Devolution

In this article for the Municipal Journal, David Phillips examines the choices the next Government will face, including whether (and how much) to raise taxes. What it decides could have big implications for councils and those who rely on their services.

The Spending Round announcement last week seems a positive move for the sector on the face of it, but raises questions over the the future balance between central control and local discretion writes David Phillips in this article for the MJ.

A presentation on recent trends and the outlook for local government spending. It includes a discussion of local tax devolution options, and the potential impacts of the ongoing Fair Funding Review.

In this article, David Phillips argues that pivotal choices loom on local government funding, but if we don’t address what we expect from our councils we risk a system that fails to meet our objectives.

The value of the pound has changed a lot over the past three years - making us all a little poorer. Back in December 2015, £1 would buy you about €1.40. Today it will get you nearer €1.14. It has suffered a similar fate against most major currencies, losing about 15% of its value over that time. A big part of the fall occurred literally overnight, once the result of the EU referendum became apparent in the early hours of 24 June 2016. That's a big change, but what does it mean for all of us?

How is local government funding changing? And what might the implications for children's services be? In this presentation for the Office of the Children's Commissioner of England, IFS Associate Director David Phillips looked at the trends in local government spending over time, across the country, and across services, paying particular attention to children's services. He also looked at what funding reforms (such as shifts to funding more services via business rates, and the so-called Fair Funding Review) mean and how they could impact different areas and services.

What does the fiscal and funding outlook for English councils look like? In this presentation for the LGA's annual finance conference, IFS Associate Director David Phillips looked at recent trends, the future outlook, and interactions with funding reforms. It shows that despite the end of overall budget cuts, councils facing both uncertainty about future funding levels and the likelihood that local tax revenues will not keep pace with rising costs. 2019 will be a big year for decisions - with important ramifications for the 2020s and beyond.

David Phillips, associate director at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, discusses the current health of local government finance, and the prospects of a 'fairer' funding formula helping improve the situation.

The government is undertaking a ‘Fair Funding Review’ in conjunction with councils. The aim of this review is to propose a new system for allocating funding between councils, which will be based on updated and improved methods for estimating councils’ differing revenue-raising capacities and differing spending needs. The IFS and CIPFA hosted a roundtable on 12th September 2018 to discuss some of the big questions the review needs to address and tricky issues it needs to contend with. This presentation, which kicked off the roundtable, sets out the key findings from recent IFS research on the Fair Funding Review which speaks to these issues.

When it comes to big decisions around Brexit and independence it is dangerous to pretend that the political choice does not require some serious economic choices too, says IFS Director Paul Johnson in The Times.

The last time the government updated its assessment of what different councils in England need to spend was in 2013. And since 2016, the cuts the government has been making to the grants it gives to councils have taken into account the council tax revenues they raised in 2015-16. This has left things in need of reform – we cannot end up with a local government finance system where funding in the 2020s and 2030s simply depends on the distribution of grants and council tax revenues in the mid 2010s.

Major changes are afoot in English local government finance. The Fair Funding Review will see new methods and formulae to redistribute funding between councils according to their assessed spending needs and revenue-raising capacity. The expansion of the business rates retention scheme is likely to see the abolition of revenue support grant. And changes to the adult social care system could have big impacts on the cost of the system and how it is financed. In this article for the Municipal Journal, David Phillips, discusses the big picture questions that need to considered along the policy detail in coming years.

With substantial budget cuts and ongoing major reforms to the finance system (such as business rates retention and the Fair Funding Review), what scope is there for fair and sustainable funding for local government? This presentation, by David Phillips, IFS Associate Director, was given at the CIPFA annual conference in Bournemouth.