Underspending Allows Council to Add to Reserves
Cost cutting offsets pressures from social care and temporary housing provision
Cllr Rowan Ree, Cabinet Member for Finance and Reform said surplus was "a testament to the hard work of all of the officers and all of the Cabinet members"
September 18, 2025
Hammersmith & Fulham Council has spent less than it had budgeted for 2024/25 while retaining services such as free homecare.
The borough’s latest Revenue Outturn Report, published ahead of Monday night’s (15 September) Cabinet meeting, details how it has reported a surplus of £1 million over the last three years.
Officers wrote this has been achieved despite the “challenging” environment, with councils across the UK facing much-publicised financial difficulties.
Cllr Rowan Ree, Cabinet Member for Finance and Reform, said the report is “a testament to the hard work of all of the officers and all of the Cabinet members who are managing their budgets so prudently”.
The Revenue Outturn Report is published annually and outlines the end-of-year position of the council’s General Fund and Housing Revenue Account (HRA).
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) covered last year how Hammersmith & Fulham Council had recorded a surplus of £0.3m for its General Fund, all while preserving front-line services and boosting investment in areas from fly tipping to temporary accommodation.
In April this year the local authority published a report in which, as of December, it had forecast spending £1.1m more for 2024/25 than expected.
Cllr Ree told Cabinet members the local authority expected to reduce the £1.1m down further and that he was ‘confident’ both the General Fund and the HRA will be balanced.
The Revenue Outturn Report has now been compiled, finding that for the previous financial year the council was able to deliver underspends, meaning it spent less than projected, of £420,000 for the General Fund and £477,000 for the HRA.
It stated, “At a time when councils across the country are taking money out of reserves to balance the books, it is proof of the ruthless financial efficiency with which Hammersmith and Fulham Council is run that we are adding an extra £0.420m to general balance reserves. This takes the total surplus for the council over the three years of this term to over £1m.”
The report noted that while an overall underspend was recorded there were significant pressures in certain areas, most notably front-line services.
A ‘variance’ of almost £6.5m was recorded for temporary accommodation, for example, with supported living and extra care another item which had more spent on it than anticipated, to the tune of £3m.
A large overspend was also recorded for parking, with “significant delays” reported in the camera replacement programme.
“In addition, there has been significant downtime in the camera network over the last 12 months, linked to outages or malfunctions,” the report states. “This downtime impacted all moving traffic camera locations, including the Clean Air Neighbourhood scheme in South Fulham.
“Pay rates for Penalty Charge Notices have also been impacted by a sharp rise in fraud, two examples being an increase in ghost number plates that cannot be read by camera technology and false vehicle owner details kept by the DVLA.”
A long list of savings are also detailed, from greater bulk-buying of long-term holiday food provision to “rigorous financial management” of home care services.
Other areas where ‘variances’ are noted include recording lower than expected redundancy costs plus more technical items, such as greater returns from cash balances.
Over the longer-term, the council is running wider programmes to keep its finances looking healthy.
The LDRS recently interviewed Cllr Ree about Hammersmith and Fulham’s Fraud, Recovery and Error Detection (FRED) initiative, which is using AI to boost its ability to fight fraud and secure essential Government grants.
“At a time when most councils are taking money out of their reserves in order to balance the books we are actually putting money back in,” Cllr Ree told members on Monday night.
“This is the third surplus we’ve had in three years, and over that time we’ve added a combined £1m to our reserves. That’s only possible because of the ruthlessly financially efficient approach this council has taken, and it’s a testament to the hard work of all of the officers and all of the Cabinet members who are managing their budgets so prudently.”
Hammersmith and Fulham Council was earlier this year hailed as “very ambitious and financially well-run” in a review by local authority peers.
The Finance Peer Challenge (FPC), which is led by the Local Government Association (LGA) though was conducted by a panel including councillors from Wigan and Croydon councils, praised the local authority for its ability to hit targets and fund “political priorities” such as low council tax rates and community safety services.
The LDRS recently revealed how the council is projecting a £34m budget gap for 2026/27 partly due to the Government’s proposed Fair Funding Review.
A Hammersmith and Fulham Council spokesperson said that, like all local authorities, it has made some “preliminary budget estimates” for next year as it awaits the outcome of inputs such as the review.
“All our budget proposals for 2026/27 will be reported as usual to Full Council in February 2026,” they added.
Ben Lynch - Local Democracy Reporter