The Autumn Budget saw several new funding pledges for local authorities, and there is a lot to digest.
However, there was perhaps more heat than light, with little clarity on the long-term funding landscape for local authorities. The fundamentals remain unchanged, local government continues to face funding cuts and the Chancellor neglected to act on major risks to town hall finances such as the UK's social care crisis. Recent LGA research shows that, by 2020, almost 60p in every £1 of council tax will have to go towards care for vulnerable children and adults. As austerity has become business as usual for council chiefs, many are experimenting with new business and community planning approaches to the future. They are also reacting to the uncertain landscape by considering existential questions about the fundamental purpose of councils.
Earlier in the year, Zurich Municipal partnered with the Social Market Foundation (SMF) to produce the Local Public Services 2040 report. This report aimed to guide local authorities through the morass of change and uncertainty ahead by considering how to answer the existential ‘why are we here' question through the lens of the future.
Although the report projects the local authority landscape decades into the future, one of the models it considers, ‘community councils', is already becoming a reality today. The ‘community councils' model envisages local authorities shifting from contractors to community commissioners and enablers. However, fiscal pressures today are already seeing councils develop innovative ways of helping communities to help themselves in areas such as health, care and the environment.
Moreover, Zurich Municipal's report Why are we here?, launched earlier this month, gave a present-day glimpse of life on the frontline of local government featuring interviews with 22 council chiefs across England and Scotland.
For many of the leaders interviewed, place shaping and future proofing communities are already a part of business planning as the pressures of existential threats like demographics, climate change and the global economy, bear down on local decision-makers. The viewpoint that emerged was that for many councils, there is a need to invest to save and grow communities. Investing in prevention, education, and health and social care partnerships is essential to serve and support citizens. Investing in commercial projects brings in revenue to reinvest in communities.
A pessimist could argue that this approach represents local authorities offloading their responsibilities onto the wider community. However, the Local Public Services 2040 report envisages several future opportunities, roles and services for local authorities.
These include approaches such as; matching care givers and receivers, where councils play a function in matching those able to provide support and care with those who require assistance. Initiatives such as ‘Shared Lives' provide a template. with schemes designed to support adults with learning disabilities, mental health problems, or other needs that make it harder for them to live on their own.
It is vital that council chiefs lift their eyes to the horizon and plan for the future now to minimise and mitigate the challenges brought by the coming decades. Facing those tough, existential questions such as ‘why are we here?' is a good place to start.
This column is brought to you by Zurich Municipal
