MPs join forces for fairer funding
Somerset MPs have joined forces with colleagues from remote areas across the country in calling for a fairer Local Government Settlement.
The 20-strong cross-party group have written to Steve Reed, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, urging the government not to remove the “remoteness” funding uplift from their local authorities.
The "remoteness factor" is designed to compensate rural councils for the significantly higher cost of delivering vital services across a wide area with a spread-out population.
Without this "remoteness factor", these services must be entirely funded by increasing Council Tax or cutting services to remote areas.
The MPs’ letter says: “Removing this funding uplift would have far-reaching impacts on services to the remotest and most vulnerable in our communities.
“Remote rural authorities frequently extend 60 miles or more from one side to the other and so face substantially and unavoidably higher unit costs delivering essential statutory services including transport for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, highway maintenance, public transport, waste collection and environmental health enforcement and flood prevention and management work.
“The government has already recognised the costs of remoteness as a weighted factor in adult social care funding, precisely because the cost of delivering home visits, assessments, and care packages increases significantly in sparsely populated areas.
“Yet the same logic — that officers spending hours travelling between appointments cannot deliver the same volume of work as colleagues in urban areas — applies equally to SEND transport coordination, waste collection routes, environmental health inspections, and safeguarding visits.
“The inconsistency cannot be justified. If remoteness drives up costs in adult social care, it drives up costs across all services with similar geographically-dependent costs.”
The letter says that according to the Local Government Association, county councils spend £141 per capita on SEND home-to-school transport, compared with £107 per capita in London boroughs.
“County and rural councils now transport twice as many SEND pupils on average (2,458) as other areas—a 45% increase from the 2018/19 average of 1,694 pupils. Costs have risen from £6,792 per pupil in 2018/19 to £9,750 this year, a 44% increase.
“These are the inherent financial realities of delivering public services across geographically dispersed populations, and they affect every remote and rural constituency in England.”
During Prime Minister's Questions last month, in response to a question about this remoteness uplift, Sir Keir Starmer said: "We understand the challenges in rural communities, and we will look at that as part of the work we are doing on reform."
The cross-party group of MPs write: “To honour that commitment, we urge the government in the strongest terms to retain the remoteness uplift for the most remote authorities or otherwise recompense these authorities for the unique costs they face before the final Local Government Settlement is decided.
“Funding formulas must reflect the true cost of delivering services. When they do not, it is our constituents – who pay the same taxes as their urban counterparts – who will suffer in vital areas, from demonstrably poorer children's services to ineffective flood prevention.
“The remoteness uplift is not a technical adjustment; it is a question of basic fairness.
“We look forward to hearing from you urgently on this matter.”
The letter is signed by:
- Gideon Amos MP - Taunton and Wellington
- Sarah Dyke MP - Glastonbury and Somerton
- Ian Roome MP - North Devon
- Adam Dance MP - Yeovil
- Tessa Munt MP - Wells and Mendip Hills
- Ashley Fox MP - Bridgwater
- Richard Foord MP - Honiton and Sidmouth
- Caroline Voaden MP - South Devon
- David Reed MP - Exmouth and Exeter East
- Steve Darling MP - Torbay
- Edward Morello MP - West Dorset
- Ellie Chowns MP - North Herefordshire
- Anna Sabine MP - Frome and East Somerset
- Rachael Gilmour MP - Tiverton and Minehead
- Ben Maguire MP - North Cornwall
- Andrew George MP - St Ives
- Vikki Slade MP - Mid Dorset and North Poole
- Martin Wrigley MP - Newton Abbot
- Rebecca Smith MP - South West Devon
- Tim Farron MP - Westmorland and Lonsdale
