NALC urges the government to give parish and town councils their fair share of funding 

We have urged the government to give parish and town councils a fair share of funding to support their financial sustainability and resilience.

In our response to the Public Accounts Committee inquiry on local government financial sustainability, we highlight that while the inquiry is focussed on principal authorities, parish and town councils are also part of local government and play a growing role in delivering local services, increasingly taking on new responsibilities.

Our submission urges the government to require principal authorities to pass on an appropriate share of the New Homes Bonus to communities that have been required to accept new homes and called for rate relief to be extended to all parish and town council-owned buildings, including libraries and museums.

We also pushed for parish and town councils to receive a share of business rates collected in their area to enable them to fund additional unfunded services. In addition, we lobbied for the removal of double taxation, equal rights for parish and town councils to apply for all government funding on the same basis as principal authorities, and for data collected by local government agencies to include parish and town councils to provide early warning signs of councils getting into financial difficulty.

The inquiry on local government financial sustainability sought views on drivers of financial distress for local authorities, including adult and children’s social care, temporary accommodation, special educational needs and disability services for children and young people, challenges and support for individuals in accessing local authority services, and support for financially failing local authorities and action to tackle systemic issues.