The local government finance settlement failed to distribute funding fairly, council bosses have argued.
The Special Interest Group of Municipal Authorities (SIGOMA) has published its consultation response to the provisional settlement, which it said failed to direct funding to the most deprived authorities.
While the Government announced an average 6.5% increase in local government core spending power, it failed to highlight that around half of the increase comes from assumed council tax hikes of up to 5%, SIGOMA said.
The group said 20 of the councils it represents, which are some of the most deprived in England, will see an increase in core spending power below the 6.5% average increase.
SIGOMA said that because its councils have a high proportion of lower banded housing, ‘either our average (Band D) tax must be much higher than other parts of the country or that we raise much less from a comparable Band D tax rate’.
SIGOMA chair Stephen Houghton said: ‘Over the last 14 years, the method of allocating funding has been moving further and further from a needs basis, resulting in an ever-growing gap between councils in the richest and poorest areas.
‘The provisional settlement cements that trend and severely undermines any notions of “levelling up”.
‘The final settlement, expected in early February, must be used to provide additional funding for the most in-need places.’
