“Councils hold the local levers to the national challenges facing government”

Councillor Louise Gittins, new LGA Chair

An admission of total failure

Just days before many councils set their most difficult budgets in years – and many months after the LGA warned that soaring demand for social care and temporary accommodation was posing an existential risk to council budgets – the Government has finally backtracked on its catastrophic provisional local government finance settlement for 2024/25 and announced £600 million in extra funding.