SIGOMA Chair responds to the Provisional Finance Settlement

Posted on December 18, 2025

As the Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement was published, our Chair, Cllr Sir Stephen Houghton, spoke to The Guardian about the impact of the changes.

Whilst we welcome the overall package of the Fair Funding reforms, particularly the commitment to fully account for differing abilities to raise Council Tax, several members will be disappointed with their outcome due to the inclusion of housing costs in the Index of Multiple Deprivation:

“The decision to use housing costs as a key deprivation measure, which leaves London’s suburbs as the biggest winners from this review and many of the most-deprived communities facing further cuts after a decade of austerity, is especially disappointing”.

You can read the full article in The Guardian here.