Title

FINANCE

We can help you achieve your objectives, Westminster

Jo Miller looks at the current state of the state and argues local government could make best use of the public purse because it understands the unintended consequences of Westminster policies.

I'm sure Doncaster Racecourse wasn't the only count venue that experienced a collective jaw drop when the General Elections exit poll was announced. At a time when commentators suggest a minority government will have less time than ever to focus on local government, I'd venture to suggest it should do the opposite.

I have argued before that we need a sensible debate with the British public about the state of the state we can afford and need, and that people are willing to pay for. Local government – please, LGA – needs to show some collective discipline on finance, rather than an ‘every place for itself on the distributional front' mentality. Anything less fails the people we serve and failure is not a state we can afford. We have already allowed ourselves to be enmeshed in incoherent, arbitrary devolution approaches. We have a chance to reject this and determine what good looks like.

We know we need to recalibrate public service finances. Will the Local Government Finance Bill get through? Is it sustainable to pay for the soaring costs of services with a tax system based on property and full-time employment as we shift to online shopping, and, as The MJ's editor put it, ‘a self-employed gig economy'.

2020 is an abyss, not just because of the lack of a settled finance system but also due to the Better Care Fund, which shores up the adult social care problem.

In Doncaster, implementing the bedroom tax cost a fortune and achieved nothing. Universal credit implementation denies people access to basic bank accounts, forces reliance on food banks and brings an estimated £0.5bn in transaction costs – a benefits sanctions regime that costs twice as much as it saves, has a six-week delay in receiving benefit money and increases demand for high-end services. This is not the mark of a civilised society.

Increases in homelessness are a result of welfare benefit policy. Aside from the effects on individuals, it is affecting the attractiveness and performance of town centre economies. An intended saving to the public purse costs money as we pick up the pieces.

So, government, talk to us. We can help you achieve your objectives and make the best use of the public purse because we understand the local unintended consequences of Westminster policy.

Jo Miller is president of the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE) and chief executive of Doncaster MBC

FINANCE

Labour looks local

By Cllr Bev Craig | 26 September 2025

As Labour delegates prepare to head to the party conference in Liverpool, Cllr Bev Craig outlines the key reforms impacting local government and signals a re...

FINANCE

Whatever the structure, residents remain the same

By Heather Jameson | 25 September 2025

Heather Jameson says: 'Councils are scrambling to act before Government imposes financial restrictions ahead of reorganisation. Is this central diktat once a...

FINANCE

Shropshire 'a hair's breadth' from s114

By Martin Ford | 25 September 2025

Shropshire Council will have to rely on Exceptional Financial Support (EFS) to stave off a section 114 notice, according to a corporate peer challenge.

FINANCE

Counties' concern over devolution proposals

By Martin Ford | 25 September 2025

County councils have hit out at proposals to give mayors control over services like health and criminal justice – warning against a return to two-tier govern...

Popular articles by Jo Miller