SIGOMA Chair responds to policy statement

Posted on November 28, 2024

Responding to the “Local Government Finance Policy Statement”, Cllr Sir Stephen Houghton, Chair of the Special Interest Group of Municipal Authorities (SIGOMA) said:

The policy statement is an important first step in resetting the relationship between funding and need. It is very welcome that the government have targeted new funding on a deprivation-basis, recognising the disproportionate nature of the cuts and demand-increases that the most deprived areas have seen over the last decade. The “Recovery Grant” will be welcomed by our members and is a promising signal that the government intend to make the system fairer and more sustainable. The new Children’s Social Care Prevention Grant is a positive step, recognising the significant pressures for children’s services and the importance of preventative work.

We look forward to seeing more detail in the settlement and engaging with the department as they bring forward more significant reforms to the local government finance system in time for the multi-year settlement in 2026/27. It is very promising that the policy statement commits to the long-overdue “reset” of the business rates system. This will make the system fairer by further repairing the relationship between need and funding levels.

Read our comment in the Guardian, Room 151, Local Government Lawyer, Local Government Chronicle, and Public Finance.