Council calls for government to rethink competitive bids for funding

BMBC’s task and finish group, which has investigated how the authority tenders contracts, says the government should reduce competitive bidding for funding and increase the time limit for council to submit their bids.

The Local Government Association says that making councils bid for pots of cash – whilst seeing their real-terms funding cut – is ‘fragmented and reactive’.

Councils in England have seen their core funding from central government reduce by £15 billion in the last decade, and have also seen a rise in the number of short-term, ringfenced, small grants they receive annually from government departments and agencies.

BMBC’s task and finish group says the council is facing high demand and ‘limited’ government funding, and undertook a review of council spending to ensure the council is operating ‘efficiently’ and ensuring value for money.

A letter from the task and finish group has been sent to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities stating that BMBC hopes to ‘build a more trusting relationship that provides more flexibility to deliver on the projects they fund.’

Councillor Richard Watts, chair of the LGA’s resources board, said: “The use of short-term grants is increasingly representing poor value for money. Councils need certainty to plan local services without the added burden of navigating a complex and fragmented funding landscape.

“If fragmentation and ringfencing of grants is reduced, councils can provide much better value for the same amount of funding and provide services which prevent crises from happening, rather than simply managing them when it is too late.”