Councils in England still face a £4 billion funding gap over the next two years after no extra support was announced in the provisional finance settlement for 2024/25, the LGA has said.
The settlement, published just before Christmas, confirmed councils will have £64 billion to spend on local services in the coming financial year – but only if they increase council tax by the maximum allowed, at a time when they are acutely aware of the significant burden that could place on some households.
Before the settlement, almost one in five council leaders and chief executives surveyed by the LGA thought it ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ likely they would issue a Section 114 report this financial year or next because of a lack of funding to keep key services running.
Half were not confident they will have enough funding to fulfil their legal duties in 2024/25.
Cllr Shaun Davies, LGA Chair, said: “The settlement does not provide enough funding to meet the severe cost and demand pressures that have left councils of all political colours and types warning of the serious challenges they face to set balanced budgets.
“Councils in England continue to face a funding gap of £4 billion over the next two years as the settlement does not change the funding gap.
“It is therefore unthinkable that government has not provided desperately needed new funding for local services in 2024/25.
“Although councils are working hard to reduce costs where possible, this means the local services our communities rely on every day are now exposed to further cuts.
“No council is now immune to the growing risk to their financial sustainability. The Government urgently needs to come up with a long-term plan to sufficiently fund local services through multi-year settlements.”