CCN Responds To Speculation That Government May Change Fair Funding Review

The County Council’s Network has responded to a report in The Times newspaper that the government is set to change some of the formulae within its Fair Funding Review 2.0, in order to lessen the impact on inner London.

The paper suggests that changes could include the way the deprivation formula is calculated, with the cost of housing to play a bigger part in calculations. In addition, there could be a greater consideration of daytime visitors.

Both of these measures would benefit inner London boroughs, the County Councils Network (CCN) estimates.

There is also speculation that the government will reduce the weighting of ‘remoteness’ within calculations on how much each area receives, which could have a significant impact on CCN members. Remoteness takes into account the costs of delivering services in large rural and remote areas.

When the initial proposals were unveiled in the summer, the CCN said that whilst they were ‘better than feared’, a significant amount of CCN members would lose out, some significantly so. In addition, 33 out of 38 county and unitary councils would see a real-terms decrease in funding unless they raise their council tax by the maximum each year, over the next three years.

Therefore, further moves to worsen the situation for counties would make a challenging outlook for many CCN members worse, and the network will be highlighting this to government ahead of the final proposals being unveiled next month.

Below, the CCN responds to the Times’ story.

Cllr Steven Broadbent, Finance Spokesperson for the County Councils Network, said:
“The Fair Funding Review was originally challenging for many county areas, with some councils set to lose out substantially. On top of this, our analysis has shown that county and rural taxpayers are already set to foot the bill for the reforms, with 33 of our councils facing a real-terms reduction in funding unless they increase their council tax by 5% over the next three years. Therefore, any further changes at the expense of counties will worsen an already tough situation for many.

“Inner London boroughs have historically received substantially higher funding, which has enabled them to keep council tax low. We are therefore very concerned that the government would make changes that seek to benefit inner London at the expense of county authorities, pilin further pressure on these councils and local taxpayers.

“The government has been at pains to highlight the importance of including a new remoteness indicator to better recognise the additional costs faced by rural authorities in delivering vital frontline services. The County Councils Network would strongly oppose any steps to reduce the weighting for remoteness within the new needs assessment.”