0
0
Local governments play a crucial role in democracies: like addressing community needs, managing public services at the grassroots level, tailoring solutions to local issues, and fostering community engagement and representation.
However, councils have recently been challenged with rising funding costs, leading to the potential bankruptcies of local government. Local authorities are facing difficult decisions over how to allocate their limited resources.
50 council leaders gathered at an emergency meeting this week at Westminster chaired by Eastbourne Borough Council (EBC). A key issue raised was the rising cost of homelessness draining from council funding; with a councillor highlighting that for every £1 that is collected in council tax, 49p went on temporary accommodation. Furthermore, EBC is projected to spend nearly £5m on temporary accommodation this financial year, compared to £1.4m five years ago.
In response, the government has offered a £600m funding boost for local authorities with the Communities Secretary Michael Gove highlighting plans to fund children’s and social care. But Gove stated that local councils must reduce wasteful expenditure and create productivity plans to ensure the “best use of taxpayers’ money“.
Are there underlying issues with the structure of local government?
A PwC report argues that the present state of local government operations is marked by challenges across various levels. Things that urgently need addressing include financial constraints, and a surging demand for crucial services, particularly concerning children and adult social care. Alongside other fundamental societal challenges like climate change and inequality. As these issues manifest locally, local government plays a crucial role in addressing these issues.
The PwC report also argues that four prominent trends and shifts have emerged surrounding the actions of Councils in the past decade.
- Erosion of Corporate Core: Many organizations have witnessed a decline in their ‘corporate core,’ impacting their ability to allocate resources for strategic development and addressing complex challenges. Councils, especially in the past year, faced intense pressure to grasp the intricacies of local issues, but often lacked the capacity or expertise for effective analysis.
- Increased Focus on Customer Contact Management: More time is now dedicated to ‘customer contact management, assessment,’ and decision-making processes. The rise in ‘assessment’ activities indicates heightened scrutiny of public requests for council services.
- Decline in Service Delivery Efforts: There has been a notable decrease in staff effort directed towards ‘service delivery.’ This reflects councils’ efforts to align service levels with funding constraints and adapt to changes in the nature and scale of certain service areas.
- Rise in General Administration Time: The proportion of time spent on ‘general administration’ has slightly increased. This suggests challenges in achieving lasting transformative change in this domain, indicating that councils find it challenging to implement substantial improvements in administrative processes.
Image: Whitespace Work Software, 2022 // CC0 1.0 DEED
Average Rating