30 November 2020
Supporting Local Government – Spending Review 2020 Key Points
Extra funding announced for councils as part of a package from the latest Spending Review.
Measures announced as part of the Spending Review will see more money for councils, with access to an additional £2.2 billion to deliver services and £3 billion to help tackle the pandemic, as well as new funding to help strengthen communities.
The Review affirmed that the government would continue to support a sustainable, reformed and resilient local government sector that delivers services and empowers communities by providing councils with:
- access to an additional £2.2 billion to deliver core services; and
- councils in England are expected to receive over £3 billion of additional support for COVID-19 pressures next year. The £3 billion of additional support is:
- An additional £1.55 billion of grant funding to councils to meet additional expenditure pressures as a result of Covid-19;
- An estimated £762 million to compensate local authorities for 75% of irrecoverable loss of council tax and business rates revenues in 2020-21 that would otherwise need to be funded by local authorities in 2021-22 and later years;
- £670 million of additional grant funding to help councils support the more than 4 million households that are least able to afford council tax payments; and
- Extending the existing COVID-19 sales, fees and charges reimbursement scheme for a further three months until the end of June 2021.
In addtion, a new £4 billion Levelling Up Fund will invest in local infrastructure that has a visible impact on people and their communities and will support economic recovery.
The full Spending Review can be found on GOV.UK.