What's the impact of local authority spending cuts on poorer people and places?

Do we have any idea of what the impact of spending cuts actually is, or what it might be in future?

We know that local authorities (LAs) are among the most significant casualties of public spending cuts in the UK. And the range of local services facing cuts is potentially very wide: housing, schools, social services, youth work, community centres, street cleansing and refuse collection, to name but a few. A new study published by JRF takes the first systematic look at the impact of early spending cuts, with a particular focus on the needs of poorer people and places.

The evidence here suggests that reductions in local government provision will be felt very differently in different parts of England. The analysis shows that:

• The most deprived LAs will be hit hardest: these have lost the most spending power, especially in the first year, while some affluent areas have experienced only mild cuts initially.
• Attempts to absorb cuts through efficiency measures have not been enough to stave off significant reductions in spending on services.
• The impact of service reductions will fall most heavily on disadvantaged people: this is largely because their greater reliance on the broad range of public services compared with affluent households who have the capacity to access other forms of provision.

Interviews with senior LA executives revealed different approaches to managing budget contractions. One common difference was between authorities who favoured a client- or community-targeted approach, and those who resisted a targeted approach in favour of a focus on service sustainability and equity. Another common difference was between those who managed cuts via a decentralised or neighbourhood management approach, and LAs whose approach to managing cuts was not spatial.

Overall, the study concluded that there was no guarantee that the needs of disadvantaged residents or communities would be given special consideration by councils as they managed their budget reductions – in fact, many LAs lacked the capacity to analyse and therefore understand the true impact of cuts on poor people and places.

By 2014 a much larger systematic study from JRF will examine how local authorities manage spending cuts. One aim is to provide local authorities with the tools they need to understand the impacts of their spending reductions – an important and so far largely neglected area of research. The impact of service cuts on the poor and the vulnerable will depend on how far services vital to their well-being can be protected, and how well these services are designed, targeted and delivered.