With the majority of councils now having set their budgets for the coming year against a backdrop of a future funding outlook that is ever more uncertain, it almost feels like we are in a strange twilight world where we are ready and poised to respond to changes we know are coming, but are waiting to see what actual funding reform looks like.

While we are waiting for information on longer-term funding, we continue to receive notification of one-off funding for a number of services and also one-off interventions on business rates, such as new reliefs for certain parts of the retail industry.