Lambeth Council Leader Cllr Claire Holland joined her counterpart from Southwark, Cllr Sarah King, to raise concerns over proposed changes to local government funding that could cost vital local services tens of millions of pounds. It has been estimated that the government’s Fair Funding Review on reforming local authority funding could cost Lambeth £45 million, while Southwark could lose out to the tune of £37 million.
Local leaders argue the proposed changes should fully take into account the lives and needs of many local people, especially high housing costs. One in three children in Southwark lives in poverty once housing costs are taken into account.
Cllr Holland said: “We welcome the government’s commitment to reform local government funding which has long been promised by successive governments. However, we are deeply concerned that the current proposals could see Lambeth lose out on tens of millions of pounds, on top of over a decade of structural underfunding of local services.
“We don’t think this is fair, and we’re fighting hard to protect local services. We are committed to working collaboratively on finding a solution that meets both the Government’s ambitions and the needs of our residents.”
Lambeth confirmed this week that the council must find £84 million in savings over the next four years, on top of £99 million in savings already agreed. This follows a decade of chronic underfunding of local services, inflation and a big rise in demand for council support, especially when it comes to housing homeless families. but the council has also warned that the Fair Funding Review, risks leaving Lambeth as one of the worst impacted councils in the country, as money would be redistributed under proposed new funding formulas.
Both council leaders are working closely with the groups London Councils and Central London Forward on the campaign and Fair Funding solutions.
And on Tuesday [23 September] local MPs Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Clapham and Brixton Hill), and Helen Hayes (Dulwich and West Norwood), joined them in Parliament Square to back their campaign to protect vital services in their boroughs.
Cllr King said: “We’ve come together to call for fair funding because we are concerned about the effect that the proposed funding changes will have on people living in our boroughs. Crucially the changes don’t take into account high housing costs – some of the highest in Britain. One in three children in Southwark lives in poverty once housing costs are taken into account.
“We support reform to local government funding and we’re calling for fair funding for our boroughs, that take local needs including very high housing costs into account.”
