The government has announced its package of funding for councils around the country, through the provisional Local Government Financial Settlement.
Funding worth £64 billion is being allocated to councils for 2024-25, which means an increase of almost £4 billion. Alongside this, a further £1 billion in grant funding for social care is also being made available across the year. This comes in light of the financial troubles that many councils are finding themselves in.
Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, said:
“Councils are the backbone of their communities and carry out tremendous work every day in delivering vital services to the people they serve.
“We recognise they are facing challenges and that is why we have announced a £64 billion funding package to ensure they can continue making a difference, including through our combined efforts to level up.”
Some of the funding measures that have been included in the financial settlement are:
- A funding package worth more than £64.1 billion for 2024-25
- 18% more funding per dwelling in the most relatively deprived areas of England, in comparison to the least deprived communities.
- A real-term increase in funding since 2019
- Additional grant funding of £1 billion for social care, compared to 2023-24
- Every council will see an increase of at least 3% in Core Spending Power before council tax decisions thanks to an extension to the Funding Guarantee.
- Maintaining the government approach to grants to provide stability for councils
- A four-week consultation on the provisional settlement, closing on 15th January 2024.
Credit: Parliament.uk, https://members.parliament.uk/member/4494/portrait
Local Government Minister Simon Hoare also commented:
“It is good news for our local government sector that we are presenting an above-inflation increase in funding.
“We are, and will, continue to work alongside councils to ensure quality and reliable services are provided to those who need them and use them, while also keeping a weather eye on ensuring value for the taxpayer.”
The Local Government Information Unit has responded to the settlement, with Chief Executive Jonathan Carr-West saying:
“This year’s provisional financial settlement does not address the severe problems at the heart of local government finance and is simply too little, too late. There is little confidence across the sector in local governments’ financial resilience. In March this year, only 14% of senior council figures said they were confident in the sustainability of local government finances. Since then, three more councils have announced their effective bankruptcy.
“The key problem is not the scale of annual financial settlements – although that can make any given year harder or easier for councils to manage. The key issue is with the long-term resilience of the sector. Only 6.25% of senior council figures were happy with the progress that had been made by central government on delivering a sustainable funding system.
“This settlement does not address these concerns. The severe systemic problems faced across English local government can only be addressed through multi-year financial settlements based on need, more fiscal flexibility for councils in both how they raise and spend money, and most crucially of all – engagement between central and local government as equal partners dedicated to delivering essential services.
“A system where local government only find out how much money they have for a year, without significant consultation, and with limited capacity to change their own financial position, can never succeed in meeting the long-term needs of the sector.”
Image credit: iStock and Parliament.uk
