{"id":66845,"date":"2025-08-20T17:18:48","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T16:18:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/?p=66845"},"modified":"2025-08-20T17:24:37","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T16:24:37","slug":"council-leader-calls-for-a-fundamental-reform-of-local-authority-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/council-leader-calls-for-a-fundamental-reform-of-local-authority-funding\/","title":{"rendered":"Council leader calls for a fundamental reform of local authority funding"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>The Leader of Devon County Council, Councillor Julian Brazil, says that the council will continue to call for a &#8216;fundamental reform&#8217; of the funding system that decides how much funding councils get from central government.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It follows the announcement this week that the government&#8217;s plans for reform rely heavily on councils raising their council tax precepts by the maximum 5 percent to support &#8216;core spending&#8217;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.countycouncilsnetwork.org.uk\/county-and-rural-council-tax-payers-set-to-foot-the-bill-of-forthcoming-government-reforms-to-the-funding-system-for-local-authorities\/\" rel=\"noopener\">County Council Network<\/a>, the Government&#8217;s reform will mean most councils will see an improved funding deal, but that 16 councils &#8211; Devon County Council is one of those 16 &#8211; will receive a poorer deal that will require council taxpayers to supplement the shortfall.<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"block_acf-block-68a5f6c1d485e\" class=\"councillor-quote align-right dcc grid-x\">\r\n\t<blockquote class=\"councillor-quote-blockquote medium-auto small-12 cell\">\r\n                    <div class=\"councillor-quote-title\"><p>Councillor Brazil said:<\/p><\/div>\r\n        \t\t<div class=\"councillor-quote-text\"><p>&#8220;Westminster continues to underfund local government.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;More and more of the funding relies on council tax, a regressive tax that does not reflect ability to pay.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Multi-millionaires in London pay half the amount of council tax of local people in Devon!<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We will continue to call for fundamental reform.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;From adult social care to children&#8217;s services, especially services that support children with special educational needs and disabilities, central government ducks the issue.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If they want growth then they need to fund our crumbling road network.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We keep hearing about tough decisions, but these seem to centre around the most vulnerable in our society. It\u2019s incredibly disappointing from a labour government.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\t<\/blockquote>\r\n        <div class=\"councillor-quote-aside medium-auto small-12 cell\">\r\n\t<figure class=\"councillor-quote-image grid-x\">\r\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"small-6 cell medium-12\" src=\"https:\/\/democracy.devon.gov.uk\/UserData\/7\/1\/1\/Info00000117\/bigpic.jpg\" alt=\"Councillor Julian Brazil\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\r\n        <figcaption class=\"councillor-quote-description small-6 cell medium-12\" >\r\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/democracy.devon.gov.uk\/mgUserInfo.aspx?UID=117\" rel=\"noopener\">Councillor Julian Brazil, Leader of the Council<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n            <\/figure>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    \r\n    <\/div>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To read the full County Council Network story, please visit their website. <a href=\"https:\/\/eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.countycouncilsnetwork.org.uk%2Fcounty-and-rural-council-tax-payers-set-to-foot-the-bill-of-forthcoming-government-reforms-to-the-funding-system-for-local-authorities%2F&amp;data=05%7C02%7Cmike.bomford%40devon.gov.uk%7C8a72f7b2a2b44685e87b08dde002ef6f%7C8da13783cb68443fbb4b997f77fd5bfb%7C0%7C0%7C638913025411047349%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=5iM5iDEoIk8VSFPfMa%2F5omDOCkCw%2Fw1FB3DI%2FonS4p0%3D&amp;reserved=0\" rel=\"noopener\">County and rural council tax payers set to foot the bill of forthcoming government reforms to the funding system for local authorities &#8211; County Councils Network<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":66847,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-democracy"],"acf":[],"featured_image":{"ID":66847,"title":"Resizing pics for News Centre (11)","alt":"image shows a small house (like a 'Monopoly' house) on the top of a pile of pound coins, on top of a council tax 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