CYP Now - Most English councils expect to slash budgets next year, NAO warns

The majority of local authorities in England plan to make further budget cuts next year following the Covid-19 pandemic, a stark new report from the National Audit Office (NAO) warns.

Support for vulnerable children has already been cut in some local authorities, the report states. Picture: Adobe Stock

Some 94 per cent of councils told researchers that they expect to cut spending next year to meet legal duties to balance their budgets.

Meanwhile, just a fifth (20 per cent) of councils said they felt able to return budgets to pre-pandemic levels within the next two years.

More than half (53 per cent) said that they would need to build up their reserves in the next two to three years, but only 16 per cent of these respondents felt confident that they would be able to do this, the report states.

Local authorities are estimated to have been hit with £9.7bn of extra cost pressures relating to the Covid-19 pandemic, between March and December last year, it adds.

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