Talk:Consolidated Fund

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Questions

To what extent is the Consolidated Fund like a bank account the average citizen would be familiar with? Does it for instance have a clearly defined balance that goes up and down with payments in and out? Can I check the balance anywhere? Does the Consolidated Fund have an account number and sort code? Wyddgrug (talk) 07:43, 9 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The CF does indeed have a balance that goes up and down, but at the end of each day the balance is always zero: see the National Audit Office's Consolidated Fund Account Annual Report, which says "The CF finishes every day with a nil balance on its bank account because any surpluses or deficits are offset by transfers to or from the [National Loans Fund]." As for the NLF, given that the government can create sterling currency at will (which it effectively did under the quantitative easing programme), whether its balance is meaningful is a theoretical question of monetary policy.

Payments from the public purse can only be made by authorization of Parliament (typically in a Finance Act). This has been the case since the Glorious Revolution, long before the Consolidated Fund existed - royal (i.e. government) expenditure without parliamentary approval was one of its causes. As such, I'd speculate that the Bank of England wouldn't have the authority to allow arbitrary payments via an ordinary account number and sort code. It's also worth pointing out that it predates the modern system of account numbers and sort codes so it's probably somewhat special in any case. But this is all speculation on my part. Hairy Dude (talk) 05:16, 2 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

The CF and NLF both end with zero balance at the end of the day. Any deficits result in a transfer of funds from the Debt Management Office's (DMO) account, which will usually be covered by bi-weekly gilt auctions... though, sometimes this doesn't always happen (due to not enough gilts being sold), and so a negative balance remains with the DMO. They are not concerned as 'small deficits' are covered in future auctions.

From this article: "It would be wrong to read anything into the results of one auction event, a Treasury spokesman said, citing recent comments from the head of the DMO. “Demand for gilts clearly remains strong, and the small shortfall in funding today can be made good in future auctions,” he added."

https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-markets-gilts-2049-sb-idUKTRE52O2GK20090325

It is clear that this mechanism allows drawings on the CF and NLF to always be successful, and not be limited by negative balances caused by spending in excess of taxation. 2A01:4C8:8A4:A00A:D1B0:95B1:12D5:1B43 (talk) 04:05, 6 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

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General taxation for general spending

From the opening paragraph: "General taxation is taxation paid into the consolidated fund for general spending, as opposed to hypothecated taxes earmarked for specific purposes." - Is there a citation for this? Because if taxation is paid into the account at the end of the day, then its clear that this tax amount would be cleared when it was transferred to the NLF. It is just as valid to say that Taxation is to take back the amounts previously spent from the CF. What would be more correct is simply to say all general taxes are paid into the consolidated fund, and all spending originates from the consolidated fund, without implying one depends on the other. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.31.13.38 (talk) 20:18, 10 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I have added a Citation needed tag requesting someone find out the original source of this. !-- Template:Unsigned IP -->