Necessity as the mother of reinvention

The austerity politics ushered in by the Conservative–Liberal Democrat Coalition government in May 2010 catapulted English and Welsh local authorities firmly into the throes of a funding crisis. The cuts made to local council grants amount to £10 billion in real terms over the three years from 2011–12 to 2014–15, equivalent to approximately 27 percent reductions in local funding. The Local Government Association (LGA) characterized these cuts as one element of a ‘perfect storm’ or ‘financial black hole’ facing local authorities, as falling revenues met with rising demand for local services, particularly in adult and social care. Indeed, it has predicted that by 2020 councils will face a cumulative funding shortfall of £16.5 billion if they are to do no more than maintain existing levels of service delivery within local communities. ¹