Barnsley to benefit from Local Government Funding Reforms

Message from Cllr Sir Steve Houghton CBE, Leader of Barnsley Council. 

After years of financial austerity and endless lobbying by Barnsley Council for a fairer share of the funding available, the tides appear to be turning, with Barnsley set to benefit from changes to the way in which grant funding is provided to councils by central government.  

For 15 years, Barnsley and most northern councils have been at the wrong end of a financial system created by the previous government, which took money away from northern councils and directed it to the south. It’s estimated that Barnsley has lost over £1 billion over the last 12 years.   

For the north, and Barnsley, this has meant council tax rises and pressure to reduce spending on services. In the south, it was the opposite; less pressure and the ability to restrict council tax rises. Clearly, this is an unfair system which has seen the most deprived areas come off worse. 
 
Deprivation leads to lower life chances and neglect from cradle to grave. For example, healthy life expectancy at birth is more than 18 years lower for the most deprived areas compared to the least deprived. There are three times more looked-after children,10% more adults are economically inactive, and the number of over-65s receiving long-term care is over 80% higher in deprived areas. 
 
Over the last 15 years, I’ve been continuously lobbying the government, alongside my local government colleagues, for a fairer system, one that is based on need rather than on how much local taxation a council can raise.   

The government has now announced a Fair Funding Review. If agreed, this will revise the system, resulting in improved grant funding for most northern councils, including Barnsley – and they’re proposing to achieve this by recognising areas of greatest need. 

In Barnsley, this means that our grant position from the government will improve this year with an above-inflation recovery grant of £8 million, and further improvements are expected in future years, allowing us to plan for the future and support our vision of Barnsley being the Place of Possibilities. 

An improved grant position is very welcome. It doesn’t solve all the issues we're facing, but it does mean that we have one-off monies to spend in areas that we’ve had to cut, such as looking after our streets and open spaces.  

It also means that the risk to our budget going forward is not as great as it was. Because of this, we’ve been able to release some of our reserve funds to support families with the cost of living and deliver on our main ambitions, such as Pathways to Work, Love Where You Live, and the Great Childhoods Ambition. People will start to see some improvements over the year ahead, such as improvements to local parks and open spaces, our Barnsley MiCard, offering free bus travel for under-18s, and our school uniform voucher. These are all real, tangible things that will make a difference to people’s lives. You can read more about our council investments on our website. 

The reason we’re able to do this is because we’re a well-managed and well-run, financially sound council. Some councils will have to use this grant to avoid going bankrupt. This is not the case in Barnsley, and we are pleased to be able to invest in our people and our communities because they deserve it after so many years of cuts.