Rural communities continue to suffer as the gap in council tax between urban and rural areas continues to grow.  On average those living in rural communities pay £105 more than in urban areas

This is according to the Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement for 2020-2021, for which the consultation closed last week. 

The Rural Services Network has long campaigned for fair funding for rural areas, which have historically been underfunded by central government, despite the cost of delivering services in sparsely populated areas being higher than in urban settings.

The RSN welcomes the continuation of the Rural Services Delivery Grant for 2020-21 at £81 Million however this only goes to the sparsest populated authorities rather than all of those delivering services in rural areas.

Rural authorities receive much less funding per head from the government, from both Settlement Funding Assessment and key social care grants with the gap remaining significant between the two.  Government funded spending power is 42% higher in predominantly urban authorities compared to predominantly rural authorities. 

This means that rural authorities are much more reliant on income from council tax: residents in rural authorities are paying £105 more per head than residents in urban authorities. 

Any significant changes in local government funding will have to wait for at least another year.

The Rural Services Network will continue to press Government for a fair deal for rural areas.

→ To read the full analysis prepared for the RSN by Pixel Financial click here