With finances tight and becoming even more challenging, it is more important than ever for councils to make good decisions, explains Jon Ainger. The focus needs to be on measuring the quality of the decision-making process

The financial situation of local authorities is bad and is projected to get worse. After several years of working extremely hard to balance budgets and cut costs, it feels like this year’s budget round (for 2019/20 and beyond) is throwing up more profound decisions than before. These decisions will have more challenging consequences which, for many councils, may affect the very survival of their organisation.