Alicia Kearns MP has published a new report with UK Onward calling for the Government to incorporate social mobility into Local Government funding formulas.
The report highlights that current funding formulas penalise children growing up in areas of poor social mobility, especially in our rural Rutland & Melton constituency, which is ranked 238/533 for social mobility and Harborough which ranks 232/533 . In the neighbouring area of Grantham & Stamford, social mobility is ranked 341/533.
Of the councils who would most benefit from the introduction of social mobility into funding, both Melton Borough Council and Rutland County Council would be in the top 5 council beneficiaries in the country, due to current underfunding.
Low social mobility areas in our local communities currently have worse outcomes for children on free school meals, who often live in poorer or more isolated areas of otherwise more affluent areas.
The report calls for the Government to re-write the funding formula to positively target funding towards areas with lower social mobility, while continuing to take deprivation into account.
If the Balanced Funding Model was in place (targeting funding to high deprivation and low social mobility areas in equal measure, ensuring that both measures are taken into account), funding in Rutland & Melton would change, with a new money increase of 50%. Grantham & Stamford would also see a positive new money change, increasing by 14%.
Alicia Kearns, Member of Parliament for Rutland and Melton said:
“One of my key priorities when I was elected was to bring fairness back to Government funding, and ensure that our wonderful rural communities get the support we need.
“Our report is a significant milestone towards this, presenting further evidence of the historic underfunding in our communities, the detrimental effect this has on our children growing up in areas of poor social mobility, and a clear funding proposal to resolve this.
“It is vital that we address this fair funding imbalance and get the fair deal we deserve. I will continue to do all I can to lobby the Government to incorporate this proposal into their funding formulas and secure this funding arrangement.”
Alicia has regularly raised the case in Parliament to improve the funding Rutland and Leicestershire Councils receive.
Last month Alicia met with the Chancellor (pictured) to discuss this proposal for how we can build social mobility into the funding formula for local Councils. Alicia also met with the Local Government Finance Minister to address our fair funding imbalance.
