The Treasury has confirmed that the government will stick to the current funding settlement for departments, despite concerns over the impact of inflation on budgets.
Levelling up secretary Michael Gove has confirmed councils in England will receive two-year funding settlements from next year to help them plan with “a greater degree of confidence”.
The allocation of the local government settlement, steering more funding to deprived councils, is a signal of the government’s intentions on 'levelling up', according to experts.
Experts are sceptical that £2.6bn announced in the 2021 Autumn Budget and Spending Review to replace European Union support will be enough to meet previous sums.
Next week’s Spending Review is likely to see the government indicate the future of delayed reforms to local authority finance, according to the government.
Spending available to “unprotected” government departments will be tight over the next three years, and could lead to some areas receiving cuts, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has pledged there will be “absolutely no return to austerity” in the upcoming Spending Review, as the UK recovers from Covid-19.
Local authorities borrowed £252m from the Public Works Loan Board in December, the highest sum borrowed since April, following November’s one percentage point drop in borrowing rate.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has provided more clarity on funding but Covid-19 has left local authorities with inadequate funds to actively promote the welfare of children, says Jenny Coles.
The government has announced it is to allocate £220m of pilot funding to the UK Shared Prosperity Fund next year, to help local areas prepare for the full launch of the fund.
Councils in England will receive an additional £3bn to cover Covid-19 expenditure over the next year, alongside a lifting of social care precept for council tax, the government has confirmed.
Nobody expected the 2020 Spending Review to slam the brakes on, but a prolonged period with no formal fiscal framework will start causing the chancellor new headaches, says Dan Corry.
Catch up with the main spending announcements in today’s settlement, which chancellor Rishi Sunak says represents the fastest revenue spending growth for 15 years, even excluding the Covid-19...
The government has reversed its October 2019 hike in the Public Works Loan Board borrowing rate and introduced a ‘ban’ on councils borrowing to raise revenue from commercial property.
More than half of English councils could be at risk of financial failure by 2023 if the Spending Review merely maintains funding levels, a report from financial adviser Grant Thornton has found.
