Local authorities do more than collect the bins and install low-traffic neighbourhoods. They have a statutory duty to provide a range of vital services such as education, children’s safeguarding and adult social care. But as we reveal in today’s newspaper, London’s town halls are “teetering on a financial cliff edge”.
It isn’t just Croydon, whose problems were somewhat self-inflicted. Other local authorities are facing insolvency for more mundane reasons: higher costs, soaring demand — particularly for social care and housing — as well as reduced funding. All but two of the capital’s 32 boroughs are forecasting an overspend in their original budget plans this year, while half are warning of bankruptcy in the next parliament.
