The delayed second phase of what was known as Total Place kicks off this week, with the launch of 16 areas piloting community budgets.
Aligning national and local funding streams, the 16 areas will focus on one service where local agencies frequently overlap, namely, troubled families, and find ways of merging agencies.
Communities secretary, Eric Pickles, said this week: ‘With community budgets, we want to get as close as possible to the idea that councils and local areas should get a single pot of local funding from the Government to spend as they see fit.’
After criticism that community budgets were seen as low priority by Whitehall departments, a Cabinet group was set up to oversee the programme which Mr Pickles said was ‘the future for public services.’
The 16 pilot community budget areas:
Greater Manchester (a group of 10 councils)
The London boroughs of Westminster, Hammersmith and Fulham, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and Wandsworth
