Section 30: Authorisation of agreements during the prohibition period
48.Under section 114 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 a local authority chief finance officer is under a duty to report to the authority in certain circumstances. One of these circumstances is when it appears to the officer that the expenditure of the authority in a financial year is likely to exceed the resources available to meet the expenditure.
49.Under section 115 of the Act such a report has to be considered by the full council within 21 days of its issue. During the period from the issue of the report until the day after the council meeting the authority is prohibited from entering into any new agreements involving expenditure by the authority.
50.This section amends section 115 to allow the chief finance officer to except certain agreements from this prohibition. The exception applies to agreements which the officer considers likely to deal with the situation that led to the report being made or prevent it happening again. To benefit from the exception an agreement has to be authorised in writing by the chief finance officer, who must state why it is considered the agreement is eligible for exemption.