A Cumbrian council claimed its financial settlement from the Government was as bleak as it feared.
Westmorland & Furness Council warned people earlier this week that it would have to impose a 4.99 per cent rise on council tax and implement other measures to make sure the authority was financially stable.
The Liberal Democrat-run council issued a statement yesterday after the Government launched its initial consultation on the settlement.
Its statement did not disclose the planned settlement figures, but said it represented a reduction in the Government grant of over 30%.
The Labour Government is consulting on a multi-year settlement rather than individual years.
In 2024-2025, said Westmorland & Furness Council core spending power – a standard measure used by government to assess councils’ overall funding – was £284.7 million.
Its figures show that Westmorland & Furness Council’s core spending power – will be as follows:
- 2025-2026: £309.9 million
- 2026-2027: £314.1 million
- 2027-2028: £315.9 million
- 2028-2029: £318.8 million
From 2026, it will also benefit from the Fair Funding reset, which updates how funding is distributed so it better reflects deprivation, rural delivery costs and social care pressures. The allocation tapers over time as temporary protections are unwound.
It is as follows:
- 2026-2027: £110.5 million
- 2027-2028: £96.3 million
- 2028-2029: £82.2 million
Headline spending power figures assume use of the council tax flexibility available under national rules, and that decisions about council tax remain a matter for local councillors.
Cllr Andrew Jarvis, the council’s cabinet member for finance, said: “There is no doubt that what has been presented is a substantial reduction in government grant and an overall real terms reduction in funding for services in Westmorland and Furness.
“We had already warned in our budget consultation launch that we were faced with making some very difficult decisions and the settlement unfortunately confirms that position.
“It is deeply regrettable that councils like ours are expected to find tens of millions of pounds of savings at a time when we are facing a huge increase in demand for services to support the most vulnerable young people and adults in our society and many of our other costs also continue to rise.”
“The full implications for services will now be reviewed ahead of the council setting its budget in the new year.
“We will continue to make representations to our MPs and government that in our view the Government’s new funding formula does not give sufficient weight to factors such as the significance of rural poverty or the additional financial burden of delivering services in a large, sparsely populated area like ours.
“Funding is in effect being diverted away from rural areas over the next three years and we believe a range of financial assumptions have been made which are not realistic for an area with our rural characteristics.
“The fact that many of these changes have only been presented this week makes the task of assessing important decisions on public services all the more difficult as we must set a budget early in 2026.”
