Councils have the solutions to national problems.
With Chancellor Rachel Reeves due to present her plans for public spending for the next three years on 11 June, the LGA continues to make the case for more investment in local government.
It’s not just about finding more money for councils – vital though that is to address rising cost and demand pressures in key local services such as adult and children’s social care, and housing and temporary accommodation.
It’s also about demonstrating how, with reforms and additional powers, councils can continue to improve the lives of our residents and help solve the national challenges facing us all.
For example, we face a national housing crisis: further reforms to Right to Buy would allow councils to retain and build more social housing.
Deficits in respect of supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) threaten to destabilise many councils – but investing in early identification of needs and support, and making mainstream schools more inclusive, would help turn the tide financially while also delivering better outcomes for children and young people.
Urgent investment is needed to stabilise the adult social care system – and this would help councils to relieve pressures on the NHS. Action is also needed to address care staff recruitment and retention problems – but more national recognition of the economic and social value of carers’ work would go a long way.
Councils are at the forefront of action on climate change: consolidating and devolving funds from existing government schemes into a Warm Homes Plan would help deliver long-term investment in retrofitting our damp and energy inefficient housing stock.
As leaders of place and as major local employers, councils have a critical and unique role in unlocking inclusive and sustainable growth. Greater fiscal decentralisation, including mechanisms such as a tourist levy, would help support that role.
The general financial pressures facing the sector would also be eased by government providing general rather than ring-fenced grant funding, reducing the number of different ‘pots’ of funding, and ending the use of competitive bidding.
And we can build on the digital innovation that has already taken place in councils if the Government works with the LGA to create a dedicated Local Government Centre for Digital Technology (LGCDT) within the LGA.
In particular, the Government has set out an agenda for public sector reform, and councils should be central to this because of the clear evidence of the value for money of their preventative services.
Councils are the backbone of our country, with dedicated councillors and officers making a real difference every day to help build thriving communities and improve the lives of their residents.
The LGA’s submission to the Spending Review sets out a clear business case for increased investment, financial support and a package of measures to give them more tools to continue with that work – measures that would also deliver on the Government’s reform and growth agenda.