The changing shape of the local government finance system

LocalGov in their report highlight that since 2010, local authority funding has changed substantially in terms of size, source and the conditions attached to its various funding streams. In the 2010 spending review, the government increased local authorities’ flexibility over how they could spend their resources and respond to local priorities. These changes accelerated the trend of previous governments to increase local authorities’ financial flexibility by reducing the number and value of ringfenced grants.

Financial sustainability of local authorities 2018 - National Audit Office (NAO) Report - provides a range of data visualisations and reports that add detail to this changing scene especially between 2010/11 and 2016/17