Autumn Statement: North Somerset Council give their reaction
Now the Chancellor has made his Autumn Statement, the local authority reflects on what it means for us
Now the Chancellor has made his Autumn Statement, councils across the country are reflecting on what it means for us.
One of those local authorities is North Somerset, which have given a mixed reaction to this week's announcement.
That's despite Jeremy Hunt saying it will "take time" to bring taxes down, but he's "made a start" with helping the UK's economy.
Yesterday, he also announced a cut of 2 percent in National Insurance from January, and also confirmed the 75-per cent business rates relief for tourism and hospitality will continue.
Other headlines included an increase to the capped rate of housing benefit for tenants in private rented accommodation.
Cllr Mike Bell, Leader of the Council, from the Liberal Democrats and Independents Group, said: “From April next year, the maximum amount of money people can receive in housing benefit and Universal Credit to support their rent payments will go up. This is a step in the right direction when so many are struggling to keep up with rising rents.
“However, the Chancellor has only promised this increase for a year, so unless things change, renters will begin to face similar issues again from April 2025.”
The Chancellor also promised increases in the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage, reductions in the amount of National Insurance paid by working people and an increase of 8.5 per cent for state pension payments.
Despite the positive signs, there was no news on future cost-of-living payments - something which North Somerset Council has campaigned for to help people struggling with energy bills.
Cllr Bell added: “It’s really disappointing that the government hasn’t answered our call to protect low-income families from sky-high fuel bills. They promised to look at options like social tariffs in last year's Autumn Statement but we are still yet to see anything materialise.”
On this, a spokesperson from the Government said: “The cost of living payments have provided a significant financial boost to millions of households - just one part of the record £94 billion support package we have provided to help with the rising cost of bills.
“This includes an increase to the National Living Wage, the biggest ever expansion of free childcare for working parents worth an average £6,500 a year for a working family. We’re also investing £3.5 billion to help thousands into jobs – the best way to secure financial security in the long-term.
There was also no news of fairer funding plans for the public sector, something North Somerset Council says will make it 'challenging' to set a balanced budget for.
Cllr Bell explained: “We have worked really hard to identify further savings to help us towards a balanced budget for the year ahead, but still have a budget gap of £3.9m to close for 2024/25. I had hoped that the Chancellor would use today’s announcements to address the chronic under-funding of local government that we have experienced over successive governments, but this was conspicuous by its absence.
“As it is we have no indication of commitment on local government funding or announcements on council tax or social care precept which make our budget preparations for the year ahead even more challenging. We will continue to press the government for fair funding in the coming weeks.”
Cllr Catherine Gibbons, Deputy Leader of the Council, added: “Council finances all over the country are under immense pressure, and increasing need means that spending nationally on children’s social care has gone up by 13.6 per cent and on adult social care by 12.8 per cent, yet sadly, the Chancellor has offered no additional funding for local authorities to deal with these pressures, and make it easier for us to support children, young people, and vulnerable adults.”
The Resolution Foundation said Mr Hunt's tax cuts yesterday "rest on a fiscal fiction - implausible spending cuts", including unprotected departments facing reductions of 14% in their real per-person day-to-day spending and capital spending falling by a third as a share of GDP - equivalent to a £20 billion annual cut in investment.
Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said the Chancellor's plans are based on "questionable, if not plain implausible, assumptions", including that "many aspects of day-to-day public service spending will be cut".
You can find out more about the Autumn Statement here: Autumn Budget Statement: Everything you need to know