SOMERSET leaders have cautiously welcomed news of an increase in funding for the county in Wednesday’s Budget.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves (Lab, Leeds West and Pudsey) announced increases in funding for education, adult social care, homelessness and infrastructure during her first Budget.
She also confirmed £1 billion for the Household Support Fund and Discretionary Housing Payments in 2025-26, to be used by local authorities to address “immediate hardship and crisis”.
Many government funds at the centre of announcements in the Budget are actually delivered through local authorities, such as Somerset Council and North Somerset Council, who are themselves in the midst of funding shortfalls.
And leaders have emphasised the need for ‘more to be done’ after the Chancellor’s speech.
Leader of North Somerset Council, Cllr Mike Bell, said: “We welcome the announcement of real-term funding increases for local government nationally including £1.3bn for additional grant funding to deliver essential services, with at least £600m in social care grant funding and £230m to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.
“However, as always, the devil is in the detail and with the Local Government Association reporting a £2.3bn budget gap in council finances for next year, the money can only go so far.
“We will still need to make difficult choices in order to balance the budget for North Somerset.
“Out of every £100 North Somerset Council spends, £52 is spent providing services for adult and children social care, with these figures only set to rise as demand and costs increase.
“We await further detail from the government on the additional grant, how it can be spent and whether it will help us balance the books and address our own financial shortfall.
“We are yet to hear about the support with winter pressures or immediate funding to help with in-year costs.
“This year is particularly challenging, and urgent work is being undertaken to help balance our local budget, so national support would have been timely. There is no doubt more that still needs to be done to give funding certainty to local councils, but we welcome the steps being made.”
County roads could also see a boost as a result of changes announced on Wednesday, with £500m added to road maintenance budgets from next year, along with £650m for local transport funding.
Cllr Bell added: “The extra funding for highways is helpful as we know this is a key priority for local residents. However, with a £16 billion national backlog in highway repairs, again, this is only one step in the right direction.
“Although a number of railway schemes were given the green light in today’s budget statement, we are disappointed that there was no reference to the Portishead MetroWest rail project.
“We continue to play a waiting game on this key project to link Portishead and Pill to Bristol.”
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Cllr Bill Revans, leader of Somerset Council, also gave his reaction to the Budget.
He said: “Along with other councils we have lobbied hard in the lead up to this Budget and I’m pleased the Chancellor has made reference to some of our areas of concern, however there is still a long way to go to address social care, homelessness and SEND pressures.
“There were no resolutions proposed to resolve the pressures and deficits in the Dedicated Schools Grant referenced.
“While the proposed increase in minimum wage is welcome, it will increase costs in areas like social care contracts creating additional pressures.”
He also said the scrapping of plans to dual the A358 were “disappointing”, though expected.
He added: “We await the full details with interest, but it is clear this Budget will not go far enough to fully address the financial emergency facing councils across the country.
“What we really need is proper reform, with multi-year financial settlements and appropriate funding to ensure councils can meet ever-increasing demands for core services.
“Having greater flexibility over funding, including fewer ringfenced grants, would allow us to put money where it is best needed for Somerset residents.”
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