North Yorkshire Council considering judicial review against Government over funding cuts

North Yorkshire Council is the biggest local authority in England by geographical size, and as such received the largest settlement from the rural services grant at £14.3m.

However, at the end of November, the Government scrapped this, with Local Government Secretary Angela Rayner saying Labour was “creating a fairer system and ensuring every penny is spent on the services so many people rely on every day”.

As such, leader Coun Carl Les told The Yorkshire Post that council tax for the next year would have to be increased to the maximum level without a referendum of 4.99 per cent.

The council’s budget has been agreed by the executive, and will be discussed at the full council meeting on Valentine’s Day.

Speaking about the rural services grant, Coun Les told this paper North Yorkshire Council was “aggrieved to the point where we are considering a judicial review of the decision, because we think the background to the decision is flawed”.

He said he questioned whether this was “pay back time” from the Labour Government towards rural areas.

The council claims it has been given the fourth worst core funding settlement in the country, while the other three councils also cover large rural areas in Herefordshire, Rutland and Shropshire.

Chief executive Richard Flinton claimed that the deprivation in North Yorkshire, in places like Scarborough, Selby and Catterick, is “not recognised by the Government”.

It has made around £60m in savings from the reorganisation which happened in April 2023, when North Yorkshire was turned into a single unitary council.

Coun Les said this had given him an “aspiration” to stop hiking council tax by the maximum 4.99 per cent, however the cuts to the rural services grant had “blown that out of the water”.

While North Yorkshire’s corporate director of resources, Gary Fielding, said that in its financial settlement to councils the Government assumed that unitary authorities would increase council tax by the maximum.

Mr Fielding also claimed that as a result of Rachel Reeves’ Budget last October, North Yorkshire Council will actually be £7m worse off.

This is due to the fact that National Insurance Contributions (NICs) for employers were increased, as well as the removal of the rural services grant.

Yesterday, Ms Rayner announced £502m would be spread around councils across the country to help with the higher NICs payments.

Mr Fielding explained: “Our assessment is, as a result of the government's budget, we're about £7m-a-year worse off than we were before the budget.

“That's surprising for most councils because they announced £1.8bn pounds with the new funds, but in North Yorkshire we've actually lost money, not gained money.”

Despite this, however, Mr Fielding clarified that there would be no changes to frontline services, due to money saved from the council’s reorganisation and cash stored in reserves.