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Fairer Funding for Gloucestershire campaign

For too long, Gloucestershire has been expected to deliver essential public services such as education for our children, social care and fixing potholes with not enough money.

Recent Government decisions to reduce the amount of money we receive have made our situation worse, meaning making tough choices about the services people rely on every day. The amount of funding the Government gives us does not not reflect the true cost of serving a growing and ageing population in a large, mainly rural area.

That’s why we are launching a petition calling on the Government to provide Fairer Funding for the people of Gloucestershire.

Sign the petition

This is not a request for special treatment. It is a call for fairness – and for a funding settlement that enables Gloucestershire to build a stronger future.

Across our towns, villages and communities, Gloucestershire deserves its fair share.

What is Local Government Reorganisation?

In December 2024, the Government announced that it was going to change local government across the country. In Gloucestershire that meant the County Council and six District Councils would be replaced by one unitary council responsible for all services across the county. The aim is to create a simpler, more efficient and accountable system for local government.

This summer the Government paused Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) so they could review the decisions already made. Gloucestershire has already spent millions on LGR and the pause could make it even more expensive.

Five calls for change

  1. Give Gloucestershire a fair funding settlement that properly recognises the higher cost of delivering services across a rural county.
  2. End the long-standing injustice in schools and SEND funding. Fund our children properly and write off the full historic deficit.
  3. Invest properly in Gloucestershire’s roads, with enough funding to tackle the existing backlog of £90m and the annual £15 million gap in the maintenance fund to prevent it growing again.
  4. Pay the costs of Local Government Reorganisation and quickly provide clarity on what happens next, rather than saddling Gloucestershire taxpayers with an estimated £22 million bill and leaving local communities and councils in limbo.
  5. Act now on social care, providing immediate meaningful reform and funding that reflects inflation and rising demand, so no-one is left behind.

The Government’s recent Fair Funding Review leaves Gloucestershire facing a substantial reduction in the money available for local services: approximately £60 million over the first three years, followed by an ongoing loss of around £30 million each year.

The national funding formula considers factors such as population, demographics, deprivation and the amount of council tax and business rates an area can raise. We accept the need for a formula that directs resources according to need. However, the latest changes have gone too far and fail to recognise the cost of delivering services in a rural county. Rurality has been removed from the Government’s funding formula. We demand that it is put back in.

Gloucestershire’s geography matters. Residents are spread across Gloucester and Cheltenham, market towns villages and isolated rural communities. Roads are longer, journeys take more time and services are often more expensive to deliver. The reduction in funding leaves us with stark choices such as cuts to the Fire Service budget.

Gloucestershire’s district councils have also experienced reductions in funding. This matters not only today, but also in the future. We don’t want Gloucestershire taxpayers to be saddled with lots of debt.

We call on the Government to review Gloucestershire’s settlement, recognise the genuine costs of delivering services in a rural area and provide sustainable funding for the future.

The Government’s recent Fair Funding Review leaves Gloucestershire facing a substantial reduction in the money available for local services: approximately £60 million over the first three years, followed by an ongoing loss of around £30 million each year.

The national funding formula considers factors such as population, demographics, deprivation and the amount of council tax and business rates an area can raise. We accept the need for a formula that directs resources according to need. However, the latest changes have gone too far and fail to recognise the cost of delivering services in a rural county. Rurality has been removed from the Government’s funding formula. We demand that it is put back in.

Gloucestershire’s geography matters. Residents are spread across Gloucester and Cheltenham, market towns villages and isolated rural communities. Roads are longer, journeys take more time and services are often more expensive to deliver. The reduction in funding leaves us with stark choices such as cuts to the Fire Service budget.

Gloucestershire’s district councils have also experienced reductions in funding. This matters not only today, but also in the future. We don’t want Gloucestershire taxpayers to be saddled with lots of debt.

We call on the Government to review Gloucestershire’s settlement, recognise the genuine costs of delivering services in a rural area and provide sustainable funding for the future.

Ending a decade of unfairness

Gloucestershire has faced unfair education funding for more than a decade. The county council was a founding member of the f40 Group, which campaigns for fairer education funding and reform on behalf of some of the lowest-funded local authority areas in England.

Our current allocation is based on outdated information from 2017. As a result, children in Gloucestershire receive approximately £5,000 less per pupil than children in the highest-funded authorities. The inequality in funding for children with SEND is particularly stark and while the Government has acknowledged that the formula needs to change, at the current rate, Gloucestershire could be waiting around 15 years for the gap to close. Our children can’t and shouldn’t have to wait that long!

Writing off the remaining SEND deficit

Despite inadequate national funding, the council has continued to meet its legal responsibilities to children with SEND. Doing the right thing has contributed to a cumulative deficit of approximately £125 million and rising.

We welcome the Government’s proposal to write off 90% of this deficit. However, because the deficit continues to grow, Gloucestershire could still face a bill of around £27 million by 2028."

Schools and SEND support are national responsibilities funded through money intended specifically for education so this debt should not fall on Gloucestershire taxpayers. Therefore, the full amount ought to be written off.

We call on the Government to update the education funding formula, accelerate additional funding for low-funded areas and write off 100% of Gloucestershire’s SEND deficit.

Ending a decade of unfairness

Gloucestershire has faced unfair education funding for more than a decade. The county council was a founding member of the f40 Group, which campaigns for fairer education funding and reform on behalf of some of the lowest-funded local authority areas in England.

Our current allocation is based on outdated information from 2017. As a result, children in Gloucestershire receive approximately £5,000 less per pupil than children in the highest-funded authorities. The inequality in funding for children with SEND is particularly stark and while the Government has acknowledged that the formula needs to change, at the current rate, Gloucestershire could be waiting around 15 years for the gap to close. Our children can’t and shouldn’t have to wait that long!

Writing off the remaining SEND deficit

Despite inadequate national funding, the council has continued to meet its legal responsibilities to children with SEND. Doing the right thing has contributed to a cumulative deficit of approximately £125 million and rising.

We welcome the Government’s proposal to write off 90% of this deficit. However, because the deficit continues to grow, Gloucestershire could still face a bill of around £27 million by 2028."

Schools and SEND support are national responsibilities funded through money intended specifically for education so this debt should not fall on Gloucestershire taxpayers. Therefore, the full amount ought to be written off.

We call on the Government to update the education funding formula, accelerate additional funding for low-funded areas and write off 100% of Gloucestershire’s SEND deficit.

Gloucestershire has spent years making the best possible use of insufficient highways funding from Government. The council has allocated its highest-ever level of local funding to highways in the current budget, but the scale of the historic problem is greater than local resources can resolve alone.

It is estimated that around £90 million would be required to bring the county’s roads up to the standard residents reasonably expect.

Even though we receive reasonable grant funding from the Department for Transport compared to some other councils, it has not been sufficient to tackle the backlog. This creates a damaging cycle: repairs are delayed, road conditions deteriorate, costs increase and more money must be spent reacting to urgent problems rather than preventing them.

A one-off recovery settlement, combined with realistic ongoing funding, would allow Gloucestershire to move from short-term repairs to planned and preventative maintenance.

We call on the Government to provide funding to address the £90 million historic highways challenge, followed by a fair and sustainable annual settlement for road maintenance.

Gloucestershire has spent years making the best possible use of insufficient highways funding from Government. The council has allocated its highest-ever level of local funding to highways in the current budget, but the scale of the historic problem is greater than local resources can resolve alone.

It is estimated that around £90 million would be required to bring the county’s roads up to the standard residents reasonably expect.

Even though we receive reasonable grant funding from the Department for Transport compared to some other councils, it has not been sufficient to tackle the backlog. This creates a damaging cycle: repairs are delayed, road conditions deteriorate, costs increase and more money must be spent reacting to urgent problems rather than preventing them.

A one-off recovery settlement, combined with realistic ongoing funding, would allow Gloucestershire to move from short-term repairs to planned and preventative maintenance.

We call on the Government to provide funding to address the £90 million historic highways challenge, followed by a fair and sustainable annual settlement for road maintenance.

If Local Government Reorganisation goes ahead then creating a new system of local government is expected to cost Gloucestershire County Council approximately £12 million, while the district councils are expected to find a further £10 million between them. That is a combined cost of around £22 million. A large amount of this has already been spent and the overall cost could rise further if the Government’s pause lasts a long time.

These costs will include the work needed to establish new structures, bring together services, replace or integrate technology, transfer staff and create an organisation capable of serving residents from the first day.

Local Government Reorganisation is being undertaken in response to a national policy direction. It is therefore unreasonable to expect Gloucestershire taxpayers to meet the full cost of implementing it—particularly when local services are already under severe financial pressure.

Every pound spent on transition is a pound that cannot be spent on roads, vulnerable children and adults, communities or other frontline priorities.

The recent pause is also causing much uncertainty and we are asking Government to provide clarity on what happens next as quickly as possible.

We call on the Government to meet the reasonable and evidenced costs of Local Government Reorganisation, ensuring that the new council or councils begin without an unnecessary financial burden.

If Local Government Reorganisation goes ahead then creating a new system of local government is expected to cost Gloucestershire County Council approximately £12 million, while the district councils are expected to find a further £10 million between them. That is a combined cost of around £22 million. A large amount of this has already been spent and the overall cost could rise further if the Government’s pause lasts a long time.

These costs will include the work needed to establish new structures, bring together services, replace or integrate technology, transfer staff and create an organisation capable of serving residents from the first day.

Local Government Reorganisation is being undertaken in response to a national policy direction. It is therefore unreasonable to expect Gloucestershire taxpayers to meet the full cost of implementing it—particularly when local services are already under severe financial pressure.

Every pound spent on transition is a pound that cannot be spent on roads, vulnerable children and adults, communities or other frontline priorities.

The recent pause is also causing much uncertainty and we are asking Government to provide clarity on what happens next as quickly as possible.

We call on the Government to meet the reasonable and evidenced costs of Local Government Reorganisation, ensuring that the new council or councils begin without an unnecessary financial burden.

Successive governments have failed to deliver lasting reform of social care. While we recognise the importance of the independent Casey Review into adult social care and the Prime Minister’s pledge to fix social care in the future, final recommendations are not expected for two years and we need action now. The financial and human pressures facing families and residents, councils and care providers exist today.

Around 60% of Gloucestershire County Council’s budget is already spent on statutory social care, and that proportion continues to grow.

Demand is rising, needs are becoming more complex and the cost of providing safe, high-quality care is increasing. Inflation affects wages for carers, care home fees, transport and the many other services on which vulnerable adults and children depend.

We cannot continue to absorb these pressures indefinitely. Nor should reform be repeatedly postponed while local authorities are left to manage an increasingly unsustainable system.

National reform must provide long-term certainty, but immediate support is also essential. Funding settlements should properly reflect inflation and the actual cost of essential services such as carers’ pay.

We call on the Government to provide immediate additional support for social care, fully recognising inflationary pressures and set out a clear, funded timetable for lasting reform.

Successive governments have failed to deliver lasting reform of social care. While we recognise the importance of the independent Casey Review into adult social care and the Prime Minister’s pledge to fix social care in the future, final recommendations are not expected for two years and we need action now. The financial and human pressures facing families and residents, councils and care providers exist today.

Around 60% of Gloucestershire County Council’s budget is already spent on statutory social care, and that proportion continues to grow.

Demand is rising, needs are becoming more complex and the cost of providing safe, high-quality care is increasing. Inflation affects wages for carers, care home fees, transport and the many other services on which vulnerable adults and children depend.

We cannot continue to absorb these pressures indefinitely. Nor should reform be repeatedly postponed while local authorities are left to manage an increasingly unsustainable system.

National reform must provide long-term certainty, but immediate support is also essential. Funding settlements should properly reflect inflation and the actual cost of essential services such as carers’ pay.

We call on the Government to provide immediate additional support for social care, fully recognising inflationary pressures and set out a clear, funded timetable for lasting reform.

A fair foundation for Gloucestershire’s future

If Gloucestershire County Council was to achieve its five objectives it would mean more money to fix the roads, to pay for care services, libraries, school buildings and many more of the services that residents care about and rely on.

Our five requests are clear, practical and achievable: by acting now, the Government can protect essential services, prevent unfair costs being passed to local taxpayers and give Gloucestershire’s future council or councils the firm financial foundation they need.

This is not a request for special treatment. It is a call for fairness—and for a funding settlement that enables Gloucestershire to succeed.