English council funding: what’s happened and what’s next?

English council funding: what’s happened and what’s next? This report finds that overall spending on local services by English councils fell by 21 per cent between 2009-10 and 2017-18. Some services have seen much deeper cuts though. Spending on planning & development and housing services fell by more than 50 per cent while cultural & leisure services and highways & transport also saw cuts of more than 40 per cent over the same period. This has allowed councils to protect social care services from the full force of budget cuts. Spending on adult social care fell by 5 per cent between 2009–10 and 2017–18 – although the numbers receiving care fell by much more – and spending on acute children’s social care services (such as social work, safeguarding and fostering) actually rose by 10 per cent. Institute for Fiscal Studies