Maintaining momentum for SIGOMA members under a new government
Posted on July 23, 2026
Writing in The MJ, our Vice-Chair, Cllr Andrew Husband, reflects on how SIGOMA's collective advocacy has helped secure progress towards a fairer funding system and highlights the opportunity to build on that momentum under a new government. Drawing on the experience of Durham, he also highlights the impact of deprivation, rising demand and increasing pressure on council services, reinforcing the need for funding arrangements that better reflect local need.
As the new Prime Minister starts to present his political vision, vice-chair of SIGOMA Cllr Andrew Husband sets out priorities for council funding reform, social care and sustainable local government.
It is a privilege to take up the role of Vice-Chair of SIGOMA following our recent AGM, and to join a leadership team committed to ensuring the voices of councils serving some of England's most vital communities continue to be heard.
SIGOMA has always been driven not by political labels, but by the practical realities facing councils. Our members serve different communities, but they face many of the same challenges: rising demand, increasing service costs, and the constant challenge of ensuring funding reflects need.
That shared experience gives SIGOMA an important role in shaping the national conversation about the future of local government. With a new Prime Minister setting out his political vision over the coming months, this is a pivotal moment for local government, and we must seize the opportunity. Over the past year, SIGOMA has demonstrated the strength of its collective voice. Through sustained engagement with ministers, officials, and policymakers, the group has secured a significant increase in funding for members.
The new Prime Minister has made clear his ambition to once and for all address the social care crisis. That creates an important opportunity to tackle some of the longstanding issues within the system, including growing concerns about profiteering in parts of the care market.
Recent funding settlements have begun to move resources more closely towards areas with higher levels of deprivation and demand, reflecting many of the arguments SIGOMA has consistently made on behalf of its members. As Vice-Chair, I look forward to working alongside our new Chair, Mayor Chris Cooke, and colleagues across the organisation to build on that momentum.
While the 2025-26 and 2026-27 settlements represent important progress towards a more needs-based approach, they must be viewed as the beginning rather than the end of the journey. Wider reforms to local government finance remain essential if councils are to have funding arrangements that genuinely reflect deprivation, demand, and the cost of delivering vital services.
In Durham, these pressures are impossible to ignore. More than one in five residents are living in absolute poverty, while more than one in four children are growing up in relative poverty. Many households continue to feel the effects of the cost-of-living crisis, creating real challenges for families and increasing pressure on local services. This translates directly into growing demand for housing support, children's services, public health provision, welfare assistance, and adult social care, all at a time when councils are operating within highly constrained budgets. Nowhere is this challenge more apparent than in adult social care.
Councils have a statutory duty to support some of society's most vulnerable people. However, demand continues to rise as communities age, needs become more complex, and increasing numbers of residents require support. The new Prime Minister has made clear his ambition to once and for all address the social care crisis. That creates an important opportunity to tackle some of the longstanding issues within the system, including growing concerns about profiteering in parts of the care market. Councils have a statutory duty to ensure vulnerable residents receive the care they need, meaning they often have little choice but to secure placements and services regardless of cost. In some areas, this has created a market where providers are able to charge increasingly high fees, placing additional pressure on already stretched council budgets and generating significant profits from publicly funded care.
While providers must be able to deliver high-quality services and recruit and retain staff, there is a growing concern that too much public money is being absorbed by rising costs and profit margins rather than being reinvested in care and support. SIGOMA will continue to campaign for greater transparency, accountability, and reform in social care.
Residents rightly expect public money allocated to support vulnerable people to be focused first and foremost on delivering high-quality care. When budgets are already under pressure and demand is increasing, every pound diverted away from frontline services is a pound that cannot be invested in supporting those who need help the most.
As SIGOMA works towards the launch of its new strategy and manifesto in the autumn, there is an opportunity to make meaningful progress on this issue. SIGOMA's role is to ensure that opportunity translates into practical reforms that tackle profiteering, strengthen local services, support vulnerable residents, and create a fair, stable, and sustainable system for the future.
You can read the full article in The MJ here.