While many local authorities will have already published their draft budgets for 2023/24, I know from my time as a local councillor and Cabinet Member for Finance that these are never set in stone. Instead, January and February of each year were a time of intense negotiations, with different parts of the council, councillors, interest groups and service providers all putting their case forward to avoid real-terms or even actual cuts to their funding.  

This year, these negotiations will be more intense than ever. Spiralling inflation, coupled with minimal Government support for local authorities, led the Local Government Association to recently state that councils across the country ‘face significant challenges in setting their budgets and trying to protect services’. One area of funding that is vulnerable to potential cuts is homelessness support.