The future financial sustainability of councils is on a cliff-edge. Without Government action, they will have no choice but to significantly cut the local services our communities – and economy – rely on.
Local government is the fabric of our country. It provides more than 800 services and positively impacts the daily life of every person in every community.
However, the future financial sustainability of councils is on a cliff-edge, and the scale of the pressures cannot be met by reducing costs, making efficiencies or raising council tax.
Many now face the prospect of having to make severe cutbacks to local services. This would not only damage our communities but massively undermine Government ambitions to boost economic growth, level up the country and help residents through the cost of living crisis.
We need a long-term plan from Government
Inflation is not going to come down overnight. Reserves can only be spent once. A local service cannot be cut twice.
To save the local services we all rely on, councils need adequate funding, in line with inflation and the demand for services, and certainty to plan their budgets to minimise service disruption.
If you want to get involved in the save local services campaign, please email LGA’s Marketing Content Manager, Anna Morrell, on [email protected]
Media and briefings
- Media releases and coverage
-
LGA statement on Budget 2023
15 March 2023Local Government Finance Settlement: LGA statement
6 February 2023Letter from the LGA to the Chancellor of the Exchequer
1 February 2023LGA responds to provisional Local Government Finance Settlement
19 December 2022New Statesman: Cash-strapped councils “not out of the woods” after Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement
22 November 2022The Guardian: Bigger council tax rises will not prevent more cuts to services, councils say
18 November 2022Mirror: Council tax would need to rise 20 per cent to plug huge funding hole, Rishi Sunak told
16 November 2022Chancellor must act to protect local services from threat of spiralling costs
16 November 2022LGA responds to Autumn Statement
14 November 2022iNews: Autumn Statement predictions: What we know so far about Jeremy Hunt’s plans, from tax rises to spending cuts
13 November 2022BBC News Online: Decisions on spending cuts and tax rises are sober, officials say
28 October 2022Guardian: UK councils slashing services to meet £3.2bn budget shortfall
28 October 2022Cllr Jamieson on BBC Politics East (11.50)
23 October 2022LGA responds to IFS report on Levelling Up funding
20 October 2022Council cost pressures – a comment piece by Cllr James Jamieson
18 October 2022LGA Politics Home comment piece from Chairman Cllr James Jamieson: Councils will be forced to cut services without certainty over funding
11 October 2022Guardian: Unfunded tax cuts mean UK ‘will need £60bn spending cuts’
11 October 2022Councils respond to Energy Bill Relief Scheme
21 September 2022 - Briefings
-
Spring Budget 2023: On-the-Day Briefing
15 March 2023Final Local Government Finance Settlement 2023/24, House of Commons
8 February 2023Autumn Statement 2022: LGA briefing
18 November 2022Response to DLUHC consultation on statutory override for infrastructure assets accounting
7 November 2022LGA Submission: Government's Medium-Term Fiscal Plan
14 October 2022Digitalising Business Rates - connecting business rates and tax data, September 2022
28 September 2022Final Local Government Finance Settlement 2022/23, House of Commons
9 February 2022

LGA Submission: Government's Medium-Term Fiscal Plan
This submission makes the case to Government for a radical reinvestment in local and combined authorities that enables councils to turbo-charge local growth and create preventative public services that save money and improve the lives of some of the most vulnerable in our society.

Letter from the LGA Chairman and Political Group Leaders to the Chancellor of the Exchequer
Letter from the LGA Chairman and Political Group Leaders to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Right Hon. Jeremy Hunt MP.

Autumn Statement 2022: LGA briefing
Our Autumn Statement 2022 briefing summarises the key announcements for councils and provides an initial LGA view.