Lancashire is to receive the joint largest share of a nationwide grant to ease pressure on social care services.

The county council area will be handed almost £15m from a one-off funding pot announced in October’s budget, while Blackpool and Blackburn Councils get £2.4m and £2.1m respectively.

A third of the cash – which had already been allocated – is reserved to help reduce the strain on the NHS over winter. The remainder can be used across adult and children’s services.

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Meanwhile, the county has been told that it can keep more of the business rates which it raises in the area.

The region has been given the go-ahead to take part in a pilot scheme which will see Lancashire authorities retain 75 percent of the income generated from businesses and pool the proceeds across the majority of councils.

It is estimated that the arrangement will give the region an extra £10.5m to spend next year across all local authorities except Lancaster City Council, which chose not to take part because of the risk that successful business rate appeals could leave it worse off.

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Ken Hind, leader of Ribble Valley Borough Council, which spearheaded the bid, said the government had recognised the “size and diversity” of Lancashire by piloting the scheme in the region.

“It shows what 15 councils can do when they work together in a short period of time – we had just three weeks to draw up the bid and get permission from over 500 councillors in the county,” Coun Hind said.

The announcements were made as local authorities also learned much money they will have to spend in the next financial year.

The government has published its draft finance settlement which will be confirmed early next year following a formal consultation.

Lancashire County Council will see its spending power – a combination of government grants and money received from council tax – increase by 3.3 per cent during 2019/20 compared to the previous 12 months. County Hall will have £788m to spend next year.

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The authority is still crunching the numbers before making any comment. The county council was one of the few authorities in the country not to sign-up to four-year settlement in 2015/16, which comes to an end this year.

The government is due to publish the findings of its fair funding review of how money is allocated to councils next year.

Some of Central Lancashire’s district authorities will see increases in their income year-on-year – with Preston up three per cent to £19m and South Ribble up 0.4 per cent to £11m.

Chorley receives a slight reduction of -0.2 per cent, taking its budget to £13m.

However, all three districts will have seen falls of between 3 and 10 per cent over the last five years.