Council cash crisis: Calderdale Council's debt level is less than half the national average according to data

BBC Shared Data Unit analysis shows UK councils owe a combined £97.8bn to lenders – equivalent to £1,455 per person.

Calderdale Council’s debit is less than that, the figure of £628 placing it in the bottom half of more than 380 local authorities ranked by the BBC data in order of most debt.

It has used data from the borrowing and investment live tables for the second quarter of 2023-24 by the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to compare councils.

Calderdale also ranks second best of the five West Yorkshire authorities, only Wakefield having less debt per person than Calderdale.

The BBC’s survey includes county councils, district councils, unitary authorities, metropolitan districts – like Calderdale – and London boroughs, plus authorities like the City of London, Isles of Scilly and Northern Ireland authorities.

Calderdale ranks 235th out of 387 authorities, with a total amassed debt of £129,790,000 which, with its population of 206,818 works out at debt per person of £628.

In terms of the comparable 36 metropolitan districts, only four of them – Tameside, Wirral, Bolton, Wakefield and Sefton – have less debt per person than Calderdale. The other 30 met authorities have more.

In terms of West Yorkshire’s metropolitan districts, Wakefield has £526 per person (255th), with Leeds (32nd) having £2,778 per person, Kirklees (146th) £1,205 per person and Bradford (211th) £738 per person.

Calderdale Council’s cabinet member for resources, Coun Silvia Dacre, said care has to be taken and in the current tough financial climate the council has to suspend long-term borrowing until the situation improves.

Coun Dacre (Lab, Todmorden) said: “If managed well, borrowing and levels of debt are necessary for councils to meet their strategic objectives.

“Although the level of borrowing at Calderdale Council is relatively low, we do have several short-term and long-term loans.

“The council would ideally want to use its own cash resources to manage its daily cash flows, but this is not always entirely possible given that there is an element of unpredictability in all forecasts.

“Therefore, we do have a small number of short-term loan agreements.”

According to the BBC’s survey, the highest rated Met District is South Tyneside (11th) with £4,283.