The ‘outrageous' use of exceptional financial support (EFS) is set to continue, with no new measures in the Budget to prop up finances, senior local government officials have warned.
Chancellor John Healey's first Budget offered a radical vision for fiscal devolution, the first steps towards public service reform and moves towards preventative budgeting, but it has failed to address the growing issue of financial instability in local government.
Speaking at a virtual round table held by The MJ, Solace president Robin Tuddenham said it was a ‘bold Budget' yet was one of the ‘lowest amounts of impact of any Budget in the last decade'.
Society of County Treasurers' president Phil Rook told the same event the ongoing use of EFS to fund councils was ‘outrageous'. He added: ‘If government wants local government to deliver for their communities, they should fund us properly.'
He claimed the number of councils in EFS next year was set to soar from its current 35 to around 50 or more next year as councils struggled to balance the books.
Tuddenham added: ‘We just can't keep behaving as if EFS is normal, or in any way a viable model…It demonstrates the model is not sustainable.
‘The focus on capacity in the Budget around the local state is entirely about MSAs [Mayoral Strategic Authorities].'
