Local Government Finance Settlement 2015/16 – initial analysis

The provisional local government finance settlement statement for 2015/16 was made in an oral statement to the House of Commons on 18 December 2014. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for State for Communities and Local Government, Kris Hopkins MP, updated the House on the illustrative settlement for 2015/16, which was announced with the final settlement for 2014/15 in February 2014. The accompanying documents are available online.

The settlement for 2015/16 is now open for consultation until 15 January 2015.

The settlement excludes Police and Crime Commissioner funding, which was covered by a separate announcement from the Home Office on 17 December.

The announcement applies to English authorities only. In Scotland, the Finance Secretary, John Swinney, announced the settlement for Scottish councils on 11 December with a consultation period lasting until 7 January 2015.5 The provisional settlement in Wales was announced in October 2014, with the final allocations to Welsh local authorities confirmed on 10 December 2014.

Settlement funding assessments for local authorities will decrease by 13.9% and the overall reduction in Spending power, a measure of The total funding available to local authorities (excluding the GLA), was confirmed as 1.8%. The Government will again be offering Council Tax Freeze Grant to those authorities that freeze their council tax in 2015/16. Local authorities raising their council tax by 2% or more will have to hold a local referendum on the proposal.