Hounslow Council has approved the allocation of £690,791 from its corporate inflation provision to service budgets for the 2024/25 financial year. This allocation, representing approximately 3.86% of the total £17.9 million corporate inflation provision within the General Fund budget for 2024/25, aims to alleviate the impact of higher inflation on the council's finances.

The decision, made by the Executive Director of Finance and Resources, comes in response to significant inflationary pressures experienced since late 2021. According to the council's report pack, these pressures have substantially impacted budgets and costs. While national inflation has been falling since October 2022, the cost impact of inflation continues to change rapidly.

The funding was allocated following a recommendation from the Inflation Review Panel, which met on 14 January 2025. The panel, including Jake Bacchus, Executive Director of Finance and Resources, and Martin Waddington, Executive Director of ICP, Health and Social Care Integration, reviewed requests for inflation relief across various council departments.

The allocations are as follows:

  • Digital & IT Contracts: £242,700
  • Hounslow Matters: £6,000
  • Legal Services Contract: £167,200
  • Insurance Premiums: £208,800
  • External Audit Fees: £13,859
  • Building Cleaning Service (Coalo excluding Facilities Management): £52,232

Without this allocation, the council risks increased outturn overspending in the affected service budgets for the 2024/25 financial year, as well as the potential for non-inflationary budget management issues being underreported.

The releases from the corporate inflation provision are intended to aid effective budget management and reduce this risk. The Public reports pack further explains the decision-making process.

The Budget 2024/25 report to Cabinet in February 2024 delegated the allocation of inflation to service budgets within the revenue budget for 2024/25 to the Executive Director of Finance and Resources. This delegation allowed for a swift response to the ongoing pressures of inflation. The decision was published on 13 October 2025, according to the Agenda frontsheet for the Publishable Officer Decisions meeting.

The Executive Director of Finance and Resources approved the allocation on 12 September 2025. The Inflation Release Requests 202425 document provides further details on the specific requests and the panel's considerations.