Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to provide additional funding via the Local Government Finance settlement to help local authorities with the cost of increases to employer national insurance contributions.

We have announced £1.3 billion of new grant funding in 2025/26 for local government to deliver core services, of which £600 million is for social care.

The Government has committed to provide support for departments and other public sector employers for additional employer NICs costs. This applies to those directly employed by the public sector, including local government.

We will set out further details of how this support will be delivered in due course.