MP Rachel Gilmour has called for an urgent review of local authority funding following the latest report from Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), of which she is a member.

Mrs Gilmour said the Government needed to look in particular at adult social care and children’s services as PAC described local government funding as being in a ‘perilous state’.

The report highlighted a catalogue of major concerns about the level of local authority funding, saying it was an ‘overly complex system’.

There was an inability to invest in preventative measures due to current financial pressures, and a lack of local government understanding on spending outcomes.

The PAC report said funding had not kept pace with population growth, demand for services, complexity of need, or the rising costs of delivering services.

Government statistics showed local government across the UK spent more than £72.8 billion in 2023-2024, of which 58 per cent went on adult and children’s social care, with some councils spending up to 80 per cent of their budget on adult and children’s services.

Mrs Gilmour’s Tiverton and Minehead constituency covers West Somerset and Exmoor, and a number of parishes in the Culm Valley, the Blackdown Hills, and bordering Wellington.

She said: “The takeaways from this report are clear, the Government must urgently review local authority funding, especially when it comes to children and adult social care.

“Department for Education estimates suggest by the end of 2027–28, special needs education-related overspend could be between £2.9 billion and £3.9 billion per year.

“This is unsustainable for local authorities, who are having to balance the books by making cuts elsewhere.

“I would like to reiterate my calls for a national solution from central Government on adult and children’s social care.

“Without it, local authorities will continue to struggle to provide the crucial services constituents need and deserve.”