All the borrowing requirements of the Council are focused in the Loans Fund. The expenditure consists of the total interest charges paid to the various institutions and other lenders from whom the Council has borrowed, together with the incidental costs of managing the Loans Fund. The income is mainly a recharging of this expenditure over the various borrowing accounts.

The Public Works Loans Board (PWLB), which provides the majority of the Council's long term borrowing, is an independent statutory body consisting of twelve unpaid Commissioners appointed by the Crown. Their function is to consider loan applications from local authorities and other prescribed bodies.

The rate of interest charged to departments for capital advances during 2008/09 was 5.712% (2007/08 6.109%). The Bank of England Base Rate at 1 April 2008 was 5.25% and was cut by 0.25% in early April 2008 where it remained stable until the latter half of the year. October 2008 saw a reduction of 0.5% followed by five months of cuts, including an unprecedented 1.5% cut in November 2008, until the Base Rate stood at 0.5% at 31 March 2009. Temporary loan interest rates for borrowings during 2008/09 ranged from 5.95% to 0.45% (2007/08 5.30% to 6.65%).

The summary Consolidated Loans Fund Revenue Account for the year is as follows: