SIGOMA Chair talks to iNews about council funding issues

Posted on December 16, 2024

Councillor Sir Stephen Houghton, the Labour leader of Barnsley council and chair of SIGOMA, said: “I think councils will be making savings irrespective of what happened in the spending review.

Forcing more cuts on councils will reduce “all those frontline services that people value, he said.

“Councils have been hollowed out for the last 14 years,” he added.

He welcomed the Recovery Grant, and the £680m increase to the social care grant already announced, but said this is a drop in the ocean compared with the £6bn shortfall which the LGA estimates is facing the sector.

And he argued pressures would only increase due to the rise of national insurance contributions and the National Living Wage, both of which will push up the cost of social care services contracted out to councils.

Houghton argues in favour of recalculating the funding formula based on “need and deprivation”. “We are hoping that this time next year the settlement will be more reflective of needs or service demands and of the ability to raise council tax,” he said

Read the full article in the i, here.