Category - social care

Chair of the Public Accounts Committee says the NHS 'continues to scrape by on emergency hand-outs'.

Local authorities are struggling to juggle higher demands against central government funding cuts of nearly 50 per cent since 2010-11, says the National Audit Office.

All councils will be able to increase general council tax by up to 2.99 per cent in 2018/19 to fund local services without the need for a referendum – an increase of one per cent on the previous year. Most district councils can increase by £5 per year at Band D level.

The Local Government Association says core central government funding to councils will be further reduced by half over the next two years and almost phased out completely by the end of the decade.