This is how much money the council had invested or set aside at the end of the year — cash in banks, deposits, and similar holdings. It matters because it shows the council's cushion: money it could draw on if trouble hits. A high figure means a healthy buffer (though very high alongside big debts raises questions about why it is borrowing); a low figure means little in reserve.
| name | investments_end |
|---|---|
| dataset | 02-capital-outturn-debt |
| kind | extracted |
| type | numeric |
| unit | £000 |
| grain | council-year |
| role | feature |
| source | Capital_time_series_data_wide_24_03_26.csv, column PRU2T1_pruinv_end |
| period | 2018-19 to 2024-25 |
| missingness | unknown |
| score_note | Context balance for net debt; a big or small figure proves nothing alone. |
| peer_group | council class (district / county / unitary / metropolitan / London) — not yet scored on the leaderboard |
Investments held at year end — the offset side of net debt. Large investment balances soften a given gross-borrowing stock, but running them down to fund capital spend (internal borrowing) stores up refinancing risk. Read alongside gross_borrowing_end and net_debt_end rather than in isolation.