SIGOMA Chair welcomes provisional settlement

Posted on December 18, 2024

Responding to the Local Government Provisional Finance Settlement, Cllr Sir Stephen Houghton, Chair of the Special Interest Group of Municipal Authorities (SIGOMA) said:

This is a fair settlement for councils that will provide welcome relief to the most deprived areas after a decade of disproportionate cuts and increases in demand. The distribution of the Recovery Grant has played an important part in this, helping to begin to close the significant gap between need and funding levels.

The government are to be congratulated for their courage in taking on the unfairness of the last 14 years while also supporting the sector as a whole.

It is very welcome that proposals to make the local government finance system fairer, more streamlined, and more sustainable are being progressed by the department. We strongly welcome the direction of travel signalled by today’s settlement and look forward to engaging with the funding reform consultation process.

Our comment was covered publications including the Local Government Chronicle, the Municipal Journal, Room 151 and LocalGovNews.