A report to Dartford Borough Council’s Treasury Management Panel meeting of 13 November 2026 says a £5m divestment from two equity pooled funds has boosted the projected annual investment return to £9.09m.
Dartford Borough Council’s projected investment income for 2026/27 has risen to £9.09m after the council completed a £5m divestment from two equity pooled funds, according to a report prepared for the Treasury Management Panel meeting of 13 November 2026.
Divestment boosts income forecast
The report says settlement vouchers for the £5m divestment had been received and reconciled after the mid-year treasury report was drafted. The divestment generated investment income of £2.39m, which, added to income already reported in the mid-year report, raised the projected outturn for the full year to £9.09m.
The mid-year report, which had been presented to Cabinet on 26 October 2026, covered the council’s treasury activity for the first half of the financial year and included borrowing and investment balances as at 30 September 2026.
Investment portfolio and borrowing position
The report says that since 30 September 2026 there had been very little change to in-house investments, with money market funds being used for daily liquidity requirements. Money market yields were reported to be running at around 3.9%.
It says £2m had been placed with Uttlesford District Council for a short-term period of two months, following due-diligence checks, to take advantage of higher rates being offered for local authority lending. The team had also continued submitting bids for short-term government Treasury Bills and was seeking further local authority investment opportunities through Arlingclose’s iDealTrade trading platform.
The council’s outstanding loans balance, relating to borrowing taken on in 2012 for Housing Revenue Account self-financing, stood at £23.34m as at 31 March 2026 and had fallen to £21.89m by 30 September 2026, according to the mid-year report.
Economic backdrop
The council’s external treasury advisers, Arlingclose, provided an economic update included in the mid-year report. The advisers noted that the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee had maintained Bank Rate at 3.75% throughout the period under review, though voting had become more hawkish, moving to 6-3 by July and September with all dissenters preferring an increase to 4.00%.
UK headline consumer price inflation rose from 2.6% in June to 3.1% in August, driven largely by higher transport costs, while core CPI stood at 2.6% in July and August. The 10-year UK benchmark gilt yield rose from 4.86% at the start of the period to a high of 5.43% by 30 September 2026.
Arlingclose advised that it expected Bank Rate to remain at 3.75%, but noted that higher energy prices linked to ongoing conflicts and uncertainty around the government’s Budget had increased near-term upside risks to inflation. The report was written before the Bank raised the rate to 4.00% on 5 November.
Local Government Reorganisation
The potential impact of Local Government Reorganisation on the council’s investment portfolio was raised at the panel’s July meeting, according to its minutes, when Arlingclose presented a visual of proposed reorganisation boundaries across North Kent.
The council had not published the minutes of the meeting at the time of writing, so what the panel said or decided is not yet on the public record.