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Autumn Budget Reaction – More to be done on ‘funding for local government’

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Responding to the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget statement, North Somerset Council has welcomed the focus on growth, economic stability, increasing investment in education, adult social care, homelessness and infrastructure but says ‘more still needs to be done to provide sustainable funding to local councils’.

Councils deliver key public services, but after a decade of national austerity, government funding has not kept pace with increasing demand and costs. Ten years ago, central government provided 25 per cent of North Somerset Council’s income, today this has dropped to just 12 per cent.

The Leader of North Somerset Council, Cllr Mike Bell said: “We welcome the announcement of real term funding increases for local government nationally including £1.3billion for additional grant funding to deliver essential services, with at least £600m in social care grant funding and £230m to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping. However, as always, the devil is in the detail and with the Local Government Association reporting a £2.3billion budget gap in council finances for next year, the money can only go so far. We will still need to make difficult choices in order to balance the budget for North Somerset.

“Out of every £100 North Somerset Council spends, £52 is spent providing services for adult and children social care, with these figures only set to rise as demand and costs increase. We await further detail from the government on the additional grant, how it can be spent and whether it will help us balance the books and address our own financial shortfall.

“We are yet to hear about the support with winter pressures or immediate funding to help with in-year costs. This year is particularly challenging, and urgent work is being undertaken to help balance our local budget, so national support would have been timely. There is no doubt more that still needs to be done to give funding certainty to local councils, but we welcome the steps being made.”

Transport and road maintenance also played a large part in yesterday’s announcement, including £500m for road maintenance budgets from next year along with £650m for local transport funding to improve connections across the country.

Cllr Bell added: “The extra funding for highways is helpful as we know this is a key priority for local residents. However, with a £16 billion national backlog in highway repairs, again, this is only one step in the right direction. Although a number of railway schemes were given the green light in today’s budget statement, we are disappointed that there was no reference to the Portishead MetroWest rail project. We continue to play a waiting game on this key project to link Portishead and Pill to Bristol.”

Cllr Catherine Gibbons, Deputy Leader of the Council, added: “We welcome the focus on supporting children and young people with SEND, with £1 billion in additional funding for SEND provision. However, we hope this funding injection is accompanied by reform to the system, to give SEND families and children the best possible help and support.” 

The Council also welcomed the announcement of the extension of the Household Support Fund, more support for carers and an increase in the national minimum wage. 

To help shape North Somerset Council’s future spending priorities, residents are invited to give their views during a number of local budget development engagement events, including a survey and innovative budget simulator at https://n-somerset.inconsult.uk/budget202526/consultationHome

The survey is open from now until Friday 22 November, 5pm.