Latest news with #deprivation
BBC News
an hour ago
- Business
- BBC News
Labour to shift council funding towards poorer areas
Councils in more deprived areas of England are set to receive a greater share of government cash, under a planned overhaul of funding shake-up will see formulas that affect how billions of pounds are allocated to authorities updated for the first time in over a ministers argue the current system is failing to properly reflect higher demand for council services in poorer rural councils have raised concerns about the new plans, warning they could lose out to the tune of hundreds of millions of pounds. Councils get around half their funding from central government, according to a complex mix of formulas that attempt to capture differing levels of demand and cost for council unveiled on Friday would see the number of these formulas reduced by over a third, along with tweaks designed to direct more cash towards authorities with higher levels of new system, to be phased in over three years from 2026, would also redistribute more central government funding towards authorities where a higher share of properties are in lower council tax changes will not redistribute revenue raised locally via council tax, which will remain subject to a 5% cap on yearly increases, unless a higher increase is backed in a local referendum or the government grants special permission. 'Reinforces the divide' Ministers have argued the current system, last updated in 2013, fails to reflect poorer areas' higher demand for council services, and their weaker council tax bases due to lower average property government minister Jim McMahon said the new rules would move "around £2bn of funding to the places and communities that need it most"."The current funding system is a decade old and reinforces the divide between deprived places and the rest of the country," he added. The changes have been welcomed by SIGOMA, a group of mainly Labour-led urban councils that has long argued that they were harder hit when government funding was slashed during the austerity era in the the County Councils Network, which represents a group of mainly rural authorities, warned the new rules could "overcompensate" for deprivation, arguing there was "little evidence" it was the main driver for services other than social chair, Conservative councillor Tim Oliver, also expressed concern about the changes for funding linked to council tax, adding it could "mean hundreds of millions of pounds of additional funding being redistributed from county areas". 'Significant redistribution' The impact of the new system on each council is not exactly clear. Ministers have not published an illustration of what it will mean for each area, with further details expected in the autumn, when a consultation on the plans the Institute for Fiscal Studies, a think tank, said the changes were likely to lead to a "significant redistribution" of government funding towards deprived areas, particularly in urban parts of the North and research economist Kate Ogden said that those losing out under the new system were unlikely to see a fall in their funding in cash she added that, amid rising costs for delivering services, they could face pressure either to make savings or to ask the government for permission to raise their levels of council tax more than the 5% yearly maximum. The Liberal Democrats criticised the government's plans, adding they would "stand up for the parts of the country which face bearing the brunt of these changes".Mid Dorset and North Poole MP Vikki Slade, the party's local government spokesperson, added the proposals would leave "lots of local authorities teetering on a financial cliff edge". SEND rule extended In other changes, the government has said it plans to extend an accounting rule that allows councils to keep ballooning deficits for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services off their main balance rule was set to expire in March next year, but has now been extended until 2028 pending a "phased transition" towards a new funding CCN had previously warned that without an extension, 18 county and unitary councils would become "insolvent overnight".Separately, the government has published plans to overhaul "outdated" aspects of how council tax is collected, including moving to monthly payments by default instead of over a 10-month period also said it was planning changes that would make it easier for people to challenge the council tax band of their home, and cap the costs councils can charge when collecting late payments through the courts.
Times
16 hours ago
- Business
- Times
Council tax bills set to rise in the south to fund the north
Council tax bills are set to rise across swathes of southern England to funnel more money to northern cities under radical Labour reforms to be set out on Friday. Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, will set out plans for a 'progressive' redistribution of local authority funding designed to ensure more Whitehall money goes to areas with the highest needs. She is expected to announce the move as a significant Labour reform designed to ensure that residents in poorer areas are not paying over the odds in council tax but receiving shoddy services in return. However, council chiefs warn the plans will be 'deeply divisive' as many wealthier areas in London and the home counties lose out. About half of councils' income comes from central government and Rayner will announce plans for a new formula for allocating the money based on local needs, including population, poverty and age. This will lead to more cash going to deprived areas after her department said that the link between funding and local needs had 'broken down' and that reform 'will enable local authorities who have had to scale back services the most to catch up'. Rayner has pointed to people living in cities in the north that are paying hundreds of pounds more in council tax than those in leafy southern areas. She said these residents were 'unfairly being asked to pay more for worse services'. The most extreme examples include the council tax for a three-bedroom semi in Hartlepool, which is more than an £80 million ten-bedroom mansion in Westminster. Government grants to councils will also now be based on calculations of what local authorities could raise if all areas charged the same rates of council tax based on their local mix of housing. The combination of the two changes will mean steep falls in grant income for wealthier councils, mainly in London and the southeast, forcing them to raise council tax rates to make up the shortfall or cut public services. While some councils fear a 'bloodbath' as income collapses overnight and they are pushed into bankruptcy, ministers insist they will not let this happen. They are expected to promise a cap on how much councils' grant income can drop by, transitional protections for those that lose money, as well as extra weighting for rural and coastal areas with higher transport costs. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, insisted she will not change rules which limit councils to raising council tax bills by 5 per cent a year, unless they have permission from local residents in a referendum. However, officials acknowledge that more councils are likely to apply for exceptional permission to raise tax above 5 per cent as they struggle to balance the books. While insisting these will be judged on a case-by-case basis, ministers have signalled they will look more favourably on applications from wealthier areas with historically low council tax rates. Councils are also expected to get more freedom to increase fees and fines for services such as parking, and licensing which are often capped by central government. One senior figure in local government, briefed on the plans, said the move would be 'deeply divisive' and create significant winners and losers. 'There is no doubt at all that it is going to be polarising,' they said. 'For a lot of councils in richer parts of the country the current system works quite well for them and they're going to lose funding. 'A lot of councils in rural areas are also worried that they will see their funding diverted into deprived urban areas.' David Phillips, of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said reform was overdue. 'It's been 20 years since we've had an effective system to allocate funding between councils so it is out of whack and the changes are going to be big,' he said. 'We would expect urban areas in the Midlands and north to benefit, and maybe some of the east London boroughs. But the Westminsters and Wandsworths of this world, which set very low council tax, will lose. If the referendum limit remains at 5 per cent they will be stuck, so the government needs to give them some flexibility to put up their council tax beyond that.' • Who pays council tax and how does it work? He added that home counties areas such as Hertfordshire, Surrey, Buckinghamshire, Wokingham and Oxfordshire could also lose out. 'Given the focus on equalising for council tax bases, which are much stronger in these leafier places, and reassessment of needs, you'd expect leafy areas to lose out and the more deprived areas to benefit,' he said. Phillips added that if the government 'goes to the maximalist side on redistribution, then it is making a trade-off to prioritise need over incentives for councils to tackle need and grow their council tax base. They needs to be clear they are making that call.' The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government argues that the present system has resulted in 'perverse outcomes, where some authorities are struggling to provide basic services whilst others are better off'. A spokeswoman said: 'Individual councils remain responsible for setting their own council tax levels each year, and the government is clear that they should put taxpayers first.' Officials said the new system would 'ensure that government doesn't reward places that have been able to keep council tax levels low due to having stronger tax bases', and be 'fairer to local authorities and their residents where they have had to take difficult decisions historically on council tax, often due to having weaker tax bases'. They said that 'adjusting fully for ability to raise council tax' would 'make funding available in such a way as to enable local authorities to provide the same level of service, regardless of their tax base'. They argued that this 'promotes accountability' by allowing voters to judge councillors if they choose to hold down council tax by cutting services.
BBC News
2 days ago
- General
- BBC News
The 'stigmatised' Penhill estate in Swindon getting cash boost
Penhill estate in Swindon has been named by Chancellor Rachel Reeves as a deprived area which will get up to £20m to spend in the community over the next decade. Ahead of the full details of how the scheme will operate, BBC News spoke to local residents, campaigners, community leaders and politicians about what they would like to see change."The stigmatisation of Penhill has been drastic over the last 30 years," said Di Pithers, a volunteer youth worker, street rep, and campaigner for the estate she grew up on."We have no investment in Penhill. Nobody puts a value on our children, our young adults, our disabled, our elderly," she Pithers hit back against what residents are all too aware is a negative reputation."Unless you know the area you won't understand the community spirit that we have," she Pithers is one of several people I speak to who bring up the same local anecdote - "people don't want to go to any of the places beginning with P" in this, they mean the traditional council estates of Pinehurst, Parks and Penhill."One of the reasons people struggle in Penhill is because there's a reputation associated with being in one of the areas beginning with P," echoed pastor of Penhill Community Church, David Childs-Clarke. "People in Penhill often think of themselves as being considered less than other parts of Swindon - as a church we do try and counter that message," he said."Anything that the government can do to help the reputation of an area will do something positive, to help people with their sense of identity," he Childs-Clarke warned "deprivation probably can't be solved just with money" but said "if an area looks untidy and looks unloved then people don't love it, there are some things financially that could be done to tidy up the area".Penhill was built up from the 1960s, a new estate of council houses and tower blocks set amongst plenty of green in typical household income, quality of health, level of education, child poverty and life expectancy, Penhill comes out among the most deprived in the region. "It's about time Penhill had something put in place for it," said resident Marie Eagle, how the community responded following house fires, she said: "Penhill were there straight away, they rallied round, got furniture, clothing - not many people would do that.""I know it's got a bad rep but not everyone is tarred with the same brush," she she chats about the new cash to her friend Thelma Rees, 74, they say they hope some of the money can be used to bring back free family amenities, like the former community paddling pool."We need a bus that goes from here to the Orbital shopping centre, traffic calming, and it would be nice if we had a bobby that came around once in while," Ms Rees Swindon's Labour MP, Will Stone, said he was "so pleased" Penhill was going to get the support it "desperately" needed. "The timeline will be over the next couple of years, I don't want to get expectations too high and say 'tomorrow you'll get a cash injection into Penhill' because it is going to take time, I want this to be right," he added."Investing in community centres, leisure facilities, and education" would be his personal priority for the cash. 'Is there a caveat?' Asked where she thinks the cash should be spent, volunteer Ms Pithers said: "I want to see provisions for our children and everybody else in Penhill so we've got something to bring up the levels of deprivation we live in."With worries about her youth club being at risk of being kicked out of its existing building, the local doctors surgery only opening three days a week, and only one luncheon club for elderly people, she has a long list of things the money could be spent with all the optimism, she does have her doubts."I am concerned, is there a caveat to receiving this money? It's up to £20m, but we might only get £1m," she said. Penhill was listed among 25 of the government's new "trailblazer neighbourhoods" to be allocated funding by Reeves in the spending review last week. Detailed guidance on how the bid will be put together has not yet been published, but the government said it was working toward money starting to arrive from April 2026.A spokesperson for the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government said communities like Penhill had "been starved of investment and left behind".They said the money would come over the next decade to "boost growth, regenerate our communities and deliver real change people can see on their doorstep".
BBC News
3 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
Pupils from poorest areas less likely to get anti-cancer jab
Doctors say they are concerned about a drop in the number of young people having a vaccine which protects against an infection that can develop into cervical HPV vaccine, which is offered to school pupils aged 12 and 13, helps stop the spread of Human vaccine programme, which started in 2008, has been hugely successful, with no cervical cancer cases detected in women who have been fully Public Health Scotland said it was worried that uptake in Scotland's most deprived communities was 20% lower than in the most affluent areas. HPV is the name given to a large group of viruses which can be caught through sexual contact with another person who already has say most HPV infections go away by themselves but sometimes infections can lead to a variety of serious 2008, Scotland's HPV vaccination programme started offering immunisation to girls in their first year of secondary then, no cervical cancer cases have been detected in women who have been fully vaccinated and, in 2019, the programme was extended to can develop cancer of the anus, penis, mouth and throat as a result of the infection and can also spread the infection to Claire Cameron, a consultant in health protection at PHS, said vaccine uptake in Scotland has been declining gradually over the past decade and "inequalities are increasing" since the Covid pandemic."That's really concerning because this virus can affect everybody and we want everybody to be vaccinated so they can be protected," she said. The latest available data from PHS shows the average HPV vaccination coverage among S1 pupils last year was 71.5%, with girls more likely than boys to be the least deprived areas the vaccine rate at S1 rose to 82.1%.But in the most deprived communities that figure slumped to just 59.9%.Dr Cameron said there were a number of reasons why uptake was lower in some communities."We think it's maybe something to do with vaccine confidence isn't as high as it has been," she said. "Maybe people's engagement with healthcare has changed, but also we offer this vaccine in schools and we know that there has been a change in how young people engage with education and there's challenges there." Last year researchers from Edinburgh University's Bioquarter set up workshops in local schools to teach pupils about the benefits of immunisation against human Cairns-Gibson, who heads one of them at Castlebrae High School in Craigmillar, said vaccine uptake there was considerably lower than the average for the whole of NHS Lothian but in the first year of the programme uptake increased."The thing we have noticed is the increase in confidence," he said. "We've got an ongoing partnership with the school, so they know our scientists, it's trusted people who are coming in and telling them this information."We noticed there was quite a lack of knowledge on HPV and a lot of people conflated it with HIV, so they just didn't necessarily know what it was, why they needed to get it." Pupils at the school are encouraged to ask questions about vaccines and HPV. They also discuss how vaccines can offer protection to a whole community as well as looking at the many different HPV viruses through the microscope. JJ, who is in S2, had been worried about getting his vaccine but after taking part in the workshop decided to go ahead."I had worries about getting the jag because I don't want to get it, but I had also don't want to get the virus," he said. "It will help more because it shows you what happens if you don't get it."Razan, who is 13, said: "I understand more about it and getting more information helps you not get scared."Ellie, 13, said: "If you don't get it then you are more at risk, but not only are you more at risk of getting yourself ill but you are risk of getting other people ill who may not be able to get the vaccine because of medical issues."
The Independent
08-06-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Children in most deprived areas more likely to visit A&E and be obese
Children living in England's most deprived areas are more likely to visit A&E, be overweight or obese and suffer from tooth decay, a new report by aid agency Unicef UK has found. The organisation has called on the Government to lift its two-child benefit cap after its findings showed that where children grow up until the age of five has 'a significant impact' on their early outcomes and future potential. In the report published on Monday, every local authority in England was analysed against its level of deprivation and a range of early childhood health and educational outcomes. It found that, when considering early years development, the most deprived authorities were more than twice as far away from achieving the Government's 'good level' target of 75% than the most affluent areas. Only four of the 151 upper tier local authorities in England are currently meeting that target. Nearly twice as many children suffer from late-stage, untreated tooth decay in the most deprived areas (29%) compared to the least deprived (15%), while five-year-old children living in the poorest communities are three times more likely to have had teeth removed due to decay, the report found. Almost a quarter of reception-age children in the most deprived areas (24%) are overweight or obese, while general obesity levels in those areas are more than double those of children in the most affluent areas (12.9%, compared to 6%). There is also an average of 1,020 A&E visits per 1,000 babies and young children in the most deprived areas, an increase of 55% on rates in the most affluent areas, the report found. The five local authorities with the highest levels of deprivation – Blackpool, Knowsley, Liverpool, Kingston upon Hull, and Middlesbrough – were each in the lowest 20% for five of the six child wellbeing measures used in the analysis. Some 1.2 million babies and children under the age of five – 35% of the age group's total population – now live in poverty across England, the report said. It added that child poverty has increased more in the UK then in any of the 38 OECD and EU countries. Among the report's recommendations are long-term, sustainable funding and expanding provision for Family Hubs, recruiting an additional 1,000 health visitors a year and making access to Government-funded childcare hours equal for all children aged two or older, regardless of their location or parental employment. Unicef UK, joined by BBC presenter Dr Chris Van Tulleken, will present a petition calling for investments in early childhood, which has more than 105,000 signatures, to the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street on Tuesday. Chief executive Dr Philip Goodwin warned the consequences of growing up in poverty can be lifelong and said the report's findings were 'not acceptable'. He said: 'There must be immediate, decisive, and ambitious action by the government. Any further delays will entrench inequality and condemn hundreds of thousands of children to poverty and its effects, as child poverty rates continue to rise. 'The Government must act urgently to lift the two-child limit and the benefit cap and commit to investing in the vital health and education services that support children during their crucial early years.' Introduced in 2015 by then-Conservative chancellor George Osborne, the cap restricts child welfare payments to the first two children born to most families. Sir Keir Starmer said he was 'absolutely determined' to 'drive down' child poverty when he was pressed on the two-child benefit cap in Parliament last week, ahead of the publication of the Government's strategy on the issue.
