- Local Government Secretary confirms £49.1 billion package of
funding for essential services
- Funding represents an increase of almost £3 billion in core
spending power for local authorities in England
- Spending boost includes an extra £1.5 billion for social care
Local authorities across England will receive a share of £49.1
billion local government funding for the coming financial year to
help them deliver essential services for local communities,
including an extra £1.5 billion for social care.
The funding plans provide certainty for councils and represent
the biggest year-on-year real terms increase in spending power in
a decade.
Measures set out by Local Government Secretary Rt Hon today (20 December 2019),
will support and reward local growth, protect the most vulnerable
in society and secure value for money for the taxpayer.
Local Government Secretary Rt Hon said:
This £49.1 billion settlement delivers the biggest real-terms
increase in spending power for a decade and a £1.5 billion
boost for social care.
This government is committed to unleashing the huge potential
of this country, and we are giving communities the funding that
they need to thrive, support the most vulnerable in our society
and also protect the vital services that we all rely on.
The provisional financial settlement includes:
More funding for social care
The provisional settlement makes £1.5 billion of new funding
available for adult and children’s social care, supporting local
authorities to meet rising demand, fund more care home places and
social workers and protect the most vulnerable in society.
This includes £1 billion of new grant funding, a continuation of
all existing social care grants, and the ability for authorities
to raise up to £500 million more for adult social care, where
needed.
In total, local authorities will have access to over £5.5 billion
of dedicated funding across adult and children’s social care in
2020 to 2021.
Protection for core funding
Core funding will be protected in 2020 to 2021, conserving vital,
core services which residents rely on. The provisional settlement
proposes that settlement core funding is increased in line with
inflation, and any Negative Revenue Support Grant is directly
eliminated.
Rewards for building new homes
The government has committed £907 million to continue the New
Homes Bonus scheme in 2020 to 2021. The scheme financially
rewards local authorities for the number of new homes they build
locally, incentivising housing growth and creating homes for
local residents.
Preventing excessive Council Tax rises
Local residents will have the power to veto excessive Council Tax
rises, with a referendum being required if local authorities
propose raising the tax above 2%, with extra flexibility for some
authority types.
Mayoral Combined Authorities and town and parish councils will be
exempt from the rule, and local authorities with responsibility
for adult social care will be able to set a further 2% increase,
ringfenced exclusively for adult social care. This strikes the
right balance between addressing pressure on services and
protecting Council Tax payers from excessive bill hikes.
Support for rural areas
The government is committed to ensuring the unique needs of rural
areas are met, and so will maintain last year’s Rural Services
Delivery Grant at £81 million, matching the highest rural grant
paid to date.
This relates to England only.
The government will provide final confirmation at the final local
government finance settlement in the new year.
On 4 September 2019 the government set out the results of the
2019 Spending Round, providing access to a rise from £46.2
billion to £49.1 billion in 2020 to 2021, an increase of £2.9
billion or an estimated 4.4% real-terms increase.
The additional £1.5 billion for adult and children’s social care
is broken down as: £1 billion of funding for child and adult
social care and a further £500 million through the adult social
care precept. The £1 billion grant includes £150 million to
equalise the impact of the precept.
