Hertfordshire County Council set to demand ‘significantly better deal’ from government

Hertfordshire County Council has expressed ‘concern’ at the lack of additional funding for local government in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement.

The Autumn Statement, made by the Chancellor last month, set out the government’s tax and spending plans for the year ahead.

And with an increasing number of council’s predicting overspends, there had been hopes that the Chancellor would have included some additional funding for local authorities.

But on Tuesday (December 12) a meeting of the county council pointed to the lack of specific additional funding for local authorities. And they called on leader of the council Conservative Cllr Richard Roberts to ‘demand a significantly better deal from the Conservative government’.

The motion pointed to the ‘current funding crisis’ in both adult care and children’s services, which it says, ‘predominently impacts our most vulnerable families’. And it states: “Continued underfunding, since 2015, particularly in Hertfordshire which has one of the lowest levels of High Needs Support, exacerbates the crises, leaving those most in need at risk.”

It says the recent inspection of SEND services had ‘laid bare the serious failings in the Local Area Partnership for SEND’. And it says that underscores ‘the desperate need for a local government financial settlement that is not merely adequate but comprehensive’.

The motion – initially proposed by leader of the Labour group Cllr Nigel Bell – received cross-party support after being amended by the Conservatives.

The original Labour motion had suggested the lack of additional funding in the Autumn Statement had exemplified ‘the Conservative government’s continued disregard for the well being of local communities, especially the most vulnerable’.

And it had referred to ‘the harmful impacts of the Conservative’s damaging and short-sighted fiscal policies on our vital services and the lives of our most vulnerable families’.

Seconding the original Labour motion, Baroness Taylor had pointed to the impact of a ‘decade of financial cuts to local government’. And she said the motion sought assurances that government be left in no doubt what damage their cuts to local funding have done.

“Over a decade of financial curs to local government have meant the services closest to peoples lives – services for the most vulnerable in our community – are left at the back of the queue,” she told the meeting.

“And it just won’t do for Conservative councils to cover-up for a Conservative government that has all but abandoned local public services even for our most vulnerable residents.”

Presenting the Conservative amendment, Cllr Bob Deering said that there was ‘not very much’ between the original and the amended motion – just the removal of some of the ‘political rhetoric’.

He said there was no question that more funding from central government was needed – and he pointed to ongoing lobbying by the council for more funding.

“There is no question that we need more funding and we just have to go about that in a business like an sensible manner,” he said.

He also said they were committed to doing everything possible with the funding available to deliver the best outcomes for children.

Meanwhile Cllr Roberts said the council was facing ‘unparalleled demands’, driven by the cost of living challenges, price increases and increased wage levels.

And he said that had put ‘tremendous pressure’ not just on costs and the provision of services in Hertfordshire, but across the country. Accepting that increased funding may not become available, he said the council was ‘genuinely up against the wall right now with delivering services’.

“We have had the debate about SEND and it is well understood,” he said. “And there are some significant cost increases there that, at the moment, we are struggling to fund, both this year and in the future.

“So it is with a very sobering heart that we respond to where we are with the current settlement, as we understand it at the moment. We have lobbied extensively and will continue to do so. And on the back of this motion will again.”