Recommendation 12

The Government deserves credit for having responded to an unprecedented crisis with significant emergency funding that, from a national perspective, broadly covers all the additional financial pressures consequent on the pandemic and lockdowns in 2021–22. The effects of the pandemic will be felt for many years, however, and we are concerned that the Government has not committed to covering costs arising in future years, including from lost council tax and business rates. We are concerned, too, that some local authorities have been worse hit than others, particularly shire districts, and that some of these councils, even with the additional government funding, will still be left out of pocket. The disproportionate impact on local authorities will not assist the Government’s levelling up agenda.