Wokingham Borough Council has been lobbying the government for a fairer funding formula, which recognises the true costs of providing adult and children’s social care.

These areas of council responsibility have been particularly subject to increased costs and increased demand in recent years. Inflation and a rise in the number of people needing care are putting enormous pressure on the council's budgets.

Residents of the borough clearly share our view that the council needs a fairer deal from government. Over a thousand of you wrote to the secretary of state to point out how the current funding formula disadvantages Wokingham.

The local government minister wrote to me in December, acknowledging our arguments and those of the more than a thousand residents who wrote in support of our case. The minister specifically referenced the number of letters that the secretary of state had received from Wokingham borough.

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I have already, in an earlier column, thanked those residents who took the time and trouble to write. Now I want to thank them again, as it looks as though their - and our - efforts are beginning to bear fruit.

Last week, we learned that the government is going to make additional payments to councils that face the challenge of meeting the rising costs of providing adult and children’s social care.

We do not anticipate that we will receive significant additional support – certainly not enough to remove the need to make savings and generate income to meet inflation and growth pressures amounting to some £17.3 million across the council. But it will help.

I am sure that residents’ support played a part in securing this step in the right direction. I am very grateful for the backing of all those people of the borough who wrote to the government and to their MPs – it seems to have made a real difference.