By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
Gloucestershire has been short-changed for years as funding fails to reflect the true cost of delivering social care, fixing potholes and providing public services.
That’s the view of Shire Hall chiefs, who have launched a petition as part of the Fairer Funding for Gloucestershire campaign setting out five key areas where Gloucestershire County Council wants the Government to act.
And now residents are being urged to back a campaign calling on the Government to do more to protect the county’s essential local services such as looking after children and young people with disabilities, social care and managing the highway network.
The county council says it has been short-changed for years, meaning funding arrangements fail to reflect the actual cost of delivering services across a large and predominantly rural county.
Its petition calls for a fair funding settlement that properly recognises the higher cost of delivering services across a rural county and for an end to the long-standing injustice in schools and SEND funding.
The council also wants the Government to invest properly in the road network by providing enough money to tackle the existing backlog of £90m and the annual £15 million gap in the maintenance fund to prevent it growing again.
And it believes the cost of local government reorganisation should be covered to prevent county taxpayers being saddled with an estimated £22 million bill.
The campaign also calls for immediate meaningful reform and funding that reflects the inflation and rising demand in social care.
And it has the support of the Liberal Democrats, Conservatives, Reform, Green Party and independents at Shire Hall.
Council leader Lisa Spivey (LD, South Cerney) said: “For too long, our county has been expected to deliver essential services without receiving the right amount of Government funding.
“This is not about special treatment – it is about fairness. Gloucestershire must have the resources it needs to keep our communities safe, support our vulnerable residents, educate our children and maintain the roads we all use. Without fairer funding, pressure on these services will only grow.
“If we all sign the petition, together we can send a clear and powerful message to Government: Gloucestershire matters, our communities deserve to be heard and our county deserves the funding it needs to thrive for generations to come.”
Cllr Spivey took the fight to Parliament last week, attending an event held by f40, a national group, of which Gloucestershire is a member, which campaigns for more funding for councils receiving some of the lowest education and SEND funding in England.
She said: “Our children deserve better than this. It is not fair that children in other parts of the country get more money for their education than ours do. Our Fairer Funding campaign demands action to rectify this.”
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) says more than £5.6 billion of new grant funding will be provided towards council services over the next three years across the country.
It said nine in ten councils will receive funding that broadly matches their assessed relative need by the end of the multi-year settlement, which will be up from around a third.
The Government is also making over £4.6 billion of additional funding available for adult social care in 2028-29 and investing an extra £2.3 billion in schools in 2026-27, including funding for our once-in-a-generation SEND reforms to ensure children get the support they need earlier on.
It continues to expect all councils to manage their finances effectively and protect taxpayers.
An MHCLG spokesperson said: “We’re making £693 million available for Gloucestershire by 2028/29, an increase of 16.5% since 2024-25, so that local leaders can invest in high-quality public services.
“We’re fixing an outdated funding system, so money goes where need is greatest, while protecting councils through the transition and ensuring no area faces a cliff edge.”