Calls to ease budget pressures in children’s services and adult social care ignored
The evidence of the financial strain on councils has been growing and it is hugely disappointing that the Autumn Statement failed to provide the funding needed to protect the services the people in our communities rely on every day.
With more than 80,000 looked after children in England, the LGA and its partners were disappointed by the lack of reference to children’s services, as well as to funding for early years and support for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
This lack of investment risks councils’ ability to provide the critical care and support that children rely on every day, and risks diverting essential funding from other council services.
The Government has acted on our urgent and consistent calls to restore Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30th percentile of market rents, which is a hugely positive step in increasing the security of housing, reducing homelessness and supporting the most vulnerable in our society.
It has also acted on our calls for a third round of the Local Authority Housing Fund, worth £450 million, which will help councils support families to move into their own homes and reduce homelessness risks amid reduced supply of temporary and ‘move-on’ accommodation for councils.
The Government should build on these announcements by implementing our six-point plan to give local government the powers and funding to deliver thousands of social homes a year.
It is disappointing and concerning that the Autumn Statement provides no new investment for adult social care and the LGA will keep lobbying on this.
Waiting lists for care assessment or the provision of support remain stubbornly high; serious recruitment and retention challenges continue to beset the workforce; unmet and under-met need remains; instability continues to characterise the provider sector; and directors of adult social services remain worried that their budgets are insufficient to meet all of their statutory duties.
The Government has committed to ensuring councils will be able to set planning fees to cover the full cost of processing some major applications, which will mean local taxpayers no longer have to foot the bill. This is positive, but we look forward to seeing more details in due course.
It is, however, disappointing that the Government continues its drive to extend national permitted development rights further, with plans to consult on a new right to subdivide houses into two flats without changing the façade.
We welcome the increase in the National Living Wage, but local authorities must be sufficiently funded to meet the additional costs of this to avoid further unsustainable pressures on local public services.
Devolution gives local leaders greater freedom to take decisions closest to the people they represent. Where they are supported by all councils, it is good to see new devolution deals in the Autumn Statement, including to parts of England outside cities.
This needs to signal a genuine ‘local first’ approach to policy making across Whitehall, to ensure as many communities as possible benefit from devolution, including the removal of burdensome negotiations and top-down imposition of new structures.
The Autumn Statement introduced measures to support businesses and ease the cost of living for households, and this is important – but not if our public services continue to be chronically underfunded and unable to support people when they need them.
Councils have worked hard to find efficiencies and reduce costs, but the easy savings have long since gone.
It is wrong that residents now face further cuts to services as well as the prospect of council tax rises next year, with councils having the difficult choice about raising bills to bring in desperately needed funding.
National economic growth can ultimately only be achieved if every local economy is firing on all cylinders.
Only with the right powers and adequate long-term funding which allows councils to plan properly, can we play a lead role in unlocking the labour market, building new affordable homes, creating jobs, plugging skills gaps and delivering on other key government priorities.
Business rates
- Small business multiplier in England frozen for a fourth year.
- Current 75 per cent relief for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties extended for 2024/25, a tax cut worth £2.4 billion.
LGA view: “These measures will help support local businesses, and the Government’s assurance that local authorities will be fully compensated for the loss of income is positive. We are disappointed that the Government has not announced measures to combat business rates avoidance and evasion.”
5G Innovation Regions
- 10 regions awarded funding to establish themselves as 5G Innovation Regions, following competition for a £40 million adoption fund.
LGA view: “This will help support councils and combined authorities to drive the adoption of 5G. We remain concerned about the use of a time-consuming and resource-intensive bidding process, and that councils in rural communities continue to lag behind more densely populated areas in the roll-out of 5G.”
Nutrient neutrality mitigation fund
- £110 million through the Local Nutrient Mitigation Fund, for local nutrient offsetting schemes.
LGA view: “The additional funding is welcome as councils are working hard to develop short-term solutions to unlock housing, such as wetland schemes. We want to work with government on long-term solutions to funding, partnerships, and a more proactive role for the regulators and agencies in protecting rivers and preventing pollution at source.”
Energy security and net zero
- Extension of UK Emissions Trading Scheme to cover emissions from waste in 2028.
LGA view: “We support the ambition to reduce carbon emissions from waste activity, but this should be done by support for waste reduction and making producers take more responsibility for the materials they put on the market. The LGA is concerned about passing extra cost on to local government without councils having any meaningful levers to reduce waste coming through.”
Devolution
- Two new mayoral deals with Greater Lincolnshire, and Hull and East Yorkshire.
- Two new non-mayoral deals with Lancashire and Cornwall.
- Non-mayoral devolution powers to be offered to councils that cover a functional economic or whole county area.
- New framework published for extending deeper devolution to existing mayoral combined authorities.
LGA view: “We continue to support the ambition that every area of England can secure a devolution deal that works for them and their residents by the end of the decade. We support calls for a National Devolution Baseline for England, with powers made available to every council that wants them, without the need for a lengthy process of negotiation or local governance reform.”
Homes for Ukraine sponsorship
- £500 ‘thank you’ payments continue into a third year for Homes for Ukraine sponsors.
- £120 million for homeless prevention, including to support Ukrainian households who can no longer remain in sponsorship.
LGA view: “This continued funding will help to maintain sponsorship arrangements and reduce the risks of homelessness presentations from Ukrainian families. However, considering inflation and energy costs faced by hosts, support and the ‘thank you’ payment need to increase to increase the pool of sponsors.”
Veterans
- An additional £10 million for the Veterans’ Places, People and Pathways Programme to increase support to vulnerable veterans.
- One-year extension of National Insurance contributions relief for employers of eligible veterans.
LGA view: “Additional funding will help to ensure that veterans in need of mental health support can access timely, effective, and integrated services. This funding needs to be made available through councils who want to work with armed forces charities, health, and other local partners to further strengthen mental health support for veterans.”
Reform of grid connections
- Reform of grid connection process to cut waiting times, including freeing up more than 100GW of capacity.
LGA view: “Our research found councils have approved 1,300 clean energy schemes, like solar farms, that are still waiting to be built often due to lengthy waits for grid connections.”
- This is an edited version of ‘Autumn Statement 2023: LGA briefing’, which can be read in full on the LGA’s website. In addition to more detail on the issues covered here, the briefing also looks at public spending, improving access to levelling up funding, extension of the housing revenue account borrowing discount, planning fees and capacity building, permitted development rights, mental health, Back to Work plan, apprenticeships, delivering a world-class education system (new baccalaureate), Local Government Pension Scheme, investment zones, freeports, growth funding, new grid infrastructure, public sector productivity, and digital technology and AI