DORSET County council was the only winner in the local government finance settlement announced in yesterday's Localism Bill, with an increase of 0.25% in spending power.

Dorset CC is the only council in the country to come out with an in-real-terms increase.

Poole was another big "winner", with spending power down just 0.97%. Bournemouth comes off quite well in the official figures, with spending power reduced by 3.85%.

The councils' spending power in full:

• Poole -0.97%

• East Dorset -2.69%

• Bournemouth -3.85%

• Christchurch -4.37%

• Purbeck -4.78%

• New Forest -5.18%

• North Dorset -5.40%

• Weymouth and Portland -6.00%

But the picture is not as straightforward as it seems. Formula grant, the traditional funding for councils (including police funding) is being cut across the board - by £10m in Bournemouth, £8.5m in Dorset, £4m in Poole and by significant percentages in the smaller authorities.

The government says inflation and income from other sources - mainly diverted NHS funding for social care - will offset some of these cuts, giving the final figures above.

So although Dorset county council loses £8.5m from its formula grant it's getting £4m extra in specific (but unspecified) grants and £5.2m in NHS funding for social care - hence the 0.25% increase.

Visit our Interactive section for the government's Plain English guide to the settlement and the full breakdown of the spending allocations.

We're busy working through the numbers. There will be be full analysis and reaction from the councils in tomorrow's Daily Echo.

Funding settlement 2011-12.pdf