Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government sees funding boost in Spending Round 2019

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will see a 2.7% real terms increase to its resource budget from 2019-20 to 2020-21, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced in the Spending Round 2019.

The settlement set out by Sajid Javid includes:

  • A £422 million resource funding to help reduce homelessness and rough sleeping, including an additional £54 million in 2020-21.
  • £24 million additional funding for the Building Safety Programme “to support the new building safety regime and help prevent a tragedy like Grenfell happening again. This comes on top of £600 million of government funding for the removal of aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding in the private and social residential sectors”.
  • £10 million additional funding for English as a second language provision. This will enable a second wave of the Integration Areas Programme.
  • A total of £241 million from the Towns Fund in 2020-21 to support the regeneration of high streets, town centres and local economies.
  • Continued funding for the Midlands Engine and Northern Powerhouse.
  • Continued support to increase home ownership through the Help to Buy equity loan and other housing programmes, including providing Homes England additional funding to deliver more homes where people need them.
  • Continued funding for the Troubled Families programme, which is transforming the way public services are delivered to support families with complex needs.

The Local Government departmental expenditure limit will increase by £1.1 billion in cash terms on the adjusted baseline. The Treasury said that with this increase in grant, Local Government Core Spending Power was estimated to increase by £2.9 billion in total in 2020-21 and that within this:

  • The settlement includes an additional £1 billion grant for adult and children’s social care.
  • The government will consult on a 2 per cent Adult Social Care precept that will enable councils to access a further £0.5 billion, bringing the total increase in funding for social care to £1.5 billion.
  • Local Government’s business rate baseline funding levels will also increase in line withinflation.

“This funding will help local authorities to meet rising demand in social care services and continue to help stabilise the system,” the Treasury claimed.

Other major announcements or confirmations include:

  • High-needs funding for schools will increase by more than £700 million in 2020-21, an increase of more than 11 per cent on 2019-20 funding levels. “This funding will support children and young people with special educational needs to ensure all receive a high-quality education and reach their potential.”
  • Local authorities will receive additional resources through a real terms increase in the Public Health Grant and through the NHS contribution to adult social care through the Better Care Fund, which will increase by 3.4 per cent in real terms, in line with the overall NHS long-term settlement.

“Combined with the £2.9 billion increase in Core Spending Power, these announcements mean local authorities can benefit from more than £3.5 billion of additional resources made available in this Spending Round,” the Treasury said.

Other departmental settlements

Department for Health & Social Care

The Department’s resource budget will rise by 3.1 per cent in real terms. The NHS will be given a cash increase of £33.9 billion a year by 2023-24 compared to 2018-19 budgets, “as well as boosting other vital budgets to deliver better health outcomes for patients and the public”. The settlement includes:

  • A 3.4 per cent real terms increase in the Health Education England (HEE) budget. This will include an additional £150 million for Continuing Professional Development, providing a £1,000 central training budget for each nurse, midwife and allied health professional over three years, as well as increased funding for wider education and training budgets to support delivery of the NHS Long Term Plan.
  • A real terms increase to the Public Health Grant budget, “which will ensure local authorities can continue to provide prevention and public health interventions”.
  • Additional funding to deliver the government’s commitment to upgrade outdated facilities and equipment in 20 hospitals – sharing an £854 million pot of new funding. “This is alongside a £1 billion boost to NHS capital spending in 2019-20 to allow existing upgrades to proceed and to tackle the most urgent infrastructure projects”.
  • The government will invest £250 million in artificial intelligence, including £78 million in 2020-21, “to help solve some of healthcare’s toughest challenges, including earlier cancer detection and discovering new treatments”.
  • As mentioned above, the Local Government settlement contains an additional £1 billion for adult and children’s social care. The government will also consult on a 2 per cent precept that will enable councils to access a further £0.5 billion for adult social care.
  • The government said it "remains committed to putting adult social care on a fairer and more sustainable footing and will bring forward proposals in due course”.
  • The Department will receive a new multi-year capital settlement at the next capital review. “This will look to deliver a smarter, more strategic long-term approach to the country’s health infrastructure, with investment focused on local areas where the need is greatest. The plan will include capital to build new hospitals, modernise diagnostics and technology, and help eradicate current critical safety issues in the NHS estate.”

Department for Education

  • The schools budget will be increased by £7.1 billion (£4.6 billion above inflation) by 2022-23, compared to 2019-20 funding levels. To fulfil this commitment, the Spending Round exceptionally sets budgets for schools until 2022-23.
  • The schools budget will rise by £2.6 billion in 2020-21, £4.8 billion in 2021-22 and £7.1 billion in 2022-23, compared to 2019-20 funding levels.
  • The government will use part of this funding to continue to implement the schools National Funding Formula. The government will ensure that per pupil funding for all schools can rise in line with inflation (1.8 per cent) in 2020-21. For schools already on their National Funding Formula allocation, the per pupil values in the formula will increase by at least 4 per cent in nominal terms in 2020-21. The minimum per pupil amount for 2020-21 will increase to £3,750 for primary schools and £5,000 for secondary schools, with the primary schools minimum then rising to £4,000 in 2021-22 in line with the government’s commitment.
  • Over £700 million more in 2020-21 compared to 2019-20 funding levels will be made available to support children and young people with special educational needs.
  • There will be a £400 million investment in Further Education in 2020-21, “recognising the vital role of this sector in delivering the skills needed for our economy”. This package includes £190 million to increase core funding for 16-19 year-olds at a faster rate than core schools funding, and £210 million of funding in targeted interventions such as high-cost programmes, English and Maths resits, T Levels, the Advanced Maths Premium and workforceinvestments.
  • The government will also increase early years spending by £66 million to increase the hourly rate paid to childcare providers through the government’s free hours offers.

Home Office

  • A 6.3 per cent increase in real terms to the department’s resource budget from 2019-20 to 2020-21.
  • An extra £750 million for policing will be made available to begin delivery of the government’s commitment to recruit 20,000 additional officers by 2023 (up to 6,000 officers are to be in place by the end of 2020-21.
  • An additional £30 million will be provided to safeguard children from child sexual exploitation and abuse. “Increasing funding for cutting-edge technology and the best intelligence and law enforcement capabilities will enable police officers to continue to target the worst and most sophisticated offenders”.
  • The budget for counter-terrorism policing will be increased in line with inflation, including continuing the additional £160 million announced at Budget 2018, which maintains current counter-terrorism capability and protects officer numbers.
  • £110 million additional funding, plus £65 million of Official Development Assistance (ODA), for the asylum system and continuing £150 million funding for the Global Resettlement Programme.
  • Maintaining £480 million of Brexit funding in real terms, including continued funding for Border Force capability and delivery of the EU Settlement Scheme.
  • There will be a formal review of the powers, capabilities, governance and funding needed across the policing and law enforcement landscape, including the National Crime Agency and the wider justice system, “to enable it to improve its response to serious and organised crime in all its forms”. This will report in advance of Spending Review 2020. The terms of reference for the review will be agreed between HM Treasury and Home Office and announced in due course.

Ministry of Justice

  • A 4.9 per cent increase in real terms to the department’s resource budget from 2019-20 to2020-21.
  • Funding to begin delivery of the government’s £2.5 billion commitment to create an additional 10,000 prison places, “which forms an important part of the government’s plan to crack down on crime”.
  • £100 million will be provided to increase security in prisons through the introduction of more airport-style security scanners, mobile phone detection and prevention technology, and anti-corruption and intelligence operations.
  • £55 million will be made available across the criminal justice system to support the work of 20,000 additional police officers.
  • There will be additional funding to support the ongoing reform of the probation system, “which will help reduce reoffending and improve the quality of post-custody supervision”.

Law Officers’ Departments

  • A 12.4 per cent increase in real terms to the departments’ resource budgets from 2019-20 to 2020-21, including an additional £80 million of funding in 2020-21 for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to support the work of 20,000 additional police officers. “This will also help the CPS to respond effectively to the increasing complexity of cases.”

Department for Transport

  • An 11.4 per cent increase in real terms to the department’s resource budget from 2019-20 to 2020-21;
  • £1.1 billion funding will be made available to ensure the Strategic Road Network “runs safely and smoothly, enabling a high-performing road network that will support the economy”;
  • Support for rail passengers and the wider rail network – for example, by committing a further £275 million for maintaining rail infrastructure in 2020-21 compared to 2019-20;
  • Over £200 million of increased funding to transform bus services, making best use of technology and promoting decarbonisation. Further details will be announced in due course.
  • Continued support for the development of major transport projects, including pushing on with work on the Leeds to Manchester route of Northern Powerhouse Rail, and driving forward East West rail links in the Oxford to Cambridge Arc.

Source: Spending Round 2019. HM Treasury