The contract between councils and their residents is breaking down. Recent polling by the Local Government Association found that only 38% of people agree their council is value for money, falling from around 50% a decade ago.
Conservative austerity made councils more reliant on increasing regressive council tax to keep their heads above water. In 2010 just over a third of councils' money came from council tax which increased to just under half today. At the same time surging social care demand meant councils had to cut other services – non-social care spending has fallen by nearly a third since 2010-11 in real terms.
