What does one pot mean for Mayoral Combined Authorities?

One pot cooking makes things simpler, doesn’t it? Less washing up, economies of scale, and the ability to forward plan, if you batch cook something you can take to work for dinner. The same can be said for the Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) and the single integrated settlements announced in the budget (though replace “washing up” with “admin” – washing up is kind of admin, right?). Single integrated settlements could arguably be more simply described as “one pot”. Instead of the patchwork of different strings-attached funding streams that MCAs must currently navigate, funding will be consolidated into one budget. This will allow Mayors and Combined Authority members more flexibility to spend money how they like.

It enables local politicians and public servants to judge what their areas need and respond to those needs better than Whitehall ever could. That’s what genuine devolution is meant to be, isn’t it? Otherwise, MCAs are just acting as an additional governance layer that passports money through to things that, with all the rules currently applied to so many of the grants, the government is effectively telling them to send it to.

To give credit where it’s due, these single settlements are not entirely new and not the idea of the Labour Government. Combined Authorities have been lobbying for these since my time on the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (and before). After a string of disinterested Local Government Ministers, it was Michael Gove at the helm of the then Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) that, in November 2023, finally got a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the then Government and Greater Manchester and the West Midlands Combined Authorities. Rachel Reeves confirming in the budget that these single settlements will take effect from the 2025/26 financial year makes it a cross-party effort that has got it over the line.

Though perhaps the new Labour government’s approach is going further, and faster, than might have happened had there not been a change back in July. In addition to arrangements for Greater Manchester and the West Midlands; West and South Yorkshire, the North East and Liverpool City Region are all proposed to have their own single settlements too, from 2026/27 (Tees Valley has been left out for now, due to the ongoing review into alleged corruption at Teesworks).

Politically, I very much welcome this. Having been a Local Authority Councillor it’s a perpetual frustration that so many local government funding streams have restrictions on how it can be spent which prevent you from doing what you know your community needs. However, alongside this, it’s important to highlight that the change in power dynamic, with much more power now at a local level, will require a different approach from business.

Why? Well, previously any lobbying for public funding for your project in a MCA area might, counter-intuitively, have been best targeted at Whitehall – at the people writing the rules about where the MCA’s grant money can be spent. Now, with MCAs soon being able to effectively write their own rules, engagement with Mayors and Combined Authority members becomes much more important. At Cavendish we already have clients concerned that money that might previously have been directed towards supporting unviable developments or affordable housing is free to go elsewhere, on trams or buses, for example.

The only way to overcome these potential challenges is to undertake effective engagement with the soon-to-be newly empowered decision makers in MCAs. If the new Government continues to move on devolution at the pace signaled by this budget, there’s no time to waste.

Written by,

Sean Fielding | Associate Director