SIGOMA Chair urges new minister to honour Fair Funding pledge
Posted on September 15, 2025
Following the recent government reshuffle, our Chair, Councillor Sir Stephen Houghton, spoke to The i to stress the critical need for full implementation of the government's planned funding reforms, warning that any delay or dilution could have serious consequences for councils across the country.
'The plan to redistribute Whitehall funding away from wealthier local authorities in London and the south east and towards more deprived areas, particularly in the Midlands and northern England was one of Angela Rayner’s top priorities in office.
But the resignation of the Deputy Prime Minister has triggered concern among the group of Red Wall councils that her replacement, Steve Reed, could water down the reforms and lead to dozens of town halls facing bankruptcy.
Sir Stephen Houghton, the Labour leader of Barnsley council and chairman of the Sigoma group of 50 local authorities in mainly Midlands and northern towns, ... has asked for an urgent meeting with Reed, the new Housing and Local Government Secretary, and his deputy Alison McGovern, to urge them to implement Rayner’s plans – which are due to be introduced next April – in full...
(Houghton) warned that a watering down of the reforms risked more councils declaring themselves effectively bankrupt through issuing section 114 notices.
More than a dozen councils have already been forced to take this step since 2018.
Houghton told The i Paper that Rayner, and her deputy Jim McMahon, who also lost his job in the reshuffle, had done a “fantastic job” of overseeing the new funding reforms.
He added: “We’ve waited 15 years for fundamental reform to local government finance, and the government obviously instigated that last year.
“Obviously, there’s a new ministerial team in there, and they’re good people as well, but I think our members are worried about what does that change in personnel mean for the finance settlement?
“Because it’s absolutely crucial that we proceed with that… It puts the money where it needs to be to those that have suffered for the last 15 years, and we want to make sure we want to support the government in driving that through...
“So making sure that that good work, that new system is put into place is absolutely essential.”
He said his members were “getting really, really nervous, and we’re looking for assurances from ministers that all that hard work over the last 12 months, that 15 year wait, isn’t going to be lost”...
He added: “I can only guarantee you, you will be looking at section 114 notices en masse if they don’t push it through...
“So it’s essential that Steve and Alison and the new team recognise the importance of this for the future of local government across some of those deprived areas of the UK.”'
You can read the full article in The i here.