until my divorce at 57! Here's the vital advice I'd give every married woman...
A few months after my divorce, my mother asked me who my car insurer was. I just looked at her blankly. I didn't have car insurance, I hadn't got an MOT on my car – I later realised I didn't have home insurance either. None of it had crossed my mind. I was extraordinarily lucky nothing went wrong. At the age of 57 I hadn't paid a household bill or had any handle on my finances since I had married almost 30 years earlier. Now divorced, I didn't have a clue where to start.
Associated Press
07-06-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Can an American pope apply US-style fundraising and standards to fix troubled Vatican finances?
VATICAN CITY (AP) — As a bishop in Peru, Robert Prevost was often on the lookout for used cars that he could buy cheap and fix up himself for use in parishes around his diocese. With cars that were really broken down, he'd watch YouTube videos to learn how to fix them. That kind of make-do-with-less, fix-it-yourself mentality could serve Pope Leo XIV well as he addresses one of the greatest challenges facing him as pope: The Holy See's chronic, 50 million to 60 million euro ($57-68 million) structural deficit, 1 billion euro ($1.14 billion) pension fund shortfall and declining donations that together pose something of an existential threat to the central government of the 1.4-billion strong Catholic Church. As a Chicago-born math major, canon lawyer and two-time superior of his global Augustinian religious order, the 69-year-old pope presumably can read a balance sheet and make sense of the Vatican's complicated finances, which have long been mired in scandal. Whether he can change the financial culture of the Holy See, consolidate reforms Pope Francis started and convince donors that their money is going to good use is another matter. Leo already has one thing going for him: his American-ness. U.S. donors have long been the economic life support system of the Holy See, financing everything from papal charity projects abroad to restorations of St. Peter's Basilica at home. Leo's election as the first American pope has sent a jolt of excitement through U.S. Catholics, some of whom had soured on donating to the Vatican after years of unrelenting stories of mismanagement, corruption and scandal, according to interviews with top Catholic fundraisers, philanthropists and church management experts. 'I think the election of an American is going to give greater confidence that any money given is going to be cared for by American principles, especially of stewardship and transparency,' said the Rev. Roger Landry, director of the Vatican's main missionary fundraising operation in the U.S., the Pontifical Mission Societies. 'So there will be great hope that American generosity is first going to be appreciated and then secondly is going to be well handled,' he said. 'That hasn't always been the circumstance, especially lately.' Reforms and unfinished business Pope Francis was elected in 2013 on a mandate to reform the Vatican's opaque finances and made progress during his 12-year pontificate, mostly on the regulatory front. With help from the late Australian Cardinal George Pell, Francis created an economy ministry and council made up of clergy and lay experts to supervise Vatican finances, and he wrestled the Italian-dominated bureaucracy into conforming to international accounting and budgetary standards. He authorized a landmark, if deeply problematic, corruption trial over a botched London property investment that convicted a once-powerful Italian cardinal. And he punished the Vatican's Secretariat of State that had allowed the London deal to go through by stripping it of its ability to manage its own assets. But Francis left unfinished business and his overall record, at least according to some in the donor community, is less than positive. Critics cite Pell's frustrated reform efforts and the firing of the Holy See's first-ever auditor general, who says he was ousted because he had uncovered too much financial wrongdoing. Despite imposing years of belt-tightening and hiring freezes, Francis left the Vatican in somewhat dire financial straits: The main stopgap bucket of money that funds budgetary shortfalls, known as the Peter's Pence, is nearly exhausted, officials say. The 1 billion euro ($1.14 billion) pension fund shortfall that Pell warned about a decade ago remains unaddressed, though Francis had planned reforms. And the structural deficit continues, with the Holy See logging an 83.5 million euro ($95 million) deficit in 2023, according to its latest financial report. As Francis' health worsened, there were signs that his efforts to reform the Vatican's medieval financial culture hadn't really stuck, either. The very same Secretariat of State that Francis had punished for losing tens of millions of euros in the scandalous London property deal somehow ended up heading up a new papal fundraising commission that was announced while Francis was in the hospital. According to its founding charter and statutes, the commission is led by the Secretariat of State's assessor, is composed entirely of Italian Vatican officials with no professional fundraising expertise and has no required external financial oversight. To some Vatican watchers, the commission smacks of the Italian-led Secretariat of State taking advantage of a sick pope to announce a new flow of unchecked donations into its coffers after its 600 million euro ($684 million) sovereign wealth fund was taken away and given to another office to manage as punishment for the London fiasco. 'There are no Americans on the commission. I think it would be good if there were representatives of Europe and Asia and Africa and the United States on the commission,' said Ward Fitzgerald, president of the U.S.-based Papal Foundation. It is made up of wealthy American Catholics that since 1990 has provided over $250 million (219 million euros) in grants and scholarships to the pope's global charitable initiatives. Fitzgerald, who spent his career in real estate private equity, said American donors — especially the younger generation — expect transparency and accountability from recipients of their money, and know they can find non-Vatican Catholic charities that meet those expectations. 'We would expect transparency before we would start to solve the problem,' he said. That said, Fitzgerald said he hadn't seen any significant let-up in donor willingness to fund the Papal Foundation's project-specific donations during the Francis pontificate. Indeed, U.S. donations to the Vatican overall have remained more or less consistent even as other countries' offerings declined, with U.S. bishops and individual Catholics contributing more than any other country in the two main channels to donate to papal causes. A head for numbers and background fundraising Francis moved Prevost to take over the diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, in 2014. Residents and fellow priests say he consistently rallied funds, food and other life-saving goods for the neediest — experience that suggests he knows well how to raise money when times are tight and how to spend wisely. He bolstered the local Caritas charity in Chiclayo, with parishes creating food banks that worked with local businesses to distribute donated food, said the Rev. Fidel Purisaca Vigil, a diocesan spokesperson. In 2019, Prevost inaugurated a shelter on the outskirts of Chiclayo, Villa San Vicente de Paul, to house desperate Venezuelan migrants who had fled their country's economic crisis. The migrants remember him still, not only for helping give them and their children shelter, but for bringing live chickens obtained from a donor. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Prevost launched a campaign to raise funds to build two oxygen plants to provide hard-hit residents with life-saving oxygen. In 2023, when massive rains flooded the region, he personally brought food to the flood-struck zone. Within hours of his May 8 election, videos went viral on social media of Prevost, wearing rubber boots and standing in a flooded street, pitching a solidarity campaign, 'Peru Give a Hand,' to raise money for flood victims. The Rev. Jorge Millán, who lived with Prevost and eight other priests for nearly a decade in Chiclayo, said he had a 'mathematical' mentality and knew how to get the job done. Prevost would always be on the lookout for used cars to buy for use around the diocese, Millán said, noting that the bishop often had to drive long distances to reach all of his flock or get to Lima, the capital. Prevost liked to fix them up himself, and if he didn't know what to do, 'he'd look up solutions on YouTube and very often he'd find them,' Millán told The Associated Press. Before going to Peru, Prevost served two terms as prior general, or superior, of the global Augustinian order. While the order's local provinces are financially independent, Prevost was responsible for reviewing their balance sheets and oversaw the budgeting and investment strategy of the order's headquarters in Rome, said the Rev. Franz Klein, the order's Rome-based economist who worked with Prevost. The Augustinian campus sits on prime real estate just outside St. Peter's Square and supplements revenue by renting out its picturesque terrace to media organizations (including the AP) for major Vatican events, including the conclave that elected Leo pope. But even Prevost saw the need for better fundraising, especially to help out poorer provinces. Toward the end of his 12-year term and with his support, a committee proposed creation of a foundation, Augustinians in the World. At the end of 2023, it had 994,000 euros ($1.13 million) in assets and was helping fund self-sustaining projects across Africa, including a center to rehabilitate former child soldiers in Congo. 'He has a very good interest and also a very good feeling for numbers,' Klein said. 'I have no worry about the finances of the Vatican in these years because he is very, very clever.' ___ Franklin Briceño contributed from Lima, Peru. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
