Local Government Finance Settlement - Comment

Responding to the Local Government Finance Settlement Alison Michalska, President of ADCS, said:

“ADCS, the LGA and others have repeatedly urged the government to urgently address the deepening funding gap facing children’s services, expected to be £2bn by 2020. Today’s local government finance settlement failed to heed these warnings. The decision not to invest any additional new money in our children and young people, instead giving councils the ability to increase their core council tax by an additional 1% is just a drop in the ocean and will only disenfranchise disadvantaged communities even further, doing nothing to further the government’s social mobility agenda.

“Local government funding has almost been reduced by half since 2010 at a time of rising demand for some of the most expensive child protection services. This has forced local authorities to make extremely tough choices. Children and young people have suffered as children’s centres, youth services and libraries have been scaled back or cut altogether. Schools are under pressure, more and more families are going hungry and the rise of poorly paid, insecure employment options and a housing crisis only exacerbates the problems these families face. A long term, sustainable solution is urgently needed to prevent us from becoming a ‘blue light’ service. Failure to invest in children’s futures is a false economy and is only storing up fiscal and human costs in the future.”

ENDS

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