Dear Prime Minister
Following your appointment as Prime Minister, I am writing as Leader of Hartlepool Borough Council to set out the areas where Government action would make a significant difference to our residents and communities.
Hartlepool Borough Council stands ready to work constructively with your Government. Councils are at the frontline of public service delivery and witness first-hand the challenges facing families, businesses and neighbourhoods. We understand our communities and are well placed to help develop practical solutions to the issues they face.
I am asking your Government to prioritise action in three key areas:
1. Establish fair and sustainable funding for local government.
2. Accelerate and adequately fund the reform of adult and children's social care.
3. Support council housebuilding while strengthening protections for communities affected by Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) and out-of-area placements.
Firstly, give councils the funding they need to succeed.
As a council, we welcomed last year's Fair Funding Review, albeit we continue to have concerns as to the final methodology agreed. It was an important acknowledgement that the way local government has been funded for many years has not worked for boroughs like Hartlepool, and it was a positive step towards creating a fairer system. Our position continues to be that the Fair Funding Review funding methodology did not properly reflect deprivation which has a significant impact on service demand and therefore the costs of delivering these vital services.
Additional funding provided to councils is increasingly being absorbed by rising costs, particularly in adult and children's social care. As a result, councils have less funding available for the services residents see and value every day. The position is straightforward: there is not enough sustainable funding within the local government system for councils to provide the range and quality of services their communities reasonably expect.
I therefore urge the Government to review the multi-year funding settlement to ensure that it:
• properly reflects deprivation and service demand
• recognises differences in councils' ability to raise revenue locally
• ensures new responsibilities are matched with adequate funding
Alongside funding reform, I urge the Government to be bold and reform Council Tax. The current system is outdated and places areas with lower property values and higher levels of deprivation at a structural disadvantage. Hartlepool residents should not receive fewer services simply because they live in an area with a lower property tax base. Nor can councils continue to rely on annual Council Tax increases to balance budgets when many households are already struggling with the cost of living.
Councils want to invest in cleaner streets, safer neighbourhoods, libraries, youth services, leisure facilities, parks, events and community assets. We want to prevent problems before they become crises. Yet the growing cost of statutory services is steadily reducing our ability to invest in prevention and neighbourhood services. If the Government expects councils to drive economic growth, improve public health, strengthen communities and restore pride in place, local government needs a funding system that is fair, sustainable and fit for the future.
Secondly, fix social care before it breaks local government.
Social care is now the single greatest financial pressure facing many councils. In Hartlepool, spending on children's social care is now over £20 million more a year than it was four years ago. We will always protect and support vulnerable children and adults. That is a fundamental responsibility. However, the current system is forcing councils to make increasingly difficult choices between meeting statutory care duties and maintaining the wider services that help prevent families from reaching crisis. Like many councils, Hartlepool has already delivered significant savings over many years. In fact, this year will be the 16th successive year that the Council must find savings to balance our budget. The scope for further reductions is limited, while our financial reserves continue to fall rapidly.
The independent children's residential placement market is a particular concern. A shortage of suitable provision means councils are often required to pay exceptionally high fees to secure placements for vulnerable children. This does not represent good value for taxpayers and does not consistently deliver the stability and outcomes children deserve.
I recognise that a national programme of children's social care reform is underway and generally speaking, we are supportive of these reforms. However, I urge the Government to accelerate that work and ensure it includes:
• sufficient and sustainable funding for councils
• greater national and regional placement capacity
• stronger oversight of placement costs and provider profits
• investment in local authority and not-for-profit provision
• support for foster care recruitment and retention
• greater emphasis on prevention and early intervention
These reforms are placing significant pressure on an already stretched workforce, against the backdrop of an increasingly complex and crowded policy landscape. With many changes being introduced simultaneously, councils are facing substantial implementation demands. We therefore ask the Government to review the delivery timetable for children's social care reforms, prioritising those measures that will have the greatest impact on improving outcomes for children and ensuring that councils have the capacity to implement them effectively.
Thirdly, help us build more homes and protect our communities.
Your commitment to building more council homes is welcome. A safe, secure and affordable home can improve health, educational attainment, employment prospects and family stability. Hartlepool has the land, the ambition and the determination to help deliver the Government's housing ambitions. I would encourage the Government to consider Hartlepool as a priority area for a renewed programme of council housebuilding. With appropriate capital investment and infrastructure support, Hartlepool could demonstrate what a new generation of council housing can achieve. More council and social housing in Hartlepool would make a massive difference for my residents.
But building new homes must go hand in hand with protecting our communities who already call Hartlepool home. Here in Hartlepool, we are playing our part by strengthening our Article 4 Direction to give us greater control over new HMOs. This would require planning applications for the conversion of family homes into smaller HMOs which would otherwise benefit from permitted development rights. That local action is important, but it cannot address every issue. For too long, the current housing system has allowed some councils, mainly in the south of England, to place vulnerable people hundreds of miles away into cheaper, privately rented accommodation in towns like Hartlepool. That is not fair on those families, who are often moved hundreds of miles away from their family and friends, employment, schools, healthcare providers, their support networks and the place they call home.
It also places additional pressure on the councils where these people are being housed. It is also not fair on my residents, who face their own housing challenges and the pressures that this practice places on local services. Hartlepool has always been a welcoming place and always will be. This is not about turning our backs on vulnerable people. It is about fairness. Every council should take responsibility for meeting the housing needs of its own residents wherever possible. It cannot be right that some communities carry a disproportionate share of the pressure while others simply move the challenge somewhere else. We need stronger national rules. We need tighter controls on HMOs. We need action on out-of-area placements. And we need action now.
I therefore ask the Government to review the national framework governing out-of-area placements and introduce stronger requirements for:
• advance notification and consultation with receiving councils
• proper assessments of suitability and support needs
• transparent information about the number and destination of placements
• accountability where statutory notification requirements are not followed
• funding for receiving councils where placements create significant additional
demand.
I also ask your Government to consider whether councils require stronger planning, licensing and enforcement powers to manage concentrations of HMOs and poor-quality supported or temporary accommodation.
Next steps
Hartlepool is ready to work constructively with your Government, regardless of political differences, where doing so will improve outcomes for our residents. I would welcome a written response to the proposals set out in this letter. I would also welcome the opportunity to meet with you, or the relevant Ministers responsible for local government, housing and social care, to discuss how Hartlepool can support the Government's ambitions.
As you embark on a tour of the country, I would like to extend an invitation for you to visit Hartlepool to meet with residents, businesses, community organisations and young people. Such a visit would provide an opportunity to see first-hand both the challenges facing our borough and the significant opportunities that exist for its future.
Hartlepool has enormous potential. We do not underestimate the challenges we face, but neither do we accept that they are insurmountable. A fair funding settlement, Council Tax reform, properly funded social care and a renewed council housebuilding programme would make a significant difference not
only to Hartlepool, but to many towns and boroughs facing similar pressures.
These measures would enable local government to improve services; strengthen neighbourhoods; support opportunity and restore pride in communities that too have often felt overlooked.
Yours sincerely
Councillor Graham Harrison
Leader of Hartlepool Borough Council