Local Government Finance
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2025 to Question 26848 on Local Government Finance, what the proportional change in Government funding will be excluding council tax and in real terms for each local authority between 2024-25 and 2025-26.
Answered by Jim McMahon
The Settlement for 2025-26 makes available over £69 billion for local government. This is a 6.8% cash terms increase or 4.3% real terms increase in councils’ Core Spending Power on 2024-25. Taken together, the additional funding announced by the Chancellor at the Autumn Budget and through the 2025-26 Local Government Finance Settlement will provide over £5 billion of new funding for local services over and above local council tax.
Core Spending Power measures the core revenue funding available for local authority services through the local government finance settlement. Core Spending Power is the government’s chosen measure of resources because it gives a consistent measure of resources available to any local authority across revenue grant funding made available through the settlement, locally retained business rates and council tax.
Further information about each local authority’s core spending power can be accessed using the following links: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/key-information-table-for-local-authorities-final-local-government-finance-settlement-2025-to-2026 and https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/core-spending-power-table-final-local-government-finance-settlement-2025-to-2026.
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