North Yorkshire Council leader's call to Government to ensure 'fair levels of funding'

Cllr Carl Les has met with the Minister responsible for local government and English devolution, Jim McMahon, to highlight the growing fears over the impact that impending funding reforms nationally will have on North Yorkshire Council’s budgets.

North Yorkshire Council was handed one of the worst funding deals nationally for the current financial year, which has left the authority with an unexpected multi-million pound shortfall.

And ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ comprehensive spending review announcement on June 11, Cllr Les negotiated the online meeting with Mr McMahon to spell out the specific challenges faced in North Yorkshire.

The review will set out the broad financial plans for how the Government intends to spend about £600bn over the next few years, including how much funding will be allocated for councils.

Reforms of local government funding are then expected to be announced later this year, with deprivation being one of the key drivers for how much money is allocated to local authorities nationally.

This has prompted concerns that money could be diverted away from rural areas to more densely populated towns and cities.

Cllr Les said: “I would urge the Government to ensure that there is a fair funding deal for all councils across the country.

“I stressed that while deprivation has to be tackled, this cannot be at the expense of local authorities covering large rural areas where funding pressures are especially acute due to cost of delivering services.

“The Government needs to understand that the majority of our services including social care and home to school transport are based on an assessment of eligibility.

"These assessments involve a range of factors which do not necessarily include deprivation as one of them.”

The council has already been hit by an unexpected funding shortfall of almost £22m following increases in National Insurance employer contributions along with the Government’s decision to scrap a multi-million pound grant for local authorities covering rural areas.

The council has also been given the fourth worst core funding settlement in the country.

The biggest funding pressures in North Yorkshire for this financial year have come about because of the loss of the rural services delivery grant as well as the unfunded rising costs of National Insurance contributions.

North Yorkshire Council received the greatest share nationally of the rural services delivery grant with £14.3m in funding each year.

The £110m package of funding for councils covering rural parts of England was a recognition from Westminster of the challenges of providing services.

The financial pressures have been compounded by the unrelenting demand for care of older people, working age adults, and children and young people.

The council also spends more than £50m each year on home to school transport and the policy has had to be revised after costs have more than doubled since 2018/19.

Once all aspects of this financial year’s local government settlement are taken into account with some funding increases in specific grants along with the rise in council tax, the council is still left with a £5m shortfall, which is having to be covered by financial reserves.