Councils are working tirelessly to protect lives, livelihoods and the most vulnerable in our communities. They have ensured that our most important public services keep running successfully.
Key messages
- Councils are working tirelessly to protect lives, livelihoods and the most vulnerable in our communities. They have ensured that our most important public services keep running successfully.
- The crisis has shown how vital councils are in leading the response to a national emergency. National government has rightly recognised this work and it is vital that councils continue to get further support from the Treasury and adequate funding to ensure their financial position remains viable. Without stable finances for local government, national recovery is not possible.
- Councils have shown extraordinary capability to lead their communities so far and it is important that they are in the forefront of the economic recovery work. Councils are already working with their communities and businesses on their own local recovery plans.
- The recovery will look different in different areas of the country and only a locally coordinated response will be effective. The effective delivery of the next phase will depend on all agencies working in partnership at the local level and councils are best placed to convene this work.
- As society begins to reopen, councils need to be included in discussions on how best to open sectors that are currently closed. The involvement of local government in the Government’s five new ministerial-led taskforces, set up to develop plans for how and when closed sectors can reopen safely, is essential.
- Councils will need flexibility in the use of a range of levers to support the economic recovery as the emergency measures are lifted. Government can support this by bringing forward:
- Proposals and consultation for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF)
- A Devolution White Paper that recognises the place leadership of councils and provides them with the powers and resources to drive recovery at the local level; and
- Proposals to move towards aligning a range of funding streams towards a single funding pot.
- Local government will be analysing the implications of the emergency period on the public’s expectations around clean air and climate change and what this might mean for the economic recovery. A range of councils have raised the need for an economic recovery from the crisis that is socially equitable and decarbonises the economy.