“The extra money announced today will provide some relief to the many councils that are concerned about their solvency. However, the extra £500m only equates to approximately 70p more per month per resident, and it won’t solve the significant financial challenges facing top-tier authorities, in particular increasing demands for social care from an ageing population.
“This is a sticking plaster designed to defer confronting the major problems with the local government funding system until after the general election. In the meantime, councillors will still be faced with tough choices around which local public services to cut in order to balance their books for the coming financial year.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
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