Wicked problems and tempting solutions: navigating local government finance amid austerity and perceived vulnerability.

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Dom, B.K. ORCID: 0000-0002-0889-2571, Murphy, P. ORCID: 0000-0001-8459-4448, Jones, M. ORCID: 0000-0002-0802-6470 and Collins, A. ORCID: 0000-0001-9805-9091, 2023. Wicked problems and tempting solutions: navigating local government finance amid austerity and perceived vulnerability. In: International Centre of Public Accountability (ICOPA) Workshop, Durham University, 11-12 December 2023.

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Abstract

Many central governments have adopted austerity policies in response to shocks from international and domestic crises and other disruptive events. These policies have ostensibly been introduced to reduce sovereign or public debt and in the UK have resulted in long-term reductions in central government support to local authorities. This has led to an increase in demand for some public services - most notably health and social services and welfare services. The persistent reduction of central funding and a rise in demand for services has increased the burden on LGs (Bovaird et al., 2023; Carstensen et al., 2022). Austerity as a response measure presents a unique phenomenon because it leads to resource constraints and exposes LGs to more service demand pressures and increased levels of perceived vulnerability (Barbera et al., 2021).

Barbera et al. (2021), Coyle and Ferry (2022), and Eckersley et al. (2023) have explored the impacts of austerity and their responses on LGs collectively in different countries. However, these studies tend to focus on the short-term impacts, and literature on the long-term implications of austerity and its relationship with perceived vulnerability appears to be more limited. This study used a unique 15-year quantitative dataset drawn from ONS data, together with data visualisation and a series of elite interviews to analyse the pressures that emerged from the impacts of austerity on LGs in a longitudinal study, which identified three distinct eras (pre-austerity, early austerity, and late austerity). This research used Barbera et al.’s (2017) financial resilience framework to help understand the impacts of austerity (and shocks from other disruptive events) and their relationship with the perceived vulnerability of LGs, using England as a case study.

The paper identifies three broad categories of pressures – financial, infrastructure, and service pressures – that emerged during the early and late austerity eras (2010/11 to 2019/20) in response to significant reductions in central government support and increased demand for public services. The research found significant overall reductions in all service areas and in all parts of England with the exception of social services and welfare payments, which have consistently increased. As a result, the financial resilience of LGs has weakened and the perceived vulnerability has increased and this will continue unless there are radical changes to the central government’s approach to local governments’ financial support.

Item Type:

Conference contribution

Creators:

Dom, B.K., Murphy, P., Jones, M. and Collins, A.

Publisher:

Wiley

Date:

December 2023

Identifiers: