THE real test for local government finance will come with next year's spending review, the chairman of the Local Government Association has warned.

Chancellor Philip Hammond unveiled a £650million one-off cash injection to help English local authorities tackle social care, along with £45m for the Disabled Facilities Grant in England in 2018/19 and £84m over the next five years to expand the Children’s Social Care programmes to 20 further councils.

A further £675m in co-funding will be made available to councils in a bid to regenerate high streets.

And councils in England are to get an extra £420m to tackle a growing number of potholes.

But LGA chairman Lord Gary Porter said while the Government has started to listen to the LGA’s call for desperately-needed investment in under-pressure local services, the budget fell short of what councils need in the long-term.

He added: “The LGA’s budget submission highlighted the severe funding pressures facing councils in 2019/20.

"The chancellor has acted to help tackle some of this immediate funding crisis with £650 million for social care which provides a financial boost for some of our local public services.

“While this funding will ease some of the immediate financial pressure facing councils and our local services, it is clear that this cannot be a one-off. Today’s funding is a start, but the real test will come in the spending review next year.

“Local government in England continues to face significant funding gaps and rising demand for adult social care, children’s services and homelessness support will continue to threaten other services our communities rely on, like running libraries, cleaning streets and maintaining park spaces.

"Councils also continue to face huge uncertainty about how they will pay for local services into the next decade and beyond.

“Investing in local government is good for the nation’s prosperity, economic growth and the overall health and wellbeing of the nation.

"We now look forward to working with the Government to ensure the forthcoming spending review delivers a truly sustainable funding settlement for local government, and its adult social care green paper puts social care on a firmer, long-term financial footing for the people who depend on care and support.”

Earlier this year, Blackburn with Darwen Council finance chief Cllr Andy Kay said the future of funding for local authorities across the country was uncertain and Blackburn with Darwen was no different than anywhere else.

In 2016, Greg Clark confirmed an historic settlement for town halls, which government bosses said would pave the way for councils to have greater financial freedom from Whitehall, while at the same time responding to calls from local government to make funding adult social care a key priority.

It was hoped at the time the four-year financial settlement would transform the relationship between central and local government and enable councils to be funded from revenues they raise locally, rather than central government grants by the end of the decade.

The four-year deal runs until 2019-20, with councils facing an uncertain financial future ahead of the upcoming spending review.