The number of PFI project handbacks will increase significantly in 2025 and subsequent years. Are contracting authorities prepared for new ways of financing these assets? Jamie Hailstone investigates.
Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council is set to terminate a private finance initiative contract early to help slim down its office portfolio and deliver savings.
A London council has agreed a multi-million-pound settlement following a legal dispute over cladding fitted during refurbishments to a private finance initiative housing estate.
Up to 80% of private finance initiatives contracts set to expire by 2028 are not covered by a solid plan for the return to the public sector, according to government’s infrastructure body.
Councils with PFI contracts need to consider a number of implications resulting from the transition to a new benchmark interest rate, says David Moore.
The government needs to improve its support to local authorities to ensure that private finance initiative infrastructure returns to the public sector in a useable condition.
Local authorities lack the expertise to manage the wind-down of private finance initiative deals as contracts begin to come to an end, a civil servant warned this week.
Ratings agency Standard and Poor’s has downgraded the credit rating of an NHS hospital Private Finance Initiative company after identifying “strained relationships” with its commissioning trust.
MPs have accused the ‘Big Four’ accountancy firms of “feasting” on the carcass of Carillion as they revealed the firms billed for almost £72m worth of work related to the collapsed company since 2008.
The Smith Institute has called on the government to end what it called a “‘love in’ with outsourcing and PFI”, after the fiasco of the Carillion collapse.
The revamped version of the private finance initiative – dubbed PF2 – has been little used and has few major differences from its predecessor, the National Audit Office has found.
Councils around the country are scrambling to identify the full extent of their exposure to Carillion after Monday’s collapse of the construction and facilities management firm.
Carillion’s collapse shows public sector outsourcing is risky and limited. It’s time for a rethink and greater scrutiny and transparency, argue John Tizard and David Walker.
The private finance initiative is deeply unpopular, blamed for delays and exorbitant costs. However, as Anthony Barej finds out, it could still have a future.
