Source · Select Committees · Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 9
9
Accepted
Bolstering preventative services must not underfund essential acute services like temporary accommodation.
Conclusion
We support the Government’s current stated intention to focus more on prevention to reduce the demand for more expensive acute services in the long term. These preventative services have been weakened by a decade of underfunding in local government. However, bolstering preventative services must not come at the expense of acute services, such as temporary accommodation provision, lacking the funding they need today. (Conclusion, Paragraph 48) 74
Government Response Summary
The government plans to radically simplify the grant landscape for local authorities in 2026–27 by consolidating grants across various service areas into large, multi-year grants delivered through the Local Government Finance Settlement (LGFS) and rolling suitable grants into the Revenue Support Grant.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
37. As set out in the FFR 2.0, the government intends to radically simplify the grant landscape to give local authorities more certainty and flexibility around a greater portion of their income. We consolidated 11 grants worth almost £700 million into the 2025–26 LGFS, and intend to go further and faster for 2026–27. As part of this, we intend to bring together grants from across government into a series of large, consolidated grants delivered through the LGFS, covering a wide range of service areas - including public health; homelessness and rough sleeping; community crisis and resilience; and children, families and youth. Where possible, we are also rolling suitable grants into the Revenue Support Grant to reduce the number of micro grants delivered to the sector. We will set out more detail at the provisional LGFS.