Response by CIPFA Chief Executive Owen Mapley on the Chancellor’s statement to Parliament:
Today’s statement by the Chancellor provided welcome confirmation that regular spending reviews and longer-term planning and spending plans will be re-introduced. This approach should improve stability, encourage greater innovation and unlock improved value for money compared with the succession of ad hoc and short-term funding settlements experienced in recent years.
The Chancellor made clear that the government will follow a clear principle of “If we can’t afford it, we can’t do it”.
However, many public services continue to face ongoing financial pressures due to sustained increases in both the volume and complexity of demand, particularly for people services such as adult and children’s social care. The impacts of high inflation over the last two years have also led to sustained increases in costs that are not reducing even as inflation returns to lower levels. With statutory delivery responsibilities that come from legislation designed years before today’s fiscal environment, many councils are not able to say “we can’t do it” but must find ways to meet these increased costs from budgets that are not sufficient to meet demand.
CIPFA welcomes the Government’s commitments to transparency and the incorporation of spending pressures for the current and the next year in OBR assessments linked to the budget. Difficult decisions to deal with in year budget gaps are needed but these difficult decisions must not repeat the experience of previous years where cuts to front line public services had widespread negative impacts on service users and communities. Such cuts also devastated investment in the sort of early intervention and preventative services that can improve outcomes, reduce costs in the long run and unlock greater value for money.
Therefore, as part of the Chancellor’s plan to provide in-year and next year control totals at the Autumn budget on 30 October ahead of a longer-term Spending Review, CIPFA welcomes the focus on investment in prevention, integration and technologies. We hope the recognition of in-year pressures that featured so prominently in the Chancellor’s statement will not lead to damaging cuts to services already reeling from ongoing budget deficits.