Britain's debt fell to 94.1% of GDP at the end of July, 0.3 points below the OBR forecast, while borrowing in the same bulletin ran £2.3bn above it. The ratio improved because the economy was re-measured, not because borrowing did. Five of the nine ledgers published nothing at all, and the forecast everything is judged against does not refresh until 28 October.
This fortnight's fiscal figures are forecasts checked against forecasts, not outturns, until 28 October.
The ONS put net debt at 94.1% of GDP on 21 August, 0.3 points below the OBR profile, and reported borrowing £2.3bn above that same profile in the same bulletin.
Britain's statistics office reported public sector net debt of £2,984.9bn for July 2026, or 94.1% of GDP. That is 0.3 points below the budget watchdog's own forecast. Borrowing of £1.8bn overshot that same forecast by £2.3bn, in the same 21 August bulletin.
The forecast doing the judging was written on 3 March and is not revised until 28 October.
The Regulator of Social Housing put cash interest cover at 59% for April to June, in the same survey that shows landlords raising £4.3bn and planning £16.0bn of development.
The housing regulator's quarterly survey of 195 private landlords, published on 3 September 2026 and covering April to June, records cash interest cover falling to 59%.
The same quarter brought £4.3bn of new funding, including £2.2bn of bank lending. Its twelve-month development forecast rose 16% to £16.0bn, the highest in three years, while new-build spending slipped to £3.1bn.
The Office for Students counted 102 of 279 providers forecasting a deficit in their own filed returns, 8.4 points below the modelled figure this desk has been publishing for the same year.
The Office for Students' annual report of 14 May 2026 counts 102 of 279 providers, 36.6%, forecasting a 2025-26 deficit in their own filed financial returns. That is up from 84 providers a cycle earlier, with restructuring costs of £218.2m.
This desk has published 45% for the same year, which is the regulator's November 2025 model of an unmitigated downside.
MHCLG's guidance page, updated on 18 August, names 36 English authorities and gives every one of them the same status: support agreed in-principle.
The housing ministry's Exceptional Financial Support guidance for 2026-27, refreshed on 18 August 2026, lists 36 English authorities and marks all of them "support agreed in-principle". The list held 35 names on 23 February; the Isles of Scilly joined at £0.926m.
No final amount, capitalisation direction or section 114 notice was published in the fortnight to 3 September.
This desk has published £1.74bn as the value of the council support cohort since July. MHCLG publishes no such total, and the amounts it does publish sum to about £1.51bn.
Since July this briefing has valued the 36-council Exceptional Financial Support cohort at £1.74bn. The housing ministry publishes no cohort total anywhere, in its guidance, a press notice or a ministerial statement. The amounts it does publish for individual councils sum to roughly £1.51bn on this desk's own arithmetic.
The £1.74bn figure is withdrawn on 3 September 2026.
The ONS lifted its end-June net debt estimate to £2,994.8bn on 21 August, blaming Bank of England data that arrives a month late.
On 21 August Britain's statistics office lifted its end-June 2026 net debt estimate by £4.9bn, or 0.2%, to £2,994.8bn. It blamed lagged Bank of England data for the change.
Ten weeks earlier the same mechanism cut the end-May estimate by £8.3bn. First estimates of the national debt move by billions in both directions before anyone should call them settled.
Warrington Borough Council's finance plan proposes £51.243m of new savings against a four-year gap of £179m, and £34m of it comes out of adult social care.
Warrington Borough Council will put a Medium Term Financial Plan Update to its Cabinet on 9 September. It proposes £51.243m of new savings on top of £39m approved in March, against a four-year gap of £179m.
Adult social care carries £34m of that, profiled from £0.200m in 2026/27 to £15.100m in 2029/30, with the heaviest cuts furthest out.
Worcestershire County Council's Leader and Deputy Leader said on 18 August that every part of the council is within budget except adult social care and children's support.
In a statement dated 18 August 2026, Worcestershire County Council's Leader and Deputy Leader said the authority is spending within budget everywhere. Only adult social care and children's support run over.
The council receives Exceptional Financial Support, agreed in principle in February 2026. Both named services arrive as statutory duties, which a council cannot scale down by decision.
An external assurance review published by MHCLG on 18 August says Worcestershire County Council does not expect to leave emergency financial support before 2028 at the earliest.
An independent audit of Worcestershire County Council was published by the housing ministry on 18 August 2026. It found the council does not expect to leave Exceptional Financial Support before 2028 at the earliest.
That is two further budget rounds under government supervision. Two other reviews published in the same batch avoid the formula, so the date attaches to Worcestershire alone.
The Regulator of Social Housing moved Livin Housing and Community Gateway Association up to consumer grade C1 on 26 August, and gave newly merged Amplius Living its opening grades.
On 26 August 2026 the housing regulator lifted Livin Housing and Community Gateway Association from consumer grade C2 to C1. It also published first gradings, C2, G1 and V2, for Amplius Living, formed by merger.
Six weeks earlier the same regulator downgraded Durham Aged Mineworkers' Homes Association on governance. Landlords carry three grades: consumer, governance and viability.
The Debt Management Office sold £4,000m of the 4⅛% Treasury Gilt 2033 on 25 August against bids of £13,544m, a cover of 3.39 times.
The UK Debt Management Office sold £4,000m of the 4⅛% Treasury Gilt 2033 on 25 August 2026. Bids reached £13,544m, a cover ratio of 3.39 times, at yields of 4.757% to 4.763%.
That sits inside the 3.34 to 3.65 band set by three earlier August auctions. The clearing yield commits revenue to interest until the gilt matures.
The Debt Management Office sold £900m of the 1⅞% Index-linked Treasury Gilt 2049 on 3 September at a real yield of 2.496%, with £3,220m bid.
On 3 September 2026 the UK Debt Management Office sold £900m of the 1⅞% Index-linked Treasury Gilt 2049. Bids reached £3,220m, a cover of 3.58 times, at a real yield of 2.496%.
Payments on the line rise with prices, so this quarter of the gilt stock resists inflation as a way of shrinking the debt burden.
Statutory instrument 2026 No. 743 caps Plan 2 and Plan 3 student loan interest at 6% APR from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027.
Regulation 3 of statutory instrument 2026 No. 743 holds Plan 2 and Plan 3 student loan interest at an annual rate of 6% between 1 September 2026 and 31 August 2027.
Repayments are set as a share of income above a threshold, so no borrower's monthly deduction changes. The effect falls on the accounting value of the Treasury's loan book.
The Debt Management Office named the banks on 21 August for a re-opening of the 5⅜% Treasury Gilt 2056 in the week of 7 September.
The UK Debt Management Office named its syndicate on 21 August 2026 for a re-opening of the 5⅜% Treasury Gilt 2056. The sale is planned for the week of 7 September.
Syndication places the stock through banks rather than at auction, so neither the size nor the price is yet public.
The Regulator of Social Housing withdrew Thrive Homes' regulatory judgement on 26 August after its merger into Chime Housing, and no judgement for the merged landlord exists yet.
The Regulator of Social Housing withdrew the regulatory judgement held by Thrive Homes on 26 August 2026, after the landlord merged into Chime Housing. No judgement for the merged organisation has been published, and the regulator has set no date for one.
Until it appears, tenants and lenders have no current published assessment of the body now running those homes.
Direction: pause. Nothing in this fortnight's registers resolves the contradiction; it holds until one of two named events lands. The nearer is the 30 September ONS Q2 GDP second estimate, which will show whether the growth revision that lowered July's debt ratio survives its own revision. The decisive one is the OBR's 28 October Economic and Fiscal Outlook, the first point at which the 1.4% productivity assumption, the triple lock's £15.5bn 2029-30 cost and the £4.7bn deferred to Budget 2026 can be re-priced against data newer than March.
