Dorset demands better funding from Government
Councillors have described the money coming to them as 'unfair'
Last updated 23rd Jan 2024
Dorset is demanding a better funding deal from the Government.
Despite lobbying for more money, the amount the Council gets from ministers has been described as 'simply not good enough'.
Dorset Council's Chief Finance Officer Aidan Dunn says they're working hard to balance the books:
"We are not at risk of insolvency, we are not at risk of issuing a Section 114 notice, and we are not on any Government watch lists.
"But we are under financial pressure. We can't and mustn't be complacent, we need to value both out time and our money. We have reserves, and we're not using those reserves to fund services, but to underwrite the risks to our budgets."
Dorset gets 0.2% of its funding from the Rate Support Grant, while other unitary council areas receive an average of 4% of their funding.
That's been put down as one of the reasons why Dorset continues to have one of the highest council tax rates in the country.
A presentation to Dorset councillors said that if Dorset, and other rural areas, were treated as a distinct region, the need for levelling up would be greater than any other, based on the Government’s own metrics.
The statistics also show that 46% of Dorset’s residents (175,000) live within areas that fall within the top 20% most deprived nationally for access to services.
The South Dorset parliamentary area, which includes Weymouth and Portland, is the worst in the country for social mobility, according to the Social Mobility Commission.
A summary to councillors said that Dorset Council is continuing to lobby local MPs to improve the position and making presentations to ministerial briefings and meetings.
Place and Resources Scrutiny committee chairman Cllr Shane Bartlett said that to be the 50th worst Government funded local authority in the country, despite all the lobbying by the council leader and others was “simply not good enough.”
The authority is again demanding a better funding deal from central Government, with the current amount described as 'simply not good enough'.
Aidan Dunn is Chief Finance Officer at Dorset Council:
"We don't receive our fair share, from our perspective, of Government funding - as a consequence that's why we have a relatively high level of council tax. That high level of council tax isn't about choice, it's about necessity to fund those statutory services."
Portfolio holder for economic development and levelling up, Cllr Simon Gibson, said the figures did need to be improved on with ongoing efforts being made to bring in additional funding, including working with other partnerships, possibly involving neighbouring councils.