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The Council
NOTED:

·      
Councils up
and down the country are in financial crisis. Six councils of
varying political leadership have issued section 114 notices since
2021.

·      
The Local Government Association are clear that if
nothing changes,
councils are facing a funding gap of?£4
billion over the next two years,
with at least 26 councils facing bankruptcy in the near future
according to SIGOMA.

·      
Since 2010,
the real terms funding from government to Waltham Forest Council
has reduced by 37% (adjusted for inflation).

·      
The government has made a
deliberate plan for councils to raise funds locally through council
tax increases as it now accounts for more than half of our total
funding, 54% in 2023/24 compared to 30% in 2010.

·      
The Council
is facing structural pressures that have built up since 2010
– a period in which we have had to find £120 million in
savings and during which our residents have struggled with Covid-19
and a cost-of-living crisis, against a backdrop of crumbling public
services.

·      
We are
looking after 1,000 more people with complex needs since 2018/19.
The 2% Council Tax rise ringfenced for adult social care is not
keeping pace with demand which has risen 13% in the past year
alone.

·      
At the same
time, the average cost of adult social care packages has risen 13%
in the past year alone.

·      
London is at
the epicentre of the national homelessness crisis. We are seeing
over eighty families a week present to us in housing need in
Waltham Forest and this is increasing every month.

·      
Although we
welcome the Chancellor’s recent commitment to unfreeze the
Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates , we note that rents rose in
London by 16% last year, much higher than the LHA increase of
6.7%.

·      
Since 2020
we are Corporate Parents to an additional 39 children and another
1,200 children are receiving an Education, Health, and Care Plan,
an increase from 1,800 in 2018/19 to 3,000 now.

·      
Austerity,
coupled with the effects of rampant inflation and the dramatic rise
in demand for social care, means councils have been forced to use
reserves to pay for essential services. This is compounded by
only receiving one-year funding settlements for the past eight
years, which has prevented us from effectively planning for the
long-term.

·      
The
Household Support Fund has supported thousands of families in our
borough and provided £4.6m of funding in the last round. The
fund is due to end in March 2024 which means reduced support for
our most vulnerable residents.

·      
For decades,
Waltham Forest along with other outer London boroughs, has been
disadvantaged by our funding settlement. The funding formula does
not reflect deprivation levels that drive our spending. Inner
London boroughs like Kensington & Chelsea have less deprivation
but receive almost 1.5 times our council funding per
person.

·      
Kensington
& Chelsea have less deprivation but receive over 2.5 times our
public health funding per person, because funding is based on an
outdated formula from 2011. For example, Waltham Forest’s
funding for Local Outbreak Plans was less than half of
Hackney’s and over £1m less than Islington, despite
having a larger population than both.

·      
The
Government’s Office for Budget Responsibility has downgraded
predictions for growth and drawn attention to the £19 billion
gap in public finances by 2028/29 created by the Chancellor’s
Autumn Statement. Many residents are still suffering the impacts of
Liz Truss’s disastrous budget, with the average monthly
mortgage payment up £220 since September 2022.
 
The Council believes
that:

·      
Well-funded
public services are the backbone of our economy and democracy and
are essential for meeting the needs of every member of our
society.

·      
The
Coalition government of 2010-2015 and successive Conservative
governments have overseen the intentional decline of public
services and as a consequence, our public services are struggling
to serve the immediate needs of our residents and
communities.

·      
The chronic
underfunding of other public services, such as the NHS and police,
is increasing the burden on the council and is causing even greater
strain on our ability to support residents.

·      
The current
system of bidding for pots of money undermines long term planning
and is a waste of public money.

·      
This
Government has shown its contempt for communities by moving
responsibility for funding local service onto residents –
using Council Tax, a tax aimed not at the wealth of the occupants
but based on their property values as rated in 1991.
The Council
RESOLVED to:

·      
Demand that
the government urgently reverses the intentional decline of public
services and presents a proper plan for investment and funding
reform.

·      
Lobby the
Government urgently to:
o  
confirm that
the Household Support Fund will be extended beyond April
2024.
o  
Support the
London Councils campaign for an increase to local government
funding by at least the same level as last year (9%).
o  
End one-year
settlements which lead to financial uncertainty.
o  
Fix the
broken social care system so that it works for vulnerable Adults
and Children
o  
Increase the
homelessness prevention grant.

·      
Call on the
government to increase all its centrally set fees and charges by
inflation, as per pensions and benefits rates increase. Fully fund
the recent local government pay award and review all recent
taxation and levy legislation that negatively impacts on local
government initiatives and revenues. Fully fund all extra
burdens.