Post by Totheleft on Jan 14, 2024 23:45:58 GMT
Blueprint of a future conservative government
No one is willing to talk about
Council's across the country find themselves in a turbulent financial position. Since 2021 five local authorities have declared themselves effectively bankrupt, with a raft of councils warning they may have to do the same. Exclusive polling of English councillors by New Statesman Spotlight revealed that a quarter of councillors believe their council will soon go bankrupt.
Amid dramatic cuts to the funding they receive from central government, councils continue to face increasing demand for statutory services (the services they are legally required to provide). These include adults and children’s social care and the provision of temporary accommodation and homelessness support. Central government grant funding for councils dropped by 40 per cent in real terms between 2009-10 and 2019-20 (from £46.5bn to £28bn).
This has left councils more reliant on funding generated locally, through council tax and business rates, but locally generated income has not been enough to compensate for the drop in central government funding. Local authority “spending power” (the amount of money councils have to spend in total) fell by 17.5 per cent between 2009-10 and 2019-20. Even when emergency Covid grants were given to councils in 2020-21 and 2021-22, overall funding was still 10.2 per cent below pre-Covid levels.
No one is willing to talk about
Council's across the country find themselves in a turbulent financial position. Since 2021 five local authorities have declared themselves effectively bankrupt, with a raft of councils warning they may have to do the same. Exclusive polling of English councillors by New Statesman Spotlight revealed that a quarter of councillors believe their council will soon go bankrupt.
Amid dramatic cuts to the funding they receive from central government, councils continue to face increasing demand for statutory services (the services they are legally required to provide). These include adults and children’s social care and the provision of temporary accommodation and homelessness support. Central government grant funding for councils dropped by 40 per cent in real terms between 2009-10 and 2019-20 (from £46.5bn to £28bn).
This has left councils more reliant on funding generated locally, through council tax and business rates, but locally generated income has not been enough to compensate for the drop in central government funding. Local authority “spending power” (the amount of money councils have to spend in total) fell by 17.5 per cent between 2009-10 and 2019-20. Even when emergency Covid grants were given to councils in 2020-21 and 2021-22, overall funding was still 10.2 per cent below pre-Covid levels.
