The government has promised to end the “outdated” council funding system, but the rejig will create winners and losers in the sector, and so has won a mixed reaction.
Will the Fair Funding Review 2.0 finally ease pressure on finances? Or will English local authorities still be expected to adapt service delivery in line with reduced funding?
A major shake-up of council funding designed to shift resources towards areas in greater need could founder on a flawed methodology for measuring deprivation, the government has been warned.
Plans to overhaul the funding of local government fail to address the extreme financial pressure under which the sector is operating, the government has been warned.
Inner London boroughs will be the biggest losers under plans to shake up the distribution of local government funding, with the worst hit facing real-terms cuts of up to 12% over the next three years...
A local government finance shake-up represents an encouraging opportunity to fix many of the sector’s longstanding issues, but experts have warned the proposals published thus far still lack...
An outdated funding model has pushed councils into a financial crisis and requires fundamental reform – not simply increasing the reliance on a regressive council tax system – a group of MPs has said.
The soaring cost of living combined with a decade of austerity could see up to a sixth of English councils fully deplete their reserves in 2023-24 without substantial spending cuts, experts have...
The government’s choice to not go ahead with a Spending Review this year means departments will need to make difficult decisions on services as inflation erodes their budgets, experts have warned.
Collectively, councils were over-compensated by central government for the financial impact of Covid-19. But the withdrawal of support means tougher times lie ahead, says David Phillips from the...
Local government spending power will be around two percentage points lower than the 4.6% trailed by the government in the final funding settlement announced yesterday, according to a local government...
Adult social care funding will be slashed for metropolitan councils in England with cash being funnelled to shire counties under the government’s new fair funding formula, according to analysis.
Protecting social care spending has forced English councils to cut other services by 40% in the last 10 years, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
The communities secretary has postponed implementation of changes to local government funding following the Fair Funding Review and to business rates retention.
The fairer funding formula and Spending Review will allow us to build a stronger, sustainable future for local government, says communities secretary James Brokenshire.
The demands on upper-tier authorities to deliver costly social care services will be more accurately reflected in the forthcoming shake-up of local government funding, MPs have heard.
The housing, communities and local government select committee has confirmed it will scrutinise council finance - after PF reported its plans last month.
CIPFA and the Institute for Fiscal Studies recently hosted a round tabled debate on the questions and issues thrown up by the government’s fair funding review. Vivienne Russell reports.
Councillors from across England expressed concern the government will fail to redistribute funds equally after a major shake-up of grant allocation, at the Labour conference.
The recalculation of local government funding allocations should take into account all the ways councils could bring in money, explains the IFS’s Neil Amin-Smith.
