Why are we seeing an increase in the number of local authorities issuing section 114 notices?
An estimated 75,000 local authority-owned assets valued at £15 billion have been sold in the past 13 years in a desperate bid to plug funding gaps. What’s more, our current funding formula is outdated and is no longer suitable for the needs of modern Britain.
We’ve also seen pots of funding by the government given to local authorities based on competitive bidding, rather than need. Consequently, local authorities have had to sell off integral assets to keep their head above water and haven’t had the investment to create a cyclically strong local economy.
Do you expect to see an increase in the number of section 114 notices over the coming year? Which local authorities do you believe are most at risk over the coming 12 months?
Research by the Institute for Public Policy Research indicates this trend of asset selling to plug short-term funding gaps will continue with a further 2,500 buildings and other assets at risk of sell off. It’s clear the authorities most at risk will be in the poorest part of the country, for example, towns and cities in the North and local authorities with high levels of housing needs such as coastal towns like Hastings.
We can change our funding formulas to be fairer and ensure we have an effective, clear accountability system that intervenes when appropriate
While some local authorities are clearly more at risk than others, the current funding formula is risky business for all due to how incompatible it is with the changing needs of the nation.
What are the implications for the provision of adult social care services in these areas?
The needs of the nation are changing rapidly; we are becoming sicker and poorer as a nation with a growing gap in healthy life expectancy between the most and least deprived parts of the country. Local authorities face a new set of challenges but are unable to respond properly due to a chronic deficit of assets and funding.
Statutory duties within social care are compromised and local authorities are forced to provide a fragmented service. This alongside a low-paid unstable workforce leaves individuals to find the funding themselves, depend on family, or simply accept the bare minimum of care.
Should evidence of financial mismanagement at a local level mean the ceding of spending control to local authorities in key areas should be reversed?
Local authorities should be trusted to take ownership of fiscal responsibility. We can’t shape governance with high-stakes accountability, but we can change our funding formulas to be fairer and ensure we have an effective, clear accountability system that intervenes when appropriate.
What we know is that local leaders and places are ready to get stuck into implementing new place-based policies to reach the full potential for the people living in their locality, but they can only do this if they have the resources, the autonomy and the capacity to grow their headcount and expand their work.