Much is changing in local government and there is undoubtedly an exciting opportunity to support a change programme that could transform the delivery of affordable housing and publicly funded services for communities across England.
As Angela Raynor stated at the launch of the English Devolution White Paper, if ‘we’re going to build an economy that works for everyone, we need nothing less than a completely new way of governing’. But the challenges of the immense financial and regulatory pressures in the sector will not be resolved overnight.
Some wishes for local government include:
- The additional funding announced by the Chancellor at the Autumn Budget and the £69 billion local government finance settlement for 2025/26 agreed earlier this year will provide over £5 billion of new funding for local services. However, this is nowhere near enough. Councils will be hoping that more can be done to alleviate the financial pressures they are facing.
- The Government has said that 2026-27 will be ‘the first multi-year settlement in a decade’, bringing greater certainty for local authorities over the funding they can expect. Whilst this is positive and must go ahead, there must also be a commitment from the Government to increase the amount of funding available overall.
- Recognition that the plans set out in the English Devolution White Paper, that are required to be delivered at pace, can’t be achieved without additional financial support, to provide capacity and support to the change management, the size of which has not been seen in the last 50 years.