There is significant uncertainty around how the proposed local government finance reforms and reorganisation will be implemented. Long standing plans for funding and service reforms have been delayed several times. The government has now announced a huge reform agenda for local government, including an overhaul of local audit, local finance reform, service reform including for SEND and children’s social care, and extensive local government reorganisation. With these reforms happening simultaneously, there are significant risks. There are capacity constraints within local authorities which risks their ability to plan for and implement such wholesale changes at once. And with the Casey Commission not concluding on adult social care until 2028, plans may yet need to be adapted. Professor Tony Travers warned that given the delays in finance reform, updating how funding is distributed will now result in significant shifts of spending power between local authorities, but transitional arrangements are currently still unclear. It is uncertain whether the reforms will significantly improve local government’s financial position given MHCLG’s acknowledgement that there is not enough money to go around. RECOMMENDATION a. To allow local authorities to plan, MHCLG should set out a detailed timetable of its proposed reforms and implementation plans as part of the provisional settlement, including what transitional arrangements it will put in place. 7 b. MHCLG should include detail on what the timetable is for reducing the financial pressure on social care, special educational needs provision and temporary accommodation and an indicative proportion of remaining resources it expects Councils to have to manage commonly used discretionary services. c. MHCLG and HM Treasury should also review how the switch from government to council tax funding has affected the provision of local services. 8 1 Challenges to delivering local services Introduction