News round-up: Capita wins LGPS contract, DCLG’s boycott proposals, EIB housing loan, social care funding call
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Capita wins LGPS framework contract
Capita Employee Benefits has won the contract to provide third party pension administration and support services to the National Local Government Pension Scheme Procurement Framework. Stuart Heatley, director at Capita Employee Benefits, said: “The National LGPS Frameworks are hugely beneficial to local government as they help make the process of selecting a supplier simpler, quicker and more cost effective.”
DCLG proposes further boycott ban
The Department for Communities and Local Government has published proposals to amend best value statutory guidance to prevent councils from boycotting companies and countries in contradiction of UK government foreign policy. The proposals follow the introduction of rules preventing local government pension schemes from introducing similar boycotts. Communities secretary Sajid Javid said: “No council should be boycotting any company or country unnecessarily — instead their main focus should be delivering the value for money taxpayers rightly expect.”
Calls grow louder for increased social care funding
Charity Age UK has called on the government to provide an emergency injection of funds for social care. Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: “The government has tried to prop up older people’s social care in three ways: through financial transfers from the NHS, a social care precept in local areas, and by calling on families and friends to do more. Unfortunately, our analysis shows there are problems with all three approaches, which in any event are not enough to make up for the chronic shortfall in public funds.” Margaret Willcox, president elect of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, said: “With councils projecting a total overspend on adult social care of nearly £450m by the end of this financial year, increases in demand and cost of social care, providers closing, a rising ageing population and those living with increasingly complex needs, immediate, significant, long-term and sustainable funding is needed to stabilise a care market in crisis.”
Photo: EIB
EIB signs off £150m housing association loan
Housing association Sovereign has signed a £150m funding deal with the European Investment Bank to support its plans to build 4,500 new homes over the next three years. The deal is the first directly between the EIB and a housing association in England to complete since 2014. As well as funding new homes, the money will be used to improve the energy efficiency of existing properties.
Councils ‘lack confidence’ in future funding
Nearly 80% of councils have little or no confidence in the sustainability of local government finances, according to a new survey. The study also found that 84% think that the current needs assessment formula is not fit for purpose. The survey, by the Local Government Information Unit with Municipal Journal, also found that the proportion of councils intending to borrow to fund infrastructure rose to 79% from 57% last year. Despite these efforts, over 40% of councils said their 2017/18 budget will lead to cuts in frontline services that are evident to the public.
MPs call for better park resourcing
Parks have seen budget cuts of up to 97% and face a period of decline, according to the parliamentary committer for communities and local government. In a report, the committee called on councils to publish strategic plans outlining how parks will be managed to maximise their contribution to wider local authority agendas, such as promoting healthy lifestyles, tackling social exclusion and managing flood risk. Committee chairman Clive Betts said: “Every local authority should have a strategic plan, recognising that parks are much more than just grass and tulips and bringing in resources from outside the traditional budgets.”
