The London Assembly member for the area criticised the council and said families ‘will be paying the price of this mismanagement for decades to come’
Hillingdon Council is the only London borough to have failed to publish its yearly accounts, despite promising to do so by the start of September. The West London authority, which was found to be on the brink of bankruptcy earlier this year, had previously admitted it was “unable to produce the draft Statement of Accounts for the year ended March 31, 2025 by the statutory deadline of June 30, 2025.”
In a statement on its website, council officials said the delays were due to “technical difficulties arising from the implementation of the new finance enterprise resource planning system” and that they expected the revised publication date to be September 1. It is the third time that the council has deferred publishing the accounts, having done so first in June and then again in July.
This morning (Wednesday, September 10) the council confirmed the accounts will not be published until September 22, three weeks after the delayed deadline. An audit from the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) shows that all 31 other boroughs of London as well as the City of London have at least published a draft statement of accounts for 2024-25.
In February, the LDRS revealed that the council needed to deliver £34million in savings outlined in its budget this year or face the possibility of declaring bankruptcy due to reserves reaching a critical position. Months later, a damning report suggested its financial reserves were “projected to be negative” by March.
Bassam Mahfouz, the London Assembly Member for Ealing and Hillingdon, told the LDRS: “Tory Hillingdon’s financial chaos is going from bad to worse. They already have the lowest reserves of any borough in London – and now they’re the only council in the capital that’s failed to publish their accounts.
“We’re seven months into the new financial year and residents are still being kept in the dark. What are they hiding? Do they not know how much of residents’ council tax they overspent last year – or are they desperately trying to avoid admitting they’re effectively bankrupt?
“Families in Hillingdon will be paying the price of this Tory mismanagement for decades to come. This is proof they’ve completely lost control of the council’s finances – and local people deserve answers.”
Sital Punja, Deputy Leader of Hillingdon Labour Group, added: “It is a requirement of all councils to publish their draft accounts of the previous year by 30th June. We are now at September 10 and the council has not published them. Why? It has received a damning report from external auditors Ernst and Young who do not have the confidence in the financial governance of the council and have provided 7 statutory recommendations.
“To be the only council in London to have not produced draft accounts means that this council does not know it’s opening balances to ensure that the budget for this is both robust and has adequate reserves. What we do know is £14.1million of adjustments need to be written into the 24/25 accounts leaving Hillingdon with the lowest reserves on the borough.
“This means that Hillingdon does not have the money to run it’s services and is now applying to the Government for a bailout. Residents of Hillingdon will be paying for decades for Conservative financial mismanagement.”
Last week Hillingdon also faced questions over its dealings with a firm linked to one of its Cabinet Members after the authority gave the company a contract without holding a procurement process.
A spokesperson for Hillingdon Council said: “The council plans to publish its Statement of Accounts on Monday, September 22. It has taken a little more time on this occasion to ensure it robustly and thoroughly reviews its draft Statement of Accounts to avoid any restatement. The council is also in discussion with government regarding receiving Exceptional Financial Support, and our Section 151 Officer is not proposing to issue a Section 114 Notice.”
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