Smith Square has acknowledged the financial challenges it faces as it freezes subscriptions while grappling with declining Government grants and a pension scheme deficit.

A preliminary budget paper considered by the Local Government Association's (LGA) leadership board this week assumes that the Improvement and Development Agency's (IDeA) grant from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will fall by 16% between 2017/18 and 2022/23 though the paper emphasises that the forecast is ‘for modelling purposes only'.