To ensure that councils in England can continue to provide essential frontline services, the Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove today (19 December 2022) confirmed a nearly £60 billion package for councils in England for the next financial year. This package will be available for councils in England.
As a result of the settlement, councils throughout England will benefit from an additional £5 billion, which is a 9% increase on the settlement from the previous year. This comes as the government continues to stand behind councils and public services in the face of increasing financial difficulties.
The agreement for the following year contains a one-time Funding Guarantee, which ensures that each council in England will experience at least a 3% increase in core spending power prior to any local choices being made regarding council tax. In addition to this, the government has today announced that it will be confirming a new scheme that will provide councils with a total of one hundred million pounds to protect the most vulnerable households from increases in council tax. This fulfills the manifesto commitment to protect local taxpayers from increases that are excessive.
A priority is also being placed on social care, as seen by the government's decision to increase grant money for social services by two billion dollars for the fiscal year 2023–2024. In addition, the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS) would receive an additional sum of 300 million pounds to facilitate the discharge of patients and aid increase capacity.
The federal government, having listened to the councils' concerns, has provided greater certainty up to 2024/25, defining funding for the next two years; this will enable town halls to confidently plan for the future.

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