Last updated:

16th November 2023

Fair Funding Deal

Lobby MPs for more money for local services

We're calling on the Government to give our borough and you, our residents, a fairer deal.

The Government chooses to give the borough less. Meaning you have to pay more.

Join the campaign to the Government for a Fair Funding Deal. 

Send lobbying letter

We've already sent a letter from our leadership calling for changes directly to Michael Gove.

The button above lets you support this message easily. Full text can be found at the bottom of this page.

The button pre-fills an email to lobby Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling-Up, Housing and Communities, with our call for a Fair Funding Deal.

Or you can send it to Michael Gove and your local MP, depending on your Parliamentary area:

Alternative links for sending lobbying letter

Some residents have reported technical issues when trying to send a letter. The link which works will depend on the device you use, operating system and email client.

If you have any issues with the links above, try the options below:

Why we need a fair deal

One of the key reasons for our financial situation is underfunding by Government. Wokingham Borough gets:

  • £30million less than the average unitary council providing all services
  • That's £400 less per household
  • This puts an unfair burden on our Council Taxpayers

What we're calling for

  • Take into account local need in adult and children's social care
  • Keep funding in line with inflation and cost rises
  • New funding model based on genuine costs of running a council
  • Future financial settlements to cover more than one year to allow for effective long-term planning
  • Improve funding for councils to limit those getting into serious financial difficulties
  • Mr Gove meets with the borough council to learn about local finances and options for improvement

Lobbying letter to MPs

When you send our lobbying letter, it will generate the below text. Your message will also be sent to the council so we can keep track of the number of people supporting the campaign.

Dear Mr Gove,

We, the Council Taxpayers of Wokingham Borough are getting a bad deal from the Government and have been for many years.

Our local council gets about £30million less per year from the Government than the average local council, that is £400 a year less per household. We do not believe that is right or fair.

I understand the cause for this low level of support for Wokingham Borough is that funding for local councils is based on a formula that is more than ten years old and does not take into account the true cost of providing services within adults and children social care locally. This seems wrong and I support a review of the way councils are funded.

Therefore I would like to support my council’s call for:

"A new local government funding model based on the genuine costs of running a Local Authority and asking that future settlements cover a longer period of time to allow for more effective long-term financial planning. It must keep in-line with overall levels of inflation, general cost increases and take full account of local needs in adult and children’s social care"

I also believe you should meet with local representatives to hear for yourself the impact of poor council tax funding and to discuss options for change.

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