The District Councils’ Network, which represents 200 district councils across England, is calling on the Government ahead of this year’s budget to allow district councils to introduce a new 2 per cent  prevention precept on council tax to maintain and invest further in prevention services such as improving housing, providing leisure and recreational facilities, offering debt advice, tackling homelessness, supporting troubled families and improving air quality all of which help reduce demand on social care and health services.

Analysis by the DCN in its budget submission has found that a 2 per cent precept could raise up to an additional £25 million for district councils which would help to keep residents and their families from needing to access acute social care and the NHS by reducing demand for these services.

For a Band D property in a district area this would be an estimated 7p per week increase on the current average district council tax charge.

For every £1 spent on prevention, district councils say they can make up to £70 worth of savings on health spending in the long term. For example:

• By adapting 100,000 homes to meet the needs of older people, districts could save the NHS £69 for every pound spent.
• Investing in sport, leisure and recreation – core district functions – not only delivers health benefits but can generate £11.2 billion a year in savings, £1.7 billion of which is thought to be via savings to health care-associated costs.
• By improving 100,000 homes to protect older people from the cold weather districts could save the NHS £34.19 for every pound spent.
• The average cost to the State of a fractured hip is £28,665. This is 4.7 times the average cost of a major housing adaptation (£6,000) and 100 times the cost of fitting hand and grab rails to prevent falls.

With adult social care at a tipping point district councils want to play their part in reducing the burden on the social care system and in turn the NHS. According to the Local Government Association, adult social care faces an annual funding gap of £2.3 billion by 2020, with no signs of these pressures abating.

Whilst some of these pressures have been met by a one-off £2 billion injection into the system, no durable solution has been found. The DCN has been clear that changes to the New Homes Bonus to fund a very small part of this does not constitute a solution as it simply recycles existing local government funding. The New Homes Bonus must instead continue to reward increasing housing growth.

A 2 per cent prevention precept would give district councils additional resources to address health and wellbeing issues in their communities before people require more formalised acute based intervention.

Cllr John Fuller, Chairman of the District Councils’ Network, said:

“It is time the Government recognised the important role district councils play in prevention and early intervention. We know that for everyone £1 spent, district councils can save the NHS up to £70, just by adapting homes to prevent falls, improving home insulation and heating or providing recreational and leisure services.

“A 2 per cent prevention precept would go some way to reducing pressures on the social care system, by solving rather than managing problems, and allowing resources to be refocused on tackling problems one family at a time before they occur.

“Prevention is always better than cure. If we are to reduce pressures on the NHS and stop people from entering the social care system unnecessarily, districts council must be given the resources to invest in prevention.”

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. DCN’s Autumn Budget Submission can be found here
2. The district council contribution to public health: a time of challenge and opportunity
3. Statistics relating to the average cost of treating hip fractures can be found here.
4. LGA analysis on the annual funding gap in adult social care can be found here.

“District councils have played a central role in enabling housing growth in this country, contributing to the highest building rates in a decade. In the last year alone, districts were responsible for enabling almost 50 per cent of housing completions in England.

“The New Homes Bonus (NHB) has provided districts with a positive and powerful incentive to build more houses and support growth in our localities. However, the proposed 0.4 per cent threshold for the NHB is not acceptable to district councils and any suggestion that this could increase in the future will not be supported by the DCN. This baseline creates a perverse incentive which penalises district councils for delivering more housing growth.

“District Councils approve 90 per cent of residential applications. The proposals to reduce the NHB for all authorities who see any successful appeals weakens the hand of authorities that aspire to get the highest quality of development that is acceptable to their communities.

“Councils should not tempted to settle for second best at the risk of being taken to appeal for inadequate applications.”

ENDS

“The District Councils’ Network has long called for locally set planning fees so at to increase the capacity of our planning departments. As this analysis reveals the current level of nationally set fees are heaping financial pressure on local authorities and putting councils’ ability to deliver housing growth in a timely manner at risk.

“District councils have invested heavily in online planning systems, with the result that many more people are now engaging with the planning process and making representations, which need to be taken into account. This important democratisation of an administrative process produced better decisions but has added to cost.

“There is no doubt that district councils play a fundamental role in boosting growth, as the authorities responsible for housing and planning. However, as demand for council planning services increases, pressure caused by wider council funding cuts, and the ongoing inability for local authorities to recover the true cost of processing planning applications, continues to grow.

“Whilst we await with baited breath for the Government to enact the planned 20 per cent increase to planning fees, this research demonstrates the importance of the Government agreeing to locally set planning fees going forward.”

ENDS

“Waste collection is the most visible service operated by local government, touching nearly 9 million households a year, every week.

“Only 500 complaints have been received in the last year across the whole of local government. That’s less than 10 complaints a week from a service that covers 468 million collections each year.

“District councils take their statutory duty extremely seriously and have played a significant role in protecting the environment and enhancing quality of life for their residents, with recycling rates having increased by almost 57 per cent in the past 10 years.

“Local councils customise services to local circumstances and are constantly innovating to find new markets for recycled goods, encouraging re-use where possible and minimising residual waste to landfill.

“With their unique local knowledge, district councils are best placed to make decisions about how this key service is delivered, whether that be in house or through a contractor. In the small number of instances where issues do occur, the Ombudsman Report can be used to ensure effective collaboration between contractors and authorities going forward.”

ENDS