Following the local government settlement announcement, James Wild has spoken in Parliament to raise concerns regarding rural funding pressures for social care services.
The settlement increases councils' core funding by £3.8 billion next year. However, rural councils will be impacted by the abolition of the Rural Services Delivery Grant, which provides vital, targeted funding for rural communities. While overall funding rises through higher council tax revenues and increased grants, rural councils will lose this specific support, potentially leading to significant financial losses for some.
In Parliament, James highlighted the additional financial pressures facing rural counties like Norfolk, which are already grappling with the impact of the Government’s job tax. James called for clarity on whether the National Insurance Contributions (NIC) funding allocated to local authorities would adequately cover the costs of the social care commission.
Speaking in Parliament, James said:
“Large rural counties like Norfolk face higher costs in delivering their services and the Government’s job tax adds £14 million to the pressures Norfolk County Council is facing, so can he clarify whether the NICs funding he referred to in his statement going to Norfolk County Council and other councils covers the cost of the social care commission service or not?”
In response, the Minister said:
“I mean first of all I pay tribute to the leaders in both Norfolk and Suffolk for the conversations that we’re having on devolution in particular, and we look forward to hopefully making progress on that in the near future because that’s where the real prize is. We can sort out the foundations of council funding, we can reorganise public services to get efficiencies out, but in the end we need to see devolution, we need to see power coming out of this place and given to local communities and the best way to achieve that is through a mayoral strategic authority working hand in glove with a local authority."
"On the direct question about NICs, we have provided over £500 million here for direct costs to national insurance contributions for employers, and we provide additional money through social care, and it’s for the council to decide how best to spend that money."
