Money and challenge
The medium-term financial strategy and external assurance.
- Level
- Bitesize
- Learning time
- 1 hour 15 minutes
- Where
- Becoming a Director
- Price
- £39
When you step up to a higher level, what you paid in the last 12 months for lower-level courses inside the bigger course comes off its price, in proportion to how much of each is inside it, whichever topic it's from. Courses at the same or a lower level don't give credit against each other. A Focus course or above always costs at least £15. Read the full terms
Certificate of Completion
Overview and Outcomes.
Overview
This module sets out the director's part in the council's finances. It covers the legal duty to set a balanced budget, what a medium-term financial strategy contains, exceptional financial support in England for 2026 to 2027, the director's year in the budget cycle, savings that stick versus savings that slip, the Northamptonshire County Council case and Max Caller's inspection, and early warning signs. This module explores why directors seek out challenge before it arrives uninvited. It covers the main sources of assurance, the LGA's corporate peer challenge and its five core components, the different performance regimes in England and Wales, including the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021, defensive and learning responses to findings, benchmarking well, and six practical routes for inviting challenge.
What you'll develop
In this Bitesize, you will develop the ability to:
- Explain the duty to set a balanced budget, the parts of a medium-term financial strategy and the budget cycle, and what exceptional financial support signals.
- Distinguish savings that stick from savings that slip, and judge whether your own directorate's savings are deliverable.
- Recognise the early warning signs of financial difficulty, drawing on the Northamptonshire case, and set out how you would raise them early.
- Identify the main sources of assurance and judge how much weight to give each, recognising which are independent.
- Compare how council performance is challenged in England and Wales, including corporate peer challenge and the Welsh self-assessment duty.
The Modules.
1 hour 15 minutes of learning.
- 06Money: The Director's Part in the Medium-Term Financial StrategyThis module sets out the director's part in the council's finances. It covers the legal duty to set a balanced budget, what a medium-term financial strategy contains, exceptional financial support in England for 2026 to 2027, the director's year in the budget cycle, savings that stick versus savings that slip, the Northamptonshire County Council case and Max Caller's inspection, and early warning signs.39 min
- 07External Challenge and AssuranceThis module explores why directors seek out challenge before it arrives uninvited. It covers the main sources of assurance, the LGA's corporate peer challenge and its five core components, the different performance regimes in England and Wales, including the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021, defensive and learning responses to findings, benchmarking well, and six practical routes for inviting challenge.38 min
Keep going.
Part of the Becoming a Director topic, also sold whole as The corporate turn.
Go deeper, and pay only the difference
- You are hereBitesize, 1 hour 15 minutes, £39
- Next stepFocus, Delivering as a director, 2 hours 30 minutes, £69. Already own the Bitesize? You pay £30.
- The whole topicExplore, The corporate turn, 6 hours, £129. Already own the Bitesize? You pay £90.
When you step up to a higher level, what you paid in the last 12 months for lower-level courses inside the bigger course comes off its price, in proportion to how much of each is inside it, whichever topic it's from. Courses at the same or a lower level don't give credit against each other. A Focus course or above always costs at least £15. Prices per person. Read the full terms
Also part of: Leading the whole, Toward the chief executive role
Other Bitesize in the Becoming a Director topic
- Joining the top teamThe corporate turn, collective responsibility and statutory officers1 hour 45 minutes£39
- Reading the politicsPolitical acumen and political transition for directors1 hour 15 minutes£39
- Your first 100 daysPlace, partners and the director’s narrative, with case studies1 hour 30 minutes£39
