Westmorland & Furness Council has confirmed to us that the council have 86 corporate credit cards and Westmorland & Furness schools have 165 cards, giving the council a total of 251 credit cards.

The council has also confirmed that 251 individuals are authorised to make transactions with the corporate credit cards held by the council.

However, since the 1st of April 2023 when the new Westmorland and Furness Council replaced the former district and county councils, it has failed to publish any details of the spending on any of the 251 corporate credit cards held by the council.

The Local Government Transparency Code 2015 requires local authorities in England to publish information related to procurement card transactions.

In documents seen by our team, the former Eden District Council in March this year the final month of the council, spent £16,408.00 in one month on one corporate credit card held by the council.

Westmorland and Furness Council has not provided details on limits placed on its 251 corporate credit cards by lenders or the total outstanding balances currently held on any of the cards by the council.