LABOUR leaders on Teesside have slammed the government on the back of forecasts that councils could lose millions of pounds of funding for adult social care.
But Conservative MPs in the region have hit back at the calculations by the Local Government Association (LGA).
Modelling by the LGA has found Teesside authorities will face further pressure in adult social care beyond 2021 as part of the upcoming “fair funding review”.
The analysis shows Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council would lose about £2.5m after 2021, while Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council would see roughly £565,000 sliced from its social care budget.
Middlesbrough Council would also feel the strain – forecast to lose out on as much as 20% of its budget on adult social care spent on younger adults.
It comes as councils face rising demand in social care and pressure from cutbacks since 2010.
Stockton Council has put £74.4m towards its adult social care and health budget in 2019/20 – out of a total of £184.7m.
Its leader, Cllr Bob Cook, believed the fair funding review after 2021 would be unfair.
The Labour leader said: “It does not favour the North-east as it does not go on need.
“Most funding from the government goes on population and populations levels are higher down south.
“Up here we have more deprivation and more health issues that come with that deprivation.
“It seems to appear they’re not looking at the need of each area.”
Cllr Cook claimed the government had “not set a level playing field” as more affluent areas in the south could raise more money through council tax as they had more properties in higher bands.
He added: “The North-East has more Band A properties – so we lose out in more ways.
“So if you put a one or two per cent council tax rise on bills here, you always raise less than you would down south.
“The £560k is a considerable amount when they are saying they’re trying to balance things out.”
The analysis comes as the government pledges to “level up” spending across the UK.
The LGA says the analysis did not represent its policy, a proposal or its preferences – but was “an attempt to provide some information” to councils to gauge the likely impact of the fair funding review on adult social care funding.
It added: “This analysis only looks at one segment of one of the parts of the fair funding review, so no conclusion can, or should, be drawn about the potential overall outcome of the review for any local authority.”
Jacob Young was one of a raft of new Conservative MPs elected in the North-East in December.
The Redcar MP said the figures offered up were “not accurate by any stretch of the imagination”.
Mr Young added: “As a former local councillor, I welcome the fact that local government funding is set to rise by 4.4% in real terms – the best for a decade – on top of the commitments already made for places like Redcar and Middlesbrough through the “Towns Fund”.
“We will have more details on what the fair funding review actually says in the coming months but people can rest assured that this government is focussed on levelling up the country and delivering for areas like Teesside.”
Stockton North MP Alex Cunningham believed the projections showed Teesside and the North would be “disproportionately hit”.
He said: “By removing factors such as deprivation, the past Conservative government allowed for investment to be channelled to more wealthy areas.
“This is completely unacceptable.
“Funding should be fair, and it should be based on need.
“I hope the newly elected Tory MPs in the North-east will join Labour to call for our area to be given the resources it needs.”
However, treasury minister and Teesside Tory Simon Clarke said the claims about funding were “completely unsubstantiated” – pointing to the LGA’s statement about conclusions on the review.
The MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland added: “By their own admission, the LGA’s analysis was also based on a number of highly speculative assumptions about currently unknown variables.
“This government made a clear commitment at the recent general election to level-up all regions of the UK and reduce the disparities between historically-neglected areas such as ours and the south.
“I can assure you that we will deliver on this promise.”
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Homes, Communities and Local Government, said:
“As the LGA has made clear, these figures do not represent their policy, and are based on a number of assumptions. Funding allocations should be fair and based on the best available evidence.
“Councils should continue to use official Government data for their financial planning.”
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