Brendan Arnold
Interim Section 151 Officer who formally declared Woking Borough Council effectively bankrupt by issuing the Section 114 notice on 7 June 2023. Cited a debt portfolio of approximately £1.8 billion against core funding of just £16 million, with 'no prospect' of balancing the budget without large-scale external intervention.
Key Actions
- Issued the Section 114 notice on 7 June 2023, formally declaring the council unable to balance its budget
- Identified a £1.8 billion debt portfolio against £16 million in core funding
- Flagged the under-calculation of minimum revenue provision obligations
- Exposed the true scale of the financial crisis that had been obscured under previous management
Details
Brendan Arnold was brought in as Interim Director of Finance and Section 151 Officer after Leigh Clarke's departure, tasked with assessing the true state of the council's finances.
On 7 June 2023, Arnold issued a Section 114 notice — the formal legal mechanism by which a council declares it cannot balance its budget. This was the moment Woking's financial crisis became an official matter of public record.
In his Section 114 report, Arnold cited a debt portfolio of approximately £1.8 billion against core funding of just £16 million. He stated there was 'no prospect' of the council balancing its budget without large-scale external intervention from central government.
Arnold also flagged that the council had been under-calculating its minimum revenue provision (MRP) obligations — the amounts it was legally required to set aside each year to repay debt — meaning the true scale of the problem had been masked in previous years' accounts.
His contract ended on 31 August 2023. He has since advised other local authorities on financial challenges.
Sources
- Commissioners' Publications— Woking Borough Council / Government Commissioners