The Local Government Finance Settlement 2013/14 and 2014/15

Central government will provide approximately £72bn in grants to local authorities in England in 2013/14. This funding is made up of revenue support grant, business rate income, and specific grants.

The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government announced the Local Government Financial Settlement consultation for England, for 2013/14, on 19 December 2012. The settlement includes provisional figures for 2014/15.

After a period of consultation, which ended on 15 January 2013, the settlement figures were confirmed on 4 February 2013, with some minor technical changes in the light of responses received during the consultation.

The Local Government Financial Settlement is to be debated in the House on 13 February 2013.

The 2013/14 settlement is the first to be announced since the introduction of the Business Rates Retention Scheme, a new funding regime for local government based on business rates collected in an authority’s area. This replaces the ‘four block model’ of the formula grant.

Start-up funding assessments for non-police local authorities will fall by 4.1% in 2013/14 with a provisional decrease of 8.5% in 2014/15. Start-up funding assessments represent a local authority’s share of the local government spending control total.