Financial precarity in English local government: causes, potential solutions and future challenges

Eckersley, P ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9048-8529, 2024. Financial precarity in English local government: causes, potential solutions and future challenges. Progressive Review, 31 (2), pp. 89-94. ISSN 2573-2323

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Abstract

Austerity has had a major impact on the UK public realm, particularly in deprived communities in England. A spate of local authority ‘bankruptcies’ in major cities have only served to illustrate how widespread the problem has become. To deliver on its policy agenda, the Labour government elected in July 2024 will need to rely on local authorities to address challenges such as lacklustre economic growth, climate change and endemic poverty. As such, it will have to address concerns about the long-term financial viability of English local government before too long, in order to rebuild overall state capacity. This requires them to take account of the multiple causes of the problem, as well as consider the potential solutions. This paper sets out some of the key problems (specifically, the outdated local government finance system and a lack of audit and oversight of council spending), and explains how some possible solutions have been in development for some time. These include a ‘fair funding review’ for English councils and a new system of local public audit. Working on the basis that Starmer’s team recognise the key role that councils need to play in delivering the new government's agenda, it suggests that we could see a revitalisation of subnational government in England in the coming years.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Progressive Review
Creators:	Eckersley, P.
Publisher:	Wiley
Date:	2024
Volume:	31
Number:	2
ISSN:	2573-2323
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1111/newe.12393 DOI 2193307 Other
Rights:	© 2024 The Author(s). IPPR Progressive Review published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Institute of Public Policy Research. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Divisions:	Schools > Nottingham Business School
Record created by:	Laura Ward
Date Added:	22 Aug 2024 10:52
Last Modified:	15 Oct 2024 08:12
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/52061

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