Probably giving away too much here but I think it’s a sufficiently large enough catchment area to maintain some anonymity! It’s South Hams District Council.
Then again, I’ve just remembered that you have my address already from the Secret Santa 
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Problem here is central government has an out, it can dictate that councils for example should provide home helps and as we know we have an ageing population so those costs will escalate every year.
During my time as a school governor I saw time after time when central government came up with a great idea (one from memory was outdoor classrooms) and then devolved it to councils to deliver without any extra money.
When questioned the government would say ‘we gave x million extra to councils’ but most of this went in payrises for teachers as staffing is the biggest cost.
And don’t get me started on all of those outsourced contracts for bins, legal etc. As an accountant I can tell you businesses don’t work for free it is all built into the price that you and I pay in council tax.
I do go into this within my reply though - that councils are told to take control of things that should be for central government.
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I would argue that local decisions should be taken locally however what does some guy in whitehall know about bus services in Tyneside or the needs of welsh sheep farmers?
Decisions can be made locally with central funding. Public transport is different; it’s within the realms of “this is for everyone” where adult and children’s social care isn’t - they form a part of the health service and funding should be national and not dictated by how many people live in that council area.
This feels strange to me, surely the challenges of delivery home help in the far north of scotland is different from delivering it in central birmingham?
I don’t disagree with the fund centrally part, but I feel that more local decision taking is needed
Maybe I’m not being clear - I’m talking about the funding and the funding alone. The decisions by all means can be made locally.
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Then we are aligned
Adult social care
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What about it? You might need to expand when responding like that…
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The other thing to ask for is whose pocket (ultimately) is the money ending up in? All this additional money for adult social care and councils banging on about how the costs of social care are bleeding them dry, yet large amounts of care homes are owned by private equity, all sold off from local authority ownership. How can it cost thousands of pounds per week to keep children in childrens’ homes, or same for older people in care homes? I can’t imagine the staff on the frontline are being paid more than the NMW or a modest salary, so they certainly aren’t benefitting.
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If you don’t then you’re just paying the same spread over 12 months not 10 months. So it’s not free or extra money just some people pay more over 10 months.
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Pop £15 a month away and have at it twice a year!
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I always think about doing that with a pay rise and giving myself a bonus at the end of the year. It never happens
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If I pay £200 over 12 months, or £240 over 10 I’m still unhappy.
Might as well set fire to £2400, council deserves to be nuked and reset with full scrutiny into how every penny is being spent.
Not looking forward to what it’s increasing to. 
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This is where it goes for my area.
71%
Adult and children’s social care / education
8%
Highways and transport
5%
Public health improvement
4%
Waste disposal / recycling
4%
Fire and rescue and community safety
2%
Libraries, cultural, other services
6%
Capital borrowing and other financial costs
Not entirely sure what public health improvement actually involves.
Roads are fucked
2% on Libraries, cultural and other 
And I’m just trusting that 3/4 of it is actually being spent correctly on social services and education. Unless your life touches those things it’s just a fingers crossed I’m not paying for someone’s yacht.
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This is my main issue. It’s similar for me too. This should come from central funding, not local authorities.
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That is a ridiculously high percentage for a council, particularly as they’ve no control over it. I’m guessing that some councils would have even higher percentages if they’re in a popular retirement area.
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I’m sure there are - I just fundamentally don’t agree that your social care funding should be dictated by the number of people/cost of housing in your area. It should be centrally funded and not a literal postcode lottery.
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Definitely agree there
Don’t know if the law is the same in England as it is in NI, but here, the councils MUST fund social care unless they can find somebody who volunteers to do so.