Wokingham in Berkshire says it is losing out compared with other communities when it comes to support from central government — and the council has formally protested.
Although the borough is seen as prosperous, the costs it faces for adult and children’s social care and extra support for SEND children are as high as anywhere. Figures from the Office for National Statistics suggest people in Wokingham are “less deprived” than 90 per cent of Britain, ranking in the lowest decile for deprivation in health, income, employment, education and skills.
Council leader Stephen Conway says national priorities create “winners” and “losers” and that Wokingham has become one of the losers. He adds the borough is already one of the lowest funded unitary authorities per head of population and that government funding to Wokingham is set to drop by another £43 million over the next three years.
The borough also faces a large dedicated schools grant deficit. Before the government’s announcement on Monday of extra cash, that deficit was expected to rise to £100m by 2028, making it hard for the council to plan for social care and special needs obligations.
On January 6, Mr Conway wrote to the Secretary of State, Steve Reed MP, saying:
“Your proposed settlement will reduce government funding to our council by more than £40m over the next three years, from a starting point where we are already the lowest Government funded Unitary Authority per head of population.
“This will have a significantly detrimental impact on us and for other local authorities in a similar position and will inevitably create a destabilising effect across the local government community.”
Last week the council’s finance lead, Imogen Shepherd-Dubey, used an Individual Executive Member Decision to formally protest. She said:
“The ‘fairer’ funding finance settlement is not fair. I don’t see how elderly people, disabled people and children in this borough should be given less funding than needy individuals elsewhere in the country.
“We are committed to supporting those who need our help the most, but the fairer funding formula shouldn’t be the only calculation used to decide what it costs to run essential services for our residents.
“The index of deprivation doesn’t take into account the cost of providing services in this area, including access to housing.
“They’re taking funding away from those adults and children who need most support in our community.”
Ted O'Neill, Local Democracy Reporter
