The Government announced earlier today that councils in England will see their overall spending power fall by an average of 1.8% from next year. However, Local Government Minister Kris Hopkins told MPs "we continue to ensure that no council will face a loss of more than 6.4% in spending power in 2015-16."
This is the case for Hastings (link, thanks to the BBC for the figures!), which will face a loss of 6.4%. Indeed, councils say that central funding is being cut by 8.8%.
The spending power figure combines regular central government funding with one-off grants, council tax, a proportion of business rates and other fees and charges. However, most local authority funding comes from central government, with about a quarter raised through council tax.
The National Audit Office (NAO) estimates that by 2016, government funding for local government will have dropped in real terms by 37% since 2010, though Hastings will see a much higher loss than this average, probably closer to 60%.
I shall have to get to the first Hastings Borough Council Cabinet Meeting in the New Year, which should be very interesting. Of course I shall report on council meetings I attend in January, so keep in touch!
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