Leader hits out at plans for funding
THE leader of Rochdale Council has hit out at the government’s funding plans for the next financial year - claiming they do not go far enough to address the growing social care crisis.
The local government finance settlement for 2019/20 is the final instalment of a four-year package announced as part of the 2015 spending review.
Ministers have also allocated a £1.8m social care support grant to Rochdale for 2019/20, expected to be spent on plugging the £4.8m funding cap in children’s services.
A recent winter pressures grant of £1.1m will boost health and social care provision over the coming colder months.
But leader Allen Brett says the package does not go far enough to help the town hall cope with rising demand for adults and children’s social care.
He said: “The draft local government finance settlement for the next year is very much in line with our expectations.
“It’s disappointing that the government continues to provide insufficient funding to meet the social care challenges we are experiencing on a daily basis.
“Neither is it a surprise to see that rural services grant allocations and changes to the negative revenue support grant are designed to primarily benefit Conservative-led councils.”
Last year the council received a one-off £1.1m grant for adult social care - that is currently expecting to come in within budget, but there is no new cash for it in the 2019/20 settlement.
And neither will the council be able to levy a 2pc adult social care precept again, as this will take it beyond the 6pc limit since 2017/18. Only a further 1pc increase will be possible.
Coun Brett said there was ‘nothing new’ in the draft settlement, which goes out to consultation until January 10.
“The money for social care they have already you have got to a plateau, you get the rug pulled from under you,” he said.
However Conservative leader Ashley Dearnley said it was important to look at the situation ‘as a whole’ - taking into account the fact the council now retains 100pc of business rates and can raise council tax by up to 3pc.
He said: “We always want more money for our areas and strive to achieve as much as we can,” he said.
But he pointed to the announcement of the social care support grant as an example of how the government was helping authorities.
“The extra grant for social care during the last six month is a significant amount of funding that will reduce the gap between what we need to find and the saving we need to make.
“It has to be taken as a whole, a 2.9pc increase in general funds (from council tax) and on top of that more powers to raise more money ourselves.
“Also the government has fully funded the pension fund for the police, which is significant.
He continued: “Of course we would like more, but we have to be realistic, and keep pushing for more.
“It’s better than expected, perhaps we expected a slight improvement, but there’s always hope that, as things continue to improve, we will get more.”
Coun Dearnley added that the financial settlement announced in 2015 had also provided certainty and meant no nasty surprises had been sprung on the council.
“The only surprises we have had have been in the way of finance increases, and that can only be a good thing,” he said.
Rochdale Council’s budget for 2019/20 will be approved by full council in February 2019.