Government announces grant settlement
Warwickshire County Council is to receive an additional £2.680 million in government support, it was announced last week, when the council’s Formula Grant – a combination of Revenue Support Grant and Business Rates - for 2008/2009 was revealed.
The new settlement increases the county council’s grant to £86.401 million – an increase of 3.2% on last year’s adjusted grant of £83.721 million.
The grant accounts for around three quarters of the council’s expenditure with the county council share of the council tax making up the rest.
The minimum increase in government support for authorities providing the same services as the County Council will be 2% in 2008/09.
The cost of this will be shared by all authorities above the 2% ‘floor’. As Warwickshire’s assessed grant is above this ‘floor’, the County Council will contribute £1.801 million in 2008/09 to other authorities to bring them up to the minimum 2% level.
Warwickshire’s settlement is significantly below the average percentage rise for all county councils, which stands at almost 5.5%.
And Warwickshire has fared significantly worse than its other neighbouring counties, with Gloucestershire receiving a grant increase of 4.4%, Worcestershire 4.5%, Northamptonshire 4.7%, Leicestershire 5.3% and Staffordshire 7.4%.
In addition, the Government is expecting all local authorities to deliver 3% annual efficiency improvements.
Local Government Minister John Healey unveiled the first ever three year settlement for local authorities on Thursday.
Mr Healey said Government revenue funding for local authority services would total £70.4 billion in 2008-09; £73.5 billion in 2009-10 and £76.7 billion in 2010-11.
The Government has indicated it is not averse to using its ‘reserve capping powers’ and is expecting average Council Tax increases to be well under 5% in 2008/09.
Commenting on the announcement, Leader of Warwickshire County Council, Councillor Alan Farnell, said: “Whilst the settlement is better than we expected at 3.2%, Warwickshire County Council once again receives considerably less then the county council average of almost 5.5%.”