Information from... NAVCA
Local Government Reorganisation and Finance
Local Government Reorganisation
For those of you in four of the devolution priority areas that are also subject to local government reorganisation, consultations on the proposals were released on 19 November.
The affected areas are East Sussex and West Sussex, Essex, Hampshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.
The consultation runs only until 11 January 2026 and local infrastructure is listed as a statutory consultee in all the consultations. We have produced a summary of the progress on LGR and guidance on how to respond to the consultation. You can access this here.
You can discuss your responses via NAVCA Connect here.
Local Government Finance
Published on 20 November 2025, MHCLG has released the outcome of the Fair Funding Review 2.0 and announced the first part of a new multi-year Settlement for local government to 31 March 2029. Details of the proposed financial Settlement [part 2] will follow later in December 2025 and will set out provisional local authority funding allocations.
Future fair funding for local authorities will comprise a fair assessment of need, ability to raise taxes locally, transition arrangements for those facing reduced funding and additional funding for growth, children’s services and homelessness. Whilst some councils will receive additional funds from central government, others will receive less, making them more reliant on the income they can raise locally. You can read the short briefing here.