The Government is pressing ahead with the Fair Funding Review of local government, seeking to implement a new formula, possibly from 2020/21. This is generating a significant amount of heat, if perhaps not yet so much light, as sector interest groups lobby for their slice of the promised cake.

By way of example, county councils are taking an interesting position. Both Essex and Cambridgeshire CCs' budget submissions contend that their funding settlements are unfair compared with others. Essex, in particular, is arguing that it receives less funding per head of population than London boroughs.