Confusion mounting over audit team plan for council

FINANCE ISSUES: Leicestershire County Council offices in Glenfield

- By HANNAH RICHARDSON

CONFUSION is mounting over whether or not Leicestershire County Council will receive a visit from Reform UK's financial audit team.

New leader Dan Harrison told councillors at a scrutiny meeting on Monday that he is instead looking at bringing in an external body to help the council work out where it can cut costs, rather than using Reform UK volunteers.

He said, for him, working with an outside organisation would be preferable as the council needs a “proper, thought-out scheme with a reliable partner” who can help the council save the money it needs to rather than “just coming in and banging a big drum and saving a few million here and there”.

Currently, the authority needs to cut around £90 million from its day-to-day spending over the coming years to balance its books, something it is legally bound to do.