11 February 2015
Councillor Richard Bearman, Leader of the Green Party Group on Norfolk County Council, has written to Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, to protest that £900,000 of Government funding intended for Adult Care has been lost to other uses [see attachment].
The money was a late funding contribution from the Government, intended specifically “to assist them in dealing with pressures on local welfare and health and social care” [see note 3 below], but not ring fenced. The Council administration under advice of the section 151 officer has decided to use the vast majority, £900,000, to meet a shortfall in business rate income.
The Greens say that the money should have gone to Adult Care in its entirety. The business rate shortfall should have been addressed by using reserves, or the general balance, which are available for such contingencies. The Council would have had to do that anyway if the £1.1m had not been available from the Government.
Cllr Bearman, said, “This money was vitally important, and intended for Adult Care, where it would have helped sustain services for learning difficulties support, housing related services, transport, and the wellbeing programme, amongst others. It is outrageous that the money has been allocated to ‘balance the books’ in other areas. The Council has reserves and general balances to use for such contingencies, and the Green will be demanding answers as to why they were not used.”
Cllr Bearman has also written to Eric Pickles that “it is nothing short of foolish” of the Government not to ring fence the money.
Lesley Grahame, Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Norwich South, said: “The problem lies with the Government squeezing Council funding in Norfolk to the limit. The Council took an easy option to use the money to cover for the last minute bad news of a shortfall in business rates. However, money intended for the vulnerable and elderly should not be taken this way, and the Government should have protected it by ring fencing.”
Notes
1. Norfolk County Council expect central Government funding to go to zero by 2020 if current Government policies are followed.
2. The Green Party have said that the only choice at present is to increase Council Tax to protect Adult and Childrens Social Care in Norfolk. The Greens would much prefer to use other methods of financing local services which will have to be developed if central Government cuts all local government funding by 2020 as threatened. However, Council Tax is to the only available means at present.
3. The £1.1m to Norfolk County Council was part of £74m from the Government’s Local welfare provision for 2015-16 across the country, and was announced on 3rd February. The settlement details for upper tier authorities is given below [https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/401094/150203_LWP_consultation_summary_and_equalities_statement_FINAL.pdf]
In response to these representations the Government has now decided to allocate an additional £74 million to upper-tier authorities, to assist them in dealing with pressures on local welfare and health and social care. This will further help councils as they develop localised arrangements and enable them to continue to provide assistance to the most vulnerable people in their communities as well maintain their other frontline services.
