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The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian

Councils in crisis

Four councils declared themselves effectively bankrupt in 2023 and one in five believe it is "fairly or very likely” they will become insolvent in the next 18 months. We look at the financial crisis hitting local authorities and what it means for the communities they serve

4 March 2024

  • The silhouette of a 17-year-old homeless girl with her baby in a corridor in a London building

    Temporary housing ‘a factor in 55 child deaths in England since 2019’

  • People walk past the Council House in Birmingham

    ‘A huge step back for the city’: people in Birmingham on council budget cuts

17 February 2024

  • Andy Haldane

    Failure to fix council funding crisis threatens Tory election pledge, adviser warns

    Andy Haldane, government’s top levelling-up adviser, calls for urgent rethink to prevent deeper cuts across England

10 February 2024

  • Liz Truss and then chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng in hard hats during a ministerial visit

    Disastrous Truss budget forced UK councils to take out massive 50-year loans at soaring rates

    Debt Management Office figures show lasting impact of mini-budget that spooked financial markets, says Labour’s Angela Rayner

6 February 2024

  • A woman carries a mattress into a storage container

    Help failing to keep pace with families facing ‘bed poverty’, says Barnardo’s

    Exclusive: Children’s charity says applications for council support have quadrupled in England since 2018

3 February 2024

  • Citizens Advice worker talks to client

    Charities warn of ‘devastating knock-on impact’ of English councils’ financial crisis

  • Mansfield advice hub

    When a Citizens Advice has to close despite demand being ‘off the scale’

2 February 2024

  • Workers dismantling the former SSI steel blast furnace at the Teesworks regeneration site

    Collapse of local media leaves us all in the dark

  • Liverpool city council's administrative building

    Lawyers raise alarm at struggle to tackle UK local government corruption

1 February 2024

  • Ministers have sought to portray councils such as Nottingham, pictured, as one-off victims of poor management.

    English councils need £4bn to prevent widespread bankruptcy, MPs say

    Cross-party committee also recommends overhaul of ‘outdated and regressive’ council tax

31 January 2024

  • Demonstrators outside Endeavour House protest against Suffolk county council’s proposed cuts to arts funding.

    ‘This system is broken’: protesters say Suffolk cuts encapsulate UK arts crisis

  • The Councils in crisis series looks at the financial crisis hitting local authorities

    Wednesday briefing: England’s councils are going bust – why, and who is to blame?

30 January 2024

  • Broadmarsh shopping centre

    ‘I’m scared for the city’: Nottingham residents rue swingeing council cuts

    Despite having the second highest rate of council tax in England, the city has withdrawn or scaled down many services
  • Internal view, with escalator

    Ministers plan to push cash-strapped English councils to sell assets

    Exclusive: Critics warn of a ‘fire sale’ of public assets under plans being explored by Levelling Up Department
  • The Red House, former home of Mary Taylor friend of Charlotte Bronte, in Gomersal, West Yorkshire, which Kirklees closed in 2016 to make cutbacks.

    From Kirklees to Croydon, some historic buildings English councils could sell

    Local authorities are thinking of plugging budget shortfalls by raising millions selling off public assets

29 January 2024

  • A car driving past a pothole.

    How a decade of austerity has squeezed council budgets in England

  • Officials in the levelling up department have told local authority bosses they expect the maximum possible 4.99% increase to be applied to council tax in April.

    Households in England face above-inflation £2bn council tax raid

28 January 2024

  • Police escort protesters

    Barnet council’s ‘Graph of Doom’ now looks prophetic

    In 2011, no one believed councils would be left to swallow the rising cost of social care unaided. But after funding cuts of 40%, their plight looks increasingly bleak
  • Growing costs in areas such as social care are putting pressure on councils.

    From social care to homelessness, what are the cost pressures facing English councils?

    A decade of cuts has reduced local authorities’ ability to deal with key long-term issues, from child protection to an ageing society
  • People on a bright yellow Bustler bus

    ‘We’d be stuck without it’: elderly Woking residents face loss of key transport

    Council set to cut back Dial-a-Ride service after speculative spree led it to bankruptcy
About 21 results for Councils in crisis
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