Waltham Forest Council is expected to ask the government for two further bailouts, according to a newly published report.

The former Labour administration was given a £19m bailout in February, known as 'exceptional financial support'. At the time, senior councillors said it would "help us protect our services that matter most to people" while "balancing the budget in the short term".

The new report indicates the Green-led council will likely need to seek a further £19m in 2027/28 and £24m in 2028/29 — bringing the total borrowed from Westminster to £62m.

Ursula Gamble, the council's finance director, said: "Local government finances have been under sustained pressure for more than sixteen years due to constraints in national funding and increasing demand for services. Councils are increasingly required to deliver more services with proportionately fewer resources."

She described the council's position as "very challenging" and said "actions are being taken now" to set out cuts over the next three years.

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the borough has faced "significant and sustained pressures" despite making millions in cuts. The combined impact of "high inflation, increased interest rates and growing demand for services" has knocked the council's "financial resilience" and pushed up spending across all services.

Where the money is going

Earlier this month, council documents showed Waltham Forest facing a £19m budget gap for the current financial year, 2026/27.

Much of that pressure comes from the two areas where residents are most in need of help. The council is set to go over budget by £11m on temporary accommodation for homeless residents, and by a further £7.5m on social care. Together, those two areas account for around 75% of the council's total budget, which limits what it can spend elsewhere.

This year the town hall hopes to make £18.6m in cuts, and is looking at selling land and buildings it owns in a bid to raise £22m to fund schemes that will bring in savings later on.

The report, which goes before the budget scrutiny committee next week, warns the budget gap could reach £47m over the next three years if no further cuts are made. An "optimistic" projection puts the figure at £31.7m; the worst case would be closer to £60m.

That forecast comes despite £157m in cuts over the past decade, including £25m in the last two years alone. The council has also reduced the number of children in care by 10%, and the number of households in temporary accommodation has fallen from a peak of 1,710 in September 2025 to 1,527 in April.

What the parties say

Councillor Em Dean, cabinet member for finance and resources, said: "There has been no change in the council's approach to EFS. We are not seeking more funding than was previously arranged. When the council applied for EFS in February 2026, the medium term financial strategy predicted a need for £19m in financial years 2026/27 and 2027/28, as well as £23m in 2028/29."

She added: "We are focused on ensuring the council is operating on sound financial foundations. Of the £19m of EFS funding agreed by the government for this financial year, our current analysis suggests we will use approximately £6m of it. We are committed to not just maintaining but improving council services in a financially responsible way. We will ensure the borough is financially resilient over the years to come."

Councillor Emma Best, leader of the Waltham Forest Conservatives, put the situation down to "mismanagement" by the former Labour administration and warned against "pet projects". She said: "We understand that all councils are under financial pressures due to the latest cuts of the Labour government. But to be considering taking out these eye watering loans really shows the financial mismanagement of the last Labour administration. There was too much unnecessary spending on projects that brought little or no benefit to our residents."

She added: "As a council we need to look after taxpayers' money by getting back to the council basics: collect the bins, sweep the streets and look after our children and vulnerable residents."

Waltham Forest Labour said: "14 years of Conservative austerity slashed council funding, including ours, to bare bones. We worked extremely hard to protect our residents from the worst consequences and did so by taking difficult decisions. Waltham Forest Labour applied for EFS with a plan: to use funding specifically to redesign our services and fix structural issues."

The party added: "If the new Green administration feels the need to borrow more money, they clearly aren't delivering the plan we produced to put the council's finances on a firm footing but are governing without a plan. It is the residents who will pay."