The mantra of doing more for less in local government is dead. Welcome to the era of just doing less. Far, far less.
Returning from the summer is always a moment for taking stock, but the picture is bleak. This is not just financial Armageddon, this is potential annihilation as the fiscal future pushes more authorities towards reorganisation.
As the pressures pile on council services, there are no solutions – yet.
Plans for the social care green paper look like little more than the odd ISA and a bit of wishful thinking. Whitehall bandwidth is preoccupied by Brexit.
The Year Ahead in local government- Heather Jameson, Editor, The MJ from Narrowcast Media Group on Vimeo.
Children's services are also in fiscal freefall. If the fallout of baby P, child sexual exploitation and radicalisation weren't enough, the impact of welfare cuts and the rise of homelessness is pushing more kids into care due to pure poverty.
There are no more easy pickings when it comes to cuts and now the cracks in austerity plans are taking their toll. Cuts to youth services are being blamed for rising youth crime – and that's just the start.
If you are hoping for a lifeline in the Budget and spending review, don't hold your breath. After a decade of austerity, Philip Hammond may have hinted he would loosen the purse strings, but the reality of Brexit is kicking in.
With the Treasury estimating a no-deal Brexit will cost 7.7% of GDP – a whopping £210bn a year – and a promise to hand more cash to health, it seems unlikely that the chancellor will have much more in the coffers for Mrs May's political priority of housing.
Once councils held aloft their graphs of doom, charting the demise of services outside social care. Now they are grasping their medium term financial plan, calculating just how long they have before they slash services back to a core offer…. Followed by a statutory service offer.
From Somerset to East Sussex, the counties may be on the forefront of this, but the rest are not immune.
After eight years of voting for austerity – and Brexit – the consequences are starting to show. It is the universal services that are going, with budgets swallowed up by those in need of high cost services.
Councils face a hard sell to the public. It is no longer more for less: Voters will start to see their taxes and charges rise. This is less for more.
