The local government line on the Spending Review is clear: it’s barely enough to keep councils afloat. It fails to address the big issues facing local government – the crippling costs of adult social care, collapsing business rates and a council tax system based on 30-year-old property prices.
And to top it all, the ‘4.5% rise in spending power’ is somewhat disingenuous – three-quarters funded by a hefty rise in council tax that the electorate can ill afford in a mega election year, all so central Government doesn’t have to take the blame for tax rises.
Those who choose to delay could find themselves caught short when it comes to the funding – with the double whammy of a smaller tax base in the second year.
Privately, many finance experts are admitting to a sigh of relief. The single year spending round may not be a life raft so much as a small float to cling on to in a storm while the lobbying continues for another year.
But just what is there to lobby for? As the IFS pointed out this week, multi-year spending reviews across health, education and defence, with a backdrop of Brexit and little chance of economic reprieve next year, will leave the chancellor with little more than pennies to play with.
And there is worse. Deep in the heart of the Spending Review report there is a line that clearly spells out what we have known all along – funding the NHS and schools for multi-year settlements provides ‘long-term certainty on the priorities of the British people’.
Local government is caught in a quandary of being both insignificant and too important for Government to get things done.
When it comes down to it, local government doesn’t get the funding because it’s just not a vote winner, and it was ever thus. It is last on the list when it comes to funding and to legislation because no one is up in arms that their beloved services are at risk.
But when it comes to crucial reform – council tax revaluation, social care funding, business rates, even reorganisation – they are all political hot potatoes that make governments cower in fear.
Whatever the finance settlement brings, it will not be enough. Councils will cope as they always do – or most will – and there is another year to make the case for local services, while the Government hopes it all goes away.
