All councils will see a 3% increase in spending for the next financial year, a central government ‘blueprint’ for spending has revealed.

Ahead of the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement, which is due to be published next week, ministers have highlighted the principles for the next two years.The policy statement comes amid increasing criticism over how late the finance statement is, and the difficulty it causes for local government budgets.

Levelling up secretary Michael Gove said: ‘We know these are challenging times for local authorities across the country, but councils have long called for greater clarity over their finances and the plan we have published today helps deliver that.

‘It’s essential that we protect vital services while giving councils the flexibility they need to respond to local need. 

We are making sure this can happen by delivering a significant spending boost for core services and billions for social care.’

According to the secretary of state, the Government has made ‘almost £5bn in additional resources’ available.

Writing in The MJ, local government minister Lee Rowley said: ‘From today, councils can not only start planning their budgets for the next financial year but, also, can also consider how to structure their approach for the year after, too.

He said: ‘Nothing in life is ever perfect and funding has often been a challenge.’ But he added: ‘The councils which have best stayed ahead of the reality of the long-term funding landscape in which we are operating are those which have tended to embrace reform and change.’

The statement reiterated plans in the Autumn Statement to keep the referendum threshold for council tax at 3% for 2023-24, but with an addition 2% precept for authorities with social care responsibilities.

Plans to delay social care reforms, with the funding for implementation retained in council Budgets, and a further £300m going to the NHS to be pooled in the Better Care Fund, as announced by the chancellor last month.

New Homes Bonus will continue with no changes to calculations and there are no plans for now to restart local government funding reforms which were postponed.

This article was originally published by The MJ (£).