A new year provides the opportunity to reflect, and looking back at 2022 it’s fair to say it has been a mixed bag for the County Councils Network’s (CNN) member councils.
There have been some real advocacy successes against a backdrop of substantial financial and economic challenges, and these challenges loom large as we begin 2023.
The rise in inflation has been nothing sort of dramatic, our economy is on the brink of recession, and our health and care system remains under severe pressure.
With inflation running at almost three times the figure projected at the beginning of 2022, it has wreaked havoc on our financial planning with costs across all service and capital budgets.
The CCN’s advocacy, alongside the LGA’s, illustrated the scale of the financial challenge, and the Autumn Statement has helped numb the very worst of the pain we could have faced, with the Government providing us with a significant funding boost.
However, welcome though this funding is, it is not a silver bullet, and many tough decisions will have to be made this month, including potentially some reductions in services and council tax increases.
The CCN will be doing all it can to keep this issue firmly on the Government’s radar throughout 2023.
Another significant policy shift that has given councils breathing space is the delay to the Government’s charging reforms in social care.
CCN had led the way in outlining the financial and operational challenge of implementing these changes and by calling for their postponement because of inflationary and workforce pressures.
Again, credit needs to be given to the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, for taking the difficult decision to postpone the reforms and, crucially, retain all earmarked funding for councils over the next two years to shore up existing services and focus on tackling winter pressures.
However, 2022 was not all doom and gloom and, thanks to the stellar work from CCN members, I can end this column on a more optimistic note.
For example, the Hewitt Review has given us the opportunity to focus on driving real system change across new integrated care systems to put the health and care system on a more effective, joined-up footing.
Separately, it is nearly a year since the Government invited nine county areas to begin negotiations on county devolution deals as it launched its Levelling Up White Paper.
While I know many colleagues will have wished for quicker progress, if we look back there has been tangible progress.
There had not been one county devolution deal agreed since 2015, so to have six agreed since last summer shows that there is now real headway being made on this agenda, with CCN member councils working with their unitary and district colleagues to put forward ambitious and achievable proposals and showing flexibility on adopting different and new forms of governance.
CCN members are ready to open up the next round of negotiations with government, with the aim of having two-thirds of the network’s members in negotiations or having agreed a deal by the end of this Parliament.
It is an ambitious target – but in challenging times we need as many levers as possible to draw on if we are to genuinely improve the lives and livelihoods of our residents.
