The Government announced £500m in extra funding for councils in England to help with the costs of adult and children’s social care after a group of more than 40 Tory MPs threatened to rebel in a vote on the issue.
“Shared across hundreds of councils this will be a tiny sticking plaster but it will come with heroic rescue talk”.said Manchester Councillor Pat Karney while the leader of Manchester Council Bev Craig tweeted:
“All money for local services is welcome of course.But for context- £500m for the whole country when a city like Manchester has lost the equivalent of £443m a YEARUnless Local Govt’s £4bn black hole is solved, it will fall short in stopping more councils going bankrupt.
Earlier this week the leader of Oldham Council Arooj Shah said that
“The facts are stark. Our income in real terms has halved over the past decade, but prices have kept rising and the demand for services is growing.”
Oldham MP Jim McMahon said on X
“the funding gap for older people to get care, for kids to be protected from harm, for those facing eviction to be given temp accommodation is £2.4bn -Where’s the remaining £1.9bn?
The LGA has warned that councils in England face a £4 billion funding gap over the next two years. Therefore, while positive extra funding will help ease some of the financial pressures they face in 2024/25, councils will still need to raise council tax and many will need to make cuts to local services in order to plug funding gaps.
Cllr Shaun Davies, Chair of the Local Government Association, said:
“The LGA welcomes that the Government has acted on the concerns we have raised and recognised the severe financial pressures facing councils, particularly in providing services to the most vulnerable children and adults through social care services and delivering core front-line services to communities.
“We will continue to work with Government to achieve a sustainable long term funding settlement and updated distribution mechanisms, as well as legislative reform where needed, so that local government can play its full part in delivering inclusive prosperity and growth through investment to support people, places, and the planet.”
