Responding to the Public Accounts Committee report on the
financial sustainability of local authorities, Cllr , Chair of the Local
Government Association’s Resources Board, said:
“The Committee has rightly recognised the significant funding
pressures and huge financial uncertainty facing all councils over
the next few years and into the next decade. Despite the best
efforts of local government, we’ve reached a point where councils
will no longer be able to support our residents as they expect -
let alone help the country to prosper.
“Local government in England faces an overall funding gap of
almost £8 billion by 2025. Plugging this gap would just keep
services standing still and does not include any funding needed
to improve services or reverse any cuts made to date.
“The next Spending Review will be make or break for local
services and we agree that plugging the funding gap and placing
local government on a long-term sustainable financial footing
must be an urgent priority for the Government.
“Properly funding local services and giving councils the powers
to work on behalf of their communities, is the only way to
protect the vital local services that help improve quality of
life and bind communities together and reduce pressure on other
parts of the public sector.
“We are pleased the Committee has also backed our call for a
long-term solution to the adult social care funding crisis. The
long-term funding for the NHS needs to be matched by a
significant investment in adult social care and public health
services so people of all ages with care needs can access a wide
range of reliable and high quality care they deserve and further
crises in the NHS can be prevented.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
- 1. By 2020, local authorities will
have faced a reduction to core funding from the Government of
nearly £16 billion since 2010. That means that councils will have
lost 60 pence out of every £1 the Government had provided to
spend on local services. Next year, 168 councils will receive no
more core central government funding at all.
- 2. New analysis published by the LGA
at its Annual Conference in Birmingham this week reveals that
local services in England face a funding gap of almost £8 billion
by 2025 - https://www.local.gov.uk/about/news/councils-face-almost-ps8-billion-funding-black-hold-2025
3. An LGA survey published this
week 96 per cent believe there is a major national
funding problem in adult social care. Nine in 10 (89 per
cent) of councils say national taxation must be part of the
solution to securing the long-term financial stability of adult
social care - https://www.local.gov.uk/about/news/nine-ten-councils-say-national-taxation-key-solving-adult-social-care-funding-crisis
