This is the amount the council has borrowed long-term from the government's own lending body, the standard lender for councils. It matters because it is usually the core of a council's debt: steady, long-dated loans at known rates. A high figure simply means the council has borrowed a lot through the normal government route; a low figure means it has borrowed little, or is getting its money from banks and other lenders instead.
| name | pwlb_loans_longterm |
|---|---|
| dataset | 02-capital-outturn-debt |
| kind | extracted |
| type | numeric |
| unit | £000 |
| grain | council-quarter |
| role | feature |
| source | Borrowing_and_investment_live_table_Q4_2025_to_2026.ods, sheet LA_Borrowing_25-26_Q4, column 'Loans Longer-term - PWLB' |
| period | 2025-26 Q4 (quarterly live table) |
| missingness | unknown |
| score_note | Raw PWLB stock is size-driven; useful mainly as pwlb_dependence numerator. |
| peer_group | council class (district / county / unitary / metropolitan / London) — not yet scored on the leaderboard |
Long-term Public Works Loan Board debt outstanding at quarter end — the dominant borrowing channel for English councils. It shows how much of the council's debt sits in the government's standard lending facility rather than market or inter-authority sources; numerator of pwlb_dependence. The borrowing live table covers the UK — filter to England when joining with the annual CSV.