News Release from City of York Council Labour Group

Immediate Release: 16th July, 2024

Councillors call for fairer deal for York

A council motion being debated this week will make an early request of the new Government for a fairer funding deal for York.

York is in the bottom 10 of all councils nationally for funding per head, while funding for all public services combined sees it ranked worst in the whole country.

Labour Councillor Ben Burton said now was the right time to get the issue on the Government’s agenda. He said:

“York’s poor funding situation is well publicised, and something needs to be done to address the shortfalls York and other councils receive in their funding settlements.  Our motion calls for the Fair Funding Review started by the Conservatives eight years ago to be resuscitated and concluded as a priority.

“Only by doing this can councils again have confidence that the funding they receive is appropriate and meeting the needs of their residents.  So many of the assumptions contained within the current funding formula are way out of date and not fit for purpose.

“Aside from the unique problems York and some other councils face, all councils are under significant financial pressures. Local authority funding nationally is at a crisis point, with several councils already having to serve Section 114 (effective bankruptcy) notices.

“Alongside reform of council funding, we want the government to prioritise NHS dentistry through reform of the national dental contract.  We know it’s becoming harder and harder to register with an NHS dentist and many dentists are going private.

“This is leaving many residents, including here in York, sometimes faced with the difficult decision of whether to spend large sums of money on private dentistry. Understandably, some are unable to afford this and are going without.  We want to see the new Government follow through on its commitments to recruit new NHS dentists and to provide hundreds of thousands more NHS dental appointments”.

In addition to these calls, the motion highlights the need for long-term funding settlements for councils to enable them to better plan for the future.

“This has been impossible with one-year funding settlements”, added Cllr Burton.

“Many of the problems councils face are due to a lack of money, but some are more to do with short-term Government agendas and the goalposts moving from one year to the next. I hope councillors of all parties will back this call for multi-year funding settlements and the greater certainty it will provide in how we deliver valued services to our residents”.

-ENDS-

Cllr Ben Burton    Tel: 07718 260289

 

Notes to Editors:

Labour’s council motion being debated tomorrow as part of the following agenda: Agenda for Council on Wednesday, 17 July 2024, 6.30 pm (york.gov.uk)

York Public Spending

Council notes:

·        Real terms funding reductions to City of York Council over a sustained period;

·        The very difficult decisions the council has taken since 2011 to balance the budget – decisions involving all of York’s main political parties;

·        The particular challenges for York of having the lowest funding across all public services of any single tier council area in the country, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and the compound effect this has for each individual public service;

·        Acute problems around access to affordable dentistry, A&E and mental health care, and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision in schools;

·        The prospect of increasingly difficult budget decisions impacting valued council services over the next three years if national funding remains as forecast in the council’s Medium-Term Financial Strategy;

·        York’s membership of the F20 Group of lowest funded local authorities in the country and the need for that Group to be active at this point in making its case to the new Government.

Council believes:

·        While political groups often have different priorities, councillors share a commitment to the city’s services receiving fair funding.

·        Further, it believes specific pressure areas for local government require long term solutions and should be a priority for the new Government:

Council resolves:

·        To request the Chief Finance Officer and Executive Leader jointly write to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to request urgency in concluding the Fair Funding Review, first signalled by the Government in 2016, detailing why this is necessary;

·        To request this opportunity is used to also highlight service pressures and to request long-term funding certainty to enable the council to plan its services over the period of each four-year electoral cycle;

·        To request the Director of Public Health and Executive Member for Health, Wellbeing and Adult Social Care write to the Secretary of State for Health, pushing for early reform of the NHS dental contract to open up greater access to NHS dentistry in the city as soon as possible;

·        To request Executive works collaboratively with other parts of the public sector locally, including York and North Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, to consider how each can make efficiencies and save money by reviewing how services are delivered;

·        To put on record its thanks to staff and partners for their work over several years in such challenging circumstances, and for their continued commitment to service delivery to the city.

Cllr Claire Douglas, Labour Group Leader:  07841 514518

Nick Wharton, Political Assistant to the Labour Group: 07593 528214

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