LGA Responds to Local Government Finance Settlement

"The LGA has been working hard with the Government on behalf of all councils - both publicly and privately – to highlight the financial challenges they face over the next few years. We are pleased it has listened to our fundamental call for new money to be found to smooth out funding reductions for some councils in 2016/17 and beyond without any other councils losing out further as a result.  "Extra funding of up to £416 million, which includes an extra ��93 million for rural authorities, announced today will go towards easing the financial pressure on those local authorities who were adversely affected by the method of allocating funding and will ensure that no council will move into a negative grant funding position within the next three years. Allowing all local authorities – not just the 51 districts with the lowest council tax bases – to raise their Band D council tax by £5 will also help some councils mitigate some of the additional funding pressures they face in 2016/17 and beyond. "Funding reductions will still be challenging for councils over the next four years. Any extra cost pressures, such as those arising from rising demand or policies such as the National Living Wage, will have to be funded by councils finding savings from elsewhere. Many will have to make significant reductions to local services to plug funding gaps and will be asking residents to pay more council tax while possibly offering fewer services in return as a result.