YEARS of austerity which saw Barnsley lose out on millions of pounds and resulted in public services being scaled back is being ‘put right’ thanks to a promise to increase local councils’ funding.

The local government finance settlement for 2025/26 will see billions allocated to councils, with worst-hit places set to benefit more.

So-called ‘recovery grants’ - tailored to local authorities which have traditionally had to endure service cutbacks under the former Conservative government - will be available alongside more cash for social care, special educational needs and road repairs.

Shock figures show the extent austerity has had on the council’s budget, with a 21.2 per cent reduction in core spending power being recorded since 2010.

The delivery of £140m-per-annum ‘efficiency savings’ has also reduced the council’s workforce by 40 per cent.

Barnsley Council leader Sir Steve Houghton praised the move having previously slammed the Tories for hitting communities hard.

“This policy statement is an important first step in realigning funding alongside need,” he said.

“It’s very welcomed to see the government’s intention to allocate a new budget based on deprivation, recognising the severe cuts and increased demands faced by the most deprived areas, like Barnsley, over the past decade.

“The local government funding system is broken but this shows the government is serious about trying to fix it.

“Over the last 14 years there has been fundamental breakdown in the relationship between funding levels and need.

“The most deprived authorities have seen the biggest cuts in funding as the share of income that is grant has fallen and the share of income that is from council tax has grown.

“More deprived, grant-dependent authorities don’t have the tax base to be able to replace lost grant with increased council tax and have also not benefited from the business rates retention system.

“As chair of the Special Interest Group of Municipal Authorities (SIGOMA), I’ve been urging the government to take notice of the fundamental issues with local funding and pushing for changes to the system.

“Details such as the recovery grant and commitment to resetting the business rate system is a promising signal that the new government intends to make the system fairer and more sustainable.

“The additional investment in early help and prevention will also help begin the process of addressing systemic issues in children’s social care.( “I look forward to more details in the settlement and working closely with the government as they bring forward more significant reforms to the local government finance system in time for the multi-year settlement in 2026/27.

“Barnsley people deserve to live good lives in a place of possibilities.

“Our focus in Barnsley is to deliver excellent services while investing in the borough, and we’re committed to making this happen.”

The government said there were ‘no illusions’ about how precarious some councils’ finances are after several issued Section 114 notices - effectively bankruptcy - as debt levels grew due to squeezed funding packages.

“This government is under no illusion about the scale of the issues facing local government, and we won’t shy away from the challenge,” a spokesperson added.

“We know that the demand for, and cost of, services has increased significantly and that this has made the job for councils in recent years much harder.

“The current system for funding local authorities does not represent best value for taxpayers, and without action this will get worse.

“After years of delays to much-needed funding reform, we will reform the local government finance system to put councils on the road to recovery.

“This is about spending taxpayers’ money as efficiently as possible making sure that funding reflects local need and demand for services, and an area’s ability to raise income locally.

“We cannot continue to operate in a system that has seen some councils increasing their level of reserves and others struggling to deliver essential services and balance budgets.

“We are therefore committed to fixing the basics to enable local government to focus on its priorities delivering for residents and providing high quality, vital frontline services that people rely on every day.

“This year’s settlement will begin to put us on the right course, spending taxpayers’ money efficiently, and ensuring that funding goes to the places that need it most.”