We have noted previously our concern about the financial management of Sefton Council’s arms-length companies: Sefton Hospitality Operations Ltd, Sefton New Directions Limited, and Sandway Homes Limited.
As registered companies these businesses are required to publish their accounts annually with Companies House.
Sefton Hospitality Operations Ltd showed a profit and loss account of -£1,439,203 at the year ending 31 st March 2024. This loss has increased from March 2023 when it stood at -£813,580. One could question how this company can be regarded as “arms-length” from the Council when its 3 Directors comprise 2 Council Officers and 1 elected Councillor.
Sefton New Directions Limited shows a loss before tax for the year ending 31st March 2024 of £1,065,407 compared with the previous year’s loss of £891,130.
Sandway Homes Limited shows loans and borrowing for the year ending 31 st March 2024 of £7,950,000, compared with the previous year when they borrowed £6,743,000. These loans are provided by Sefton Council by way of “working capital” and £2.32m was due for repayment on 31 st March 2025. However, Sandway Homes Ltd has received a letter of support from Sefton Council agreeing to defer repayment of the loans “until such time as they reach agreement with the board about them being affordable.”
Sefton Council is acting as banker to keep these companies afloat.
However, it is not that Sefton itself holds huge reserves. Their own Draft Statement of Accounts shows that they have outstanding borrowing of £205,311m at 31 st March 2025, compared with 2024 when borrowing stood at £134,793m. The Council has also disclosed that during last year they also needed to borrow £40m as short-term loans from other local authorities to meet “day-to-day liquidity.”
These loans do not come without cost and Sefton’s interest charges on long-term borrowing totalled £5.183m compared with £4.775m during 2023/24.
Like the Labour Government, Sefton’s Labour Council cannot be trusted to run commercial enterprises and instead rely on borrowing other people’s money to support their pet projects.
