Statement by the leader of the council - THANK YOU!

The council has been lobbying government for a fairer funding formula, which recognizes the true costs of providing Adult and Children’s Social Care. The borough’s residents share our view that the council needs a fairer deal from government; over a thousand of them wrote to the secretary of state to point out how the current funding formula disadvantages Wokingham.

The local government minister wrote to me before Christmas acknowledging our arguments and those of the thousand plus residents who wrote in support of our case.

I want to take this opportunity to thank again those residents who took the time and trouble to write.

It looks as though their – and our – efforts have been rewarded. Yesterday, we learned that the government is going to make additional payments to councils that face the challenge of meeting the rising costs of providing Adult and Children’s Social Care.

We do not anticipate that we will receive significant additional support, and it will certainly not remove the need to make savings to meet inflation and growth pressures amounting to some £17.3 million. But it will help.

We believe that our residents’ letters played a part in securing this outcome. I’m very grateful for the support they have given their council.