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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans to take steps to provide additional funding to local authorities to cover the cost of increasing the national living wage for social care staff.

The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2023/24 made available up to £59.7 billion for local government in England, an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £5.1 billion or 9.4% in cash terms on 2022/23. The government will look in the round at sector spending when finalising budgets at next year’s finance settlement, as we do every year. This will include considering the impact of inflation and other wider economic circumstances.