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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 11 December 2024 to Question 17552 on Local Government: Employers’ Contributions, what representations her Department has received on the cost of local government procurement of (a) goods and (b) services in the context of the planned increase in employer National Insurance contributions.

The department regularly engages with a wide range of councils and representative bodies. Alongside the provisional Settlement, the government launched a consultation that seeks views, in particular from representatives of local government, on proposals for the local government finance settlement for 2025-26.

We propose to allocate £515 million of additional funding to support local government manage the impact of changes to employer NICs between local authorities in England based on their shares of total relevant net current expenditure. We have published a methodology note to assist councils with their financial planning and will provide final allocations to individual local authorities by the final Local Government Finance Settlement in early 2025.