Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities
Printable version E-mail this to a friend

Overhaul of town hall funding hands councils the means to boost finances

Councils will be freed to generate greater levels of income, encouraged to support local firms and jobs and be well placed to reap the rewards of success, Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said yesterday, as he confirmed that Government will introduce major reforms enabling councils to keep a share of business rates they collect rather than paying them back to Whitehall.

Ministers are committed to letting councils benefit from business rates growth in their areas and borrow against future rate income. They see this as the means to putting all parts of the country on a surer path to economic growth and, following consultation, have yesterday set out further detail on how the changes will be introduced.

Last year £19 billion in business rates collected by councils were recovered by Government and redistributed back out through a complex grant. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) called this one of the most centralised systems in the world.

Click here for full press release

Spotlight on women at Serco – Anita’s story