This is the last article you can read this month
You can read more article this month
You can read more articles this month
Sorry your limit is up for this month
Reset on:
Please help support the Morning Star by subscribing here
TOWN halls in England would need to raise council tax by 20 per cent over the next two years to plug a massive funding gap, analysis showed today.
The shortfall in funding is too big to be tackled by raising council tax alone, warns the Local Government Association (LGA).
LGA analysis suggests councils will face a £3.4 billion funding gap in 2023-24 rising to £4.5bn in 2024-25.
To plug the gap, it says councils would need to increase council tax by a fifth over the next two years — which is “neither sustainable nor desirable given the current cost-of-living crisis.”
Current rules mean local authorities must trigger a referendum to increase council tax by more than 2.99 per cent, plus a 1 per cent levy for social care.
Most councils (88 per cent) are even planning to dip into their reserves and cut services to plug funding gaps this year.
But the LGA said there are not enough reserves to do this in future years, warning many vital services for vulnerable children and older people face “severe” cuts without sufficient funding.
Conservative-led governments cut funding to local authorities by 37 per cent between 2010 and 2020.
Councillor James Jamieson, LGA chairman, said vital services faced an “existential crisis.”
He said: “Inflation is not going to come down overnight; reserves can only be spent once and a local service cannot be cut twice.”
A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokeswoman said: “We understand the pressures councils are under and are working closely with them to ensure vital public services are protected.
“This year, we have made available an additional £3.7bn to councils to ensure they have the resources to deliver vital services.”
