Briefings and responses

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) held a consultation on social housing rents between 31 August and 12 October 2022. The consultation sought views on the introduction of a rent ceiling from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024. Our response to the consultation questions can be found below.

The rising costs of fuel, food and other essentials are combining with existing disadvantage and vulnerability and putting many households at greater risk of both immediate hardship and reduced opportunity and wellbeing

Councils are determined that all tenants should have the security of a safe and well-maintained home with any issues quickly and satisfactorily addressed.

We welcome the introduction of a legally-binding Decent Homes Standard (DHS) and we would support the removal of the term ‘old’ in the DHS, so only the condition is relevant.

This submission makes the case to Government for a radical reinvestment in local and combined authorities that enables councils to turbo-charge local growth and create preventative public services that save money and improve the lives of some of the most vulnerable in our society.

Our response to the DfE second stage consultation on implementing a new further education funding and accountability system for adult skills.

The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill acts upon long running asks from councils and the LGA for further devolution in England.

Councils have been raising concerns about the impact of unregulated growth in the tourist accommodation sector for some time. We welcome Government’s exploration of the issue and urge Government to take meaningful action to rebalance the impacts of this growth industry.

The LGA’s Environment, Economy, Housing and Transport Board (EEHT) considers energy supply and distribution to be one of the top three risks to growth, the environment, and the economy. EEHT will be asking representatives of the Distribution Network Operators, National Grid, Ofgem and BEIS to meetings to discuss the role of local government in this once-in-a-lifetime transition.

The LGA are supportive of a revision to current funding in order to simplify and take into account current housing pressures, but have some concerns about the proposals suggested as they are not necessarily reflective of current strains on homelessness services and will have an extremely adverse effect on London in particular.