Last week the Prime Minister said that the government was funding local government properly.
Later the same day Medway was told it would receive a cash increase below the national average for the second year in succession. Somehow the PM‘s words and the facts do not match. No change there then!
Medway has received an increase of 3·9 %. As ever the devil is in the detail, but the facts are simple and undeniable.
Last year we were short-changed by £13 million, and this year‘s settlement is built on that false base. This year we are receiving a cash sum less than last year‘s inadequate settlement.
With typical sleight of hand the government is removing grant money—traditionally additional money—and including this in the overall settlement. The end result being less money for Medway.
In social services the real result of grant money being reallocated means that Medway will receive an increase of only £300,000.
In return we are being expected to spend extra money on a whole host of government demands in social services. The imminent Children‘s Act will add over £2 million to Medway‘s costs, whilst the additional government requirements for housing single homeless people adds another £1 million.
Those two demands alone amount to 10 times the extra money we are receiving from government. But they represent the tip of a huge iceberg of government demands.
The demands are it seems the same across local authorities whether they be in the north or the south of the country. So why then are councils in the north receiving more money than those in the south?
In the south-east the cost of living is higher than elsewhere, with only London having higher living costs. This means our pound buys less, and it therefore costs more to deliver council services.
Why then is Medway receiving less money than the national average?
The only possible answer is the blatant and shameful shift of money from southern Conservative councils, to northern Labour councils.
Tomorrow Medway‘s cabinet will debate our draft budget for next year, including the likely increase in council tax. Work remains to be done, but it is absolutely certain that the lack of money coming from government will make the increase larger than it might have been.