IT is a time of continuing austerity, with councils preparing to reveal details of their latest enforced cuts and, for the North-East, that will mean decisions which will have shocking implications.

If it has been tough so far, it is about to get a whole lot tougher, to the point at which some smaller councils may no longer be viable.

So, against that harsh financial background, with every penny supposedly being scrutinised for the greater good of the economy, the release this week of MPs’ findings into the collapse of the Kids Company charity makes disturbing reading.

Despite repeated concerns over the way the charity was being managed, £46m of public money was handed over. In the face of strong civil service objections, minister Oliver Letwin used his over-rule powers to grant £3m just days before the charity collapsed.

The report by the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee paints a sorry picture of a charity which carried out important work on behalf of inner-city children but was badly led down by the financial negligence of those in charge.

It should not be a surprise that founder Camila Batmanghelidjh and former trustees have dismissed the validity of the MPs’ report which condemns their management. But the “extraordinary catalogue of failures” covers not only those trustees – chiefly the BBC’s Alan Yentob – but auditors, regulators and the Government.

While public funds were supposed to be kept on the tightest rein, we discover that successive ministers were throwing money like confetti at the charity without any substantial justification other than the appeal of the charismatic Ms Batmanghelidjh.

In austerity Britain, could ministers be under someone’s spell to the extent that such lavish spending was endorsed? It defies belief.