Key messages
The Government forecasts the total funding available for council services to be broadly similar in 2019/20 as it is today. In the first year according to the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement there is a fall in ‘core spending power' of 2.8 per cent. Without any increase in council tax there is a fall of 5.3 percent.
The reforms to the allocation of central government grant and the rising cost pressures on local government will impact on the delivery of local public services. Being allocated the same amount of money to spend in four years' time means that any pressure on spending will have to be funded by councils finding savings elsewhere in their budgets.