PFI Expiry

Helping councils prepare for PFI expiry

As more private finance initiative (PFI) contracts approach expiry, we’re supporting councils to manage the risks and harness the opportunities. Explore how our resources help councils plan ahead.

Over the next decade, hundreds of PFI contracts will expire across the country, including in at least 20 London boroughs. These represent many billions of pounds of public assets and essential services, including schools, leisure centres, care facilities, infrastructure and some housing.

Most assets and services procured under PFI will return to direct council control and operation when contracts expire. Failure to exit a PFI contract effectively can potentially involve costly ongoing maintenance liabilities and missed opportunities to futureproof assets and services.

Read the write-up from our first expert panel here
Download our PFI expiry report

Planning ahead is therefore vital, but can be a major challenge for councils in the face of extremely stretched budgets and resources and more immediate priorities.

Our research and expert panels help councils to understand their options, to gear up for expiry, and to harness  practical approaches to ensure they are fully prepared.

Preparing councils for PFI expiry – research

In partnership with Devonshires and Airey Miller, our major research report, PFI Expiry: How London boroughs can get ahead, explored how London local authorities view the risks and opportunities of PFI expiry, and how they can manage ageing assets, rising costs and complex handovers as major private finance deals end. 

“We’ve got an absolute opportunity to reprofile our care homes to fit the 21st-century service we need to deliver,” says Fenella Merry, Executive Director of Finance, London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. “So it puts huge potential on the horizon that we didn’t have without that PFI expiring.”

Learn from our expert panels

Are you a council officer needing help on preparing for PFI expiry? Our informal online panel sessions – open to councils beyond as well as in London – bring together PFI expiry specialists and councils. Councils can pose live questions on managing handback, reducing risks and planning future services, with the panel offering practical insights and strategic guidance. Sign up to our PFI expiry mailing list for updates.