It’s about time we began to address the fundamentals of the sector’s financial sustainability, writes Jonathan Werran, chief executive of Localis.
The drumbeat towards the bleak midwinter pre-Christmas release of the provisional local government finance settlement was given a double kick drum blast in the chancellor’s November Budget.
Universal as the welcome was to the commitment that central government will fully fund Send provision from 2028-29, ending the ‘statutory override’ accountancy legerdemain by 2027-28, the story doesn’t end here.
Kicking this can from local government’s lane into that of the Department for Education clearly signified that even Horse Guards Road were conscious of the reality that this…