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Councils in England are now spending almost two-thirds of their budgets on social care, and it’s costing them almost £4bn more than 10 years ago.

That leaves less room in the budget to pay for other services provided by local authorities, like bin collections, road maintenance and public parks. And it’s rural councils with the oldest populations which are being stretched most.

Councils that have made cuts say they are responding to a combination of pressures, including rising inflation, the sharp reduction in government grants since the 2010s, and the increasing demands of caring for an aging population.

Local authorities in England spent more than £30bn on social care in 2021/22, out of £49bn total spending on all services, excluding education. That’s an increase of almost £4bn, or 15%, since 2012, even after adjusting for inflation.

Meanwhile, spending on transport services has declined by £1.2bn, spending on culture and the environment has reduced by more than £1bn, and spending on housing has gone down by £300m in real terms.

See what your council spends on social care

Halton Council, in Cheshire, spends more than 80% of its total budget on social care, a massive increase from just 52% in 2012. The £92m they spent in 2021/22 is £20m higher in real terms than what they spent in 2011/12.

Over that period they have cut spending on street lighting by £1.7m – a huge two-thirds reduction – and road maintenance by £600,000, a 25% cut.

Many of the areas spending the least on social care – in some cases actually spending less than they were 10 years ago – were in London.

In Tower Hamlets, for example, they spent £13m less in real terms on social care in 2021/22 than they did in 2011/12, while spending about £130,000 more on road maintenance.

Why is this happening?

Over the past decade there has been a change to how councils are funded. The reduction of government grants, beginning in 2013/14, meant they needed to raise more funding directly.

There is a limit to how much councils can raise in council tax – capped at 5% a year – and not all councils raise it by the maximum amount.

‘The government have to take it more seriously’

Councillor Rob Moreton, an independent councillor in Cheshire East, told Sky News about his personal experiences of trying to get jobs done amid tight council budgets:

“I’ve been trying to get this road resurfaced for four years now. I just get constantly told there’s not the funding for it this year ‘We’ll try and get it on a scheme for the year after, no money available’.

“Social care is very important. But potholes are also important if it’s costing car drivers thousands of pounds in broken springs, punctured tyres, and everything else.

“It’s totally unacceptable. We need more funding from central government. In 2020 we got £19m, then it was reduced to £15m and this year is £17.3m. The government are now producing £200m nationally for councils, but for Cheshire East that’s £2.3m, which is less than the £5m they’ve cut from us in recent years – we’ve had a 41% cut.

“The government have to take it more seriously and start funding councils. They have lost touch with local councils.”

Councils also have legal obligations that they have to fulfil, which limits where they can make savings.

For example, they must provide social care to those young and old people who are eligible for it.

Who’s eligible for council-funded social care?

So if more people become eligible for social care – which happens naturally as the population ages – council costs start to rack up. This has left some councils with difficult financial decisions to make, particularly those with older populations in rural areas.

Areas where more than a quarter of the population are over 65, like Devon, Suffolk and Dorset, which were among the highest social care spenders in the map above, have seen their social care costs rise by more than 40% in real terms since 2012.

If councils are limited on how much more money they can bring in, and they need to spend more on social care, they are forced to make cuts elsewhere to make their budgets work.

Councillor Tim Oliver, chairman of the County Councils Network, told Sky News: “Over the last decade, councils in county areas have seen a significant decrease in government funding at a time when their elderly populations have increased dramatically, with the number of over 65s in those areas rising by 1.1m from 2011 to 2021. At the same time, demand for children’s services has also increased rapidly.

“As a result, those councils now spend 64% of their budgets on average on these two service areas, with councils having to balance their legal duties to care for elderly and young people eligible for care with the funding they receive.

“Increasingly, this has meant money has been re-routed from bus subsidies, libraries, and community health services to make up the shortfall elsewhere.”

Jackie Weaver, a former parish councillor who became temporarily famous in 2020 when she was told that she “had no authority” over a meeting of Handforth Parish Council, in Cheshire, in a popular social media video, told Sky News that a contraction in services at county and district council level mean that town and parish councils are having to fill the gap:

“All the kind of community stuff that is visible, that makes us feel good, doesn’t happen anymore. They don’t have any money to do it.

“What we are seeing is that town and parish councils are stepping forward and picking up the slack. Over the past 10 years they’re recognising that nobody’s going to do it for us. If we want an improved transport scheme in the town, or a neighbourhood plan, then we’ve got to step up and do it ourselves.”

We put our findings, and the responses from councils, to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. A government spokesperson said: “We are making an additional £5.1bn available for councils in England in the next financial year.

“We are also providing multi-year certainty to local government, outlining spending over the next two years to allow councils to plan ahead with confidence.”

The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.

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Nigel Farage says he ‘can’t be pushed or bullied’ after Elon Musk said Reform needs new leader

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10 hours ago

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January 10, 2025

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Nigel Farage says he 'can't be pushed or bullied' after Elon Musk said Reform needs new leader

Nigel Farage has told Sky News he “can’t be pushed or bullied” by anybody after Elon Musk said the Reform MP “doesn’t have what it takes” to lead his party. 

In an interview with Sky’s political correspondent Ali Fortescue, Mr Farage said he has spoken with the billionaire owner of X since his criticism on 5 January, when Mr Musk said: “The Reform Party needs a new leader. Farage doesn’t have what it takes.”

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Asked if the pair are still friends, Mr Farage said: “Of course we’re friends. He just says what he thinks at any moment in time.”

He added he has “been in touch” with Mr Musk, though wouldn’t divulge what they had discussed.

“Look, he said lots of supportive things. He said one thing that wasn’t supportive. I mean, that’s just the way it is,” Mr Farage said.

Nigel Farage and Reform UK treasurer Nick Candy with Elon Musk. Pic: PA
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Musk and Farage met in December. Pic: PA

Asked if he was afraid to criticise the tech mogul, the Clacton MP said the situation was “the opposite”, and he openly disagreed with Mr Musk on his views on far-right activist Tommy Robinson.

Mr Farage said: “What he [Musk] was saying online was that effectively Tommy Robinson was a political prisoner and I wouldn’t go along with that.

“If I had gone along with that, he wouldn’t have put out a tweet that was against me.

“By the way, you know, I can’t be pushed or bullied or made to change by anybody.

“I stick to what I believe.”

Mr Musk has endorsed Robinson and claimed he was “telling the truth” about grooming gangs, writing on X: “Free Tommy Robinson”.

But Mr Farage said that Robinson, who is serving an 18-month jail term for contempt of court, isn’t welcome in Reform UK and neither are his supporters.

He said: “If people within Reform think Tommy Robinson should be a member of Reform and play a central role in Reform, that disagreement is absolutely fundamental.

“I’ve never wanted to work with people who were active in the BNP. I’ve made that clear right throughout the last decade of my on/off political career. So that’s what the point of difference is.”

Despite their disagreement, Mr Farage said he is confident Mr Musk will continue to support Reform and “may well” still give money to it.

The entrepreneur has previously spoken positively about Reform UK and there have been suggestions he could make a multi-million-pound donation in its favour.

Devolution plans ‘denial of democracy’

Mr Farage was speaking from Reform’s South East of England Conference, one of a series of regional events aimed at building up the party’s support base.

Elsewhere in the interview, he hit out at the Labour government’s devolution plans which could see some local elections scheduled for May postponed.

This would apply when councils seek permission to reorganise, so that smaller district authorities merge with other nearby ones to give them more sway over their area.

Mr Farage, who is hoping to make gains in the spring contests, claimed the plans are not about devolution but about “elections being cancelled”.

“I thought only dictators cancelled elections. This is unbelievable and devolution or a change to local government structures is being used as an excuse,” he said.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage speaking during the Reform UK East of England conference at Chelmsford City Racecourse. Picture date: Saturday January 4, 2025.
Image:
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage earlier this month. Pic: PA

He claimed Tory-controlled councils are “grabbing it like it’s a life belt”, because they fear losing seats to Reform.

“It’s an absolute denial of democracy,” he added.

Mr Farage was also asked why many Reform members don’t like to speak on camera about why they support his party.

He said he did not accept there was a toxicity associated with Reform and claimed there was “institutional bias against anybody that isn’t left of centre”.

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Police search for missing sisters last seen three days ago near Aberdeen river

Published

17 hours ago

on

January 10, 2025

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Police search for missing sisters last seen three days ago near Aberdeen river

Specialist search teams, police dogs and divers have been dispatched to find two sisters who vanished in Aberdeen three days ago.

Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32, were last seen on CCTV in the city’s Market Street at Victoria Bridge at about 2.12am on Tuesday.

The siblings were captured crossing the bridge and turning right onto a footpath next to the River Dee in the direction of Aberdeen Boat Club.

Henrietta Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Image:
Henrietta Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland

Eliza Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Image:
Eliza Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland

Police Scotland has launched a major search and said it is carrying out “extensive inquires” in an effort to find the women.

Chief Inspector Darren Bruce said: “Local officers, led by specialist search advisors, are being assisted by resources including police dogs and our marine unit.”

Aberdeenshire Drone Services told Sky News it has offered to help in the search and is waiting to hear back from Police Scotland.

The Huszti sisters. Pic: Police Scotland
Image:
CCTV of the sisters. Pic: Police Scotland

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The sisters, from Aberdeen city centre, are described as slim with long brown hair.

Police said the Torry side of Victoria Bridge where the sisters were last seen contains many commercial and industrial units, with searches taking place in the vicinity.

The force urged businesses in and around the South Esplanade and Menzies Road area to review CCTV footage recorded in the early hours of Tuesday in case it captured anything of significance.

Drivers with relevant dashcam footage are also urged to come forward.

CI Bruce added: “We are continuing to speak to people who know Eliza and Henrietta and we urge anyone who has seen them or who has any information regarding their whereabouts to please contact 101.”

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Britain’s gas storage levels ‘concerningly low’ after cold snap, says owner of British Gas

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17 hours ago

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January 10, 2025

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Britain's gas storage levels 'concerningly low' after cold snap, says owner of British Gas

Britain’s gas storage levels are “concerningly low” with less than a week of demand in store, the operator of the country’s largest gas storage site said on Friday.

Plunging temperatures and high demand for gas-fired power stations are the main factors behind the low levels, Centrica said.

The UK is heavily reliant on gas for its home heating and also uses a significant amount for electricity generation.

As of the 9th of January 2025, UK storage sites are 26% lower than last year’s inventory at the same time, leaving them around half full,” Centrica said.

“This means the UK has less than a week of gas demand in store.”

The firm’s Rough gas storage site, a depleted field off England’s east coast, makes up around half of the country’s gas storage capacity.

Gas storage was already lower than usual heading into December as a result of the early onset of winter.

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Combined with stubbornly high gas prices, this has meant it has been more difficult to top up storage over Christmas.

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