The vital everyday services councils provide have disproportionately felt the brunt of public sector austerity and people in every community are now feeling the loss of these essential services. For our communities to thrive, councils must be on a sustainable financial footing and must be empowered to make decisions with communities around how resources are used.
We are calling for:
Increased, multi-year, flexible funding for Local government.
To deliver what is best for our communities, funding from the next Scottish Government should not be ringfenced, nor come with conditions attached that stifle local decision making. As part of this we are calling for an additional £750m in social care and increased funding to support vital infrastructure projects.
Freedom to raise revenue locally.
Empowering local government to work with communities and industry to raise revenue locally while supporting a vibrant economy from which everyone benefits.
Council Tax Reform.
A commitment to developing and implementing a fairer and more progressive council tax system within the next parliament that continues to be raised locally and enables and empowers councils to be responsive to local need.
Meaningful progress on exploring place-based funding.
Removing silos from public services by examining the needs of local communities and funding the place in its entirety rather than each sector as part of a joined-up approach to Public Service Reform.
Investment in prevention.
A decisive shift to enable place-based, preventative budgeting across the public sector and invest in services that truly tackle the root causes of inequality which are too often gendered in nature.
