#CouncilsCan trends on Twitter

Something odd happened yesterday; lots and lots of people celebrated the good work of UK councils! 

The hashtag #CouncilsCan even trended on Twitter.

Working in local government can sometimes feel like a thankless task, but the LGA (Local Government Association) did a fantastic job of mobilising positivity in a ‘tweetathon’ that recognised the vital work being done day-in/day-out. 

The idea was to showcase just how much councils improve people’s lives and their local areas. The campaign had a humbling message…

...despite councils losing almost 60p out of every £1 the Government provided for services (within a ten year period), they have continued to deliver vital services for our communities. 

That truly is a remarkable achievement and one that certainly deserves to be celebrated. Yesterday saw a positive outpouring of support and rightful self recognition and it was great to see. 

But a core aim of the campaign is to promote the need for councils to receive adequate funding in this week’s Spending Round.  The message was clear: look at everything we’ve done with so little - we can do so much more if properly funded.  

The LGA reports, “with local government facing an overall funding gap of more than £5 billion in 2020/21 - including extra inflationary and demand pressures of £2.6 billion - the Spending Round needs to ensure councils have adequate funding to protect local services next year. This is the only way to allow them to continue to lead their local areas, improve residents’ lives, reduce demand for public services and save money for the taxpayer.”

The #CouncilsCan campaign was intended to run for 24 hours, but is still going strong today. It’s certainly not too late to show your support and promote the #CouncilsCan hashtag!