Recommendation 7

The Government must follow through on its commitment to simplify funding streams and reduce requirements to access competitive pots. The DLUHC must also seek to reduce the number of competitive funding pots. By reducing the number of such pots, by simplifying the funding landscape, and by making the process more accessible, the DLUHC can avoid unnecessary waste of both local and central Government resources. This would address some of the concerns regarding the resource intensive process surrounding competitive bidding. The Government must seek to ensure that those local authorities which need additional resources are supported through adequate essential core funding streams and supported in their applications. Competitive bids for additional funding should in no way be a replacement for the funding that local authorities have historically received and should continue to be allocated. In order to ensure competitive bidding does encourage collaboration and innovation, and is a worthwhile exercise, future competitive funds must be for unique ventures and the amount of funding available must be substantial.