Responding to the announcement from the Chancellor of the
Exchequer that the next Spending Review will be on 30 October
2024, Cllr Pete Marland, Chair of the Local Government
Association's Economy and Resources Board, said
“This Spending Review will be critical to the future of our local
services with councils facing a funding gap of more than £6
billion over the next two years.
“Councils hold the key to unleashing the full potential of local
communities, tackling our national challenges, relieving pressure
on the Exchequer and helping the Government achieve its
ambitions. This can only happen if councils have the right
powers, sufficient and sustainable funding that reflects current
and future demand, certainty and multi-year settlements and less
bid-based funding pots. Right now, councils are being pushed to
the brink with rising adult social care costs, children's
placements and temporary accommodation.
"Councils have had to find billions in savings as a result of
increasing demand for, and costs of, services alongside local
government core spending power being reduced in real terms by
around a fifth from 2010/11 to 2024/25. Any further funding
reductions in the years ahead would be an unthinkable prospect
with councils of all types already struggling to protect the
services which bind our communities together and protect our most
vulnerable from cutbacks.
“The current system of funding local government is out of date,
opaque, overly complex, and limits the ability of councils to be
more self-sufficient by raising income from other sources. In
recent years, council tax has also increasingly been relied on
too heavily to increase councils' core spending power. While
council tax is an important funding stream, it has never been the
solution to the long-term pressures facing councils.
“The Spending Review should provide greater certainty over
financial reforms and we urge the Government to set up a review
to explore options to improve the local government finance
system.”
