Care homes – the forgotten frontline
As someone who has just come out of hospital, I know how hard our NHS staff work.
As someone who has just come out of hospital, I know how hard our NHS staff work.
With the coronavirus crisis continuing to expand, local government is once again proving its importance to the nation.
As a community, the situation we are facing with coronavirus is unprecedented. This needs an unprecedented response from councils, communities and ourselves, as councillors.
As we respond to the pandemic facing our country, councillors are doing a great deal to support our communities.
I am sure that first readers will join me in saying a big ‘thank you’ to our amazing local government teams, social workers, public health and NHS staff, who are working so hard to treat those suffering from coronavirus.
The final local government funding settlement for 2020/21, laid before Parliament in February, confirmed that councils will receive a share of £49.2 billion in funding (a 4.4 per cent real terms increase).
‘Levelling up’ can only happen if the Government invests tens of billions of pounds more, something that it simply won’t do.
We need to sort out a long-term plan to enable councils to protect children from harm while supporting early help to prevent problems escalating in the first place.
Our members have been vociferous about what we need to see in the forthcoming Budget. We have had a good settlement but only for one year and we need longer-term certainty.