The precarious state of local government funding

The precarious state of local government funding continues to capture the attention of the media and just this week I've read several articles on this topic.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies' (IFS) recent analysis of local government funding highlighted the extent of government cuts to date. It found that on average local government spending on local services had fallen by 21 per cent since 2009/10 and that the poorest parts of the country had faced the deepest cuts. The report also highlighted significant variation at a service level with local authorities prioritising spending on children's and adult's social care and spending less on other services that our communities rely on such as parks, transport and leisure services. These decisions are not taken lightly but are necessary in order to manage reducing budgets and rising need. It therefore doesn't come as a surprise that the IFS has warned that funding for councils will soon become ‘increasingly inadequate'. Indeed, in recent months a growing number of local authorities have suggested that they may only be able to provide core services in the future.