The Government has announced a year’s delay to its long-planned Spending Review of local government, ‘to allow officials to focus on preparing for Brexit’. A one-year spending round will be announced in September instead.

Across the country, vital local services provided by councils face a funding gap of more than £5 billion next year, rising to £8 billion by 2025. Councils urgently need certainty about how local services will be funded in years to come and a guarantee that they will have enough money to meet the growing demand pressures they face next year.

Only with the right funding and powers can councils meet their legal duties to provide dignified care for people who are elderly or disabled, protect children, prevent and reduce homelessness, and protect the wide range of other valued local services which also make such a positive difference to communities and people’s lives.