Local government finance

The financial crisis of 2008 and associated recession led to a permanent deterioration in the outlook for the UK's public finances. As part of the fiscal consolidation implemented by the UK government, grants to local authorities in England were cut by more than a third in real terms between 2009–10 and 2014–15. On average, the distribution of the cuts across authorities does not seem to reflect the principle of ‘equalisation’ that was, at least in theory, in place up until 2013–14; the local authorities with least revenue-raising capacity (which are typically the most deprived) have on average actually seen the largest spending cuts.

This is a response by David Phillips, a senior research economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author only. The IFS has no corporate views.

This briefing note focuses on net spending by local authorities on public services. It uses data from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) to delve into a number of questions about how local governments in England have responded to the reductions in their revenues.

This briefing note updates previous IFS projections of how these poverty measures are likely to evolve in Northern Ireland and the UK as a whole between 2013–14 and 2020–21, taking into account recent policy announcements and revisions to macroeconomic forecasts

This briefing note focuses on the important question of how devolved taxes should interact with the block grant and the Barnett formula.

This report is an updated analysis of the personal tax and benefit reforms implemented, or due to be implemented, by the UK’s coalition government from when it was elected in May 2010 up to and including April 2015.

Council tax benefit (CTB) was abolished in April 2013 and local authorities in England were charged with designing their own council tax support (CTS) schemes in its place. This report analyses the CTS schemes that local authorities adopted in the first year of the new policy.

This briefing note updates previous IFS projections of child and working-age poverty in Northern Ireland and the UK as a whole from 2012-13 to 2017-18, and in 2020-21.