In response to the publication of the local government finance policy statement, Joanne Pitt, Acting Head of Policy, said:
“The additional certainty in the settlement is welcome but it’s not a panacea for the difficult time ahead.
“While we fully support the need for transparency and a better understanding of reserves, it’s important to remember that reserves, by their very nature, can only be used once as they are not a sustainable income stream.
“I would be particularly keen to understand the plans that the Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities has for the revenue outturn forms, as these might present an opportunity to improve data collection. This would help with understanding why the reserves exist and the important role they play within the local government finance system.
“The new edition of CIPFA’s Resilience Index, which is a comparative tool that analyses the financial risk that local authorities are exposed to, will be published shortly and has laid a strong foundation for the usefulness of a comparative approach. This can help an authority understand its position in relation to other authorities.”
NOTES TO EDITOR:
The local government finance policy statement was published on 12 December 2022.
For more information, please email the CIPFA press desk: mark.davey@cipfa.org