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in urban councils midlands and in response to England They are expecting “distorting” late adjustments to the proposed funding reform, which they fear will cost them millions of pounds.
Concerns are focused on what has been described as the last moment Government A decision to factor in housing costs into an updated formula for measuring deprivation which will determine grants to local authorities.
Special Interest Group of Municipal Authorities (SIGOMA), representing outside metropolitan authorities Londontold the PA news agency that its members have been told to expect a change in emphasis before the new poverty measures are published on Thursday.
former deputy prime minister angela rainer It was announced that the distribution of council funding would be changed this year to ensure funding goes to areas with the highest levels of deprivation.
Councils in London are lobbying the government to include housing costs more prominently in the formula.
This is due to high property values in the capital which impacts on services such as children’s social care and temporary accommodation for the homeless.
With the consultation on the funding review entering its final stages, Sigoma said 50 councils and more than 100 Labor MPs oppose London councils benefiting from the changes at the expense of other areas with higher needs.
Citing sources involved in the negotiations, The Times said London councils were “very pleased” with the changes to their funding, and that there had been “significant progress” in how it would be allocated.
Sigoma said further weighting of housing costs in new Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), to be published on Thursday, would “permanently” remove large levels of funding from councils in the Midlands and North.
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These officers are said to have faced cuts that were 25% worse than the national average.
Sigoma rejected property costs as a reliable measure of local needs.
It said: “Including housing costs as an indicator of deprivation would be distorted as high housing costs reflect buoyant house prices, high levels of economic activity and extremely high levels of housing wealth.
“This proposal will allow London councils to set much lower council taxes, effectively subsidizing lower bills for London residents.
“These proposals will significantly worsen the outcome for SIGMA councils, a dozen of which may be left out of the proposals despite representing the most deprived communities in England, and have experienced significant and disproportionate cuts in funding and increases in demand over the last 15 years.”
The group also challenged the newly proposed inclusion of a “remoteness adjustment” in the formula intended to support rural areas.
It argued that the policy in its current form “is based on a weak theoretical case, lacks sufficient evidence justification and will divert vital funding from some of England’s most deprived urban communities”.
Modeling by Sigoma showed that the inclusion of Foresight would result in a collective loss of funds for its members totaling £300 million.
Sir Stephen Houghton, chairman of SIGMA and Labor leader of Barnsley Council, said: “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to address the funding inequalities our communities have long faced.
“If councils cannot overcome the funding shortfall, they will inevitably be forced to cut costs – and often, this will impact the frontline services that residents see and rely on every day, such as highway maintenance, mowing and street cleaning.
“With more council tax going towards increasing demand for vital services like social care, further funding is being diverted away from the visible, everyday services that shape public perception and the quality of life on which voters make decisions.”
Sigoma has welcomed other funding review proposals, including equalizing council tax revenues and a new formula for children’s services that recognizes factors such as overcrowding.
But the group has also raised concerns that custom distribution of “recovery” funding, which targets areas with the highest needs, will be merged into the main government grant and distributed to all councils.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “For too long families have faced ever-increasing bills, while councils do not get the support they need from Government. We are committed to fixing the outdated funding system we have inherited, so that funding finally matches need.
“As part of our plan for transformation we will deliver the high-quality public services people across the country deserve and ensure funding is appropriately aligned with need.”