Over half of English councils face insolvency under £5bn deficit, MPs warn | Local government

According to an effective committee of MPs, the councils in the UK, the debts and reforms divorced from reality are overwhelmed by billions of pounds.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), in his investigation into local government finances, said the Treasury and other departments to hit the Council balance sheets at the end of the financial year and potentially out of many ordeals for high -need expenditures – an estimated 5 billion pounds deficit – urgently 5 billion pounds.

Sir Our investigation has heard that the government is concerned about the local authority financing. However, the lack of urgent action as a normalized background noise seems to be comfortable with its existing business situation.

“In a worrying way, the examination of the council financing can now provoke the sense of deja vu, and the same unresolved problems are seen over and over again.”

Since 2021, Councils have been able to keep high need gaps away from the balance sheets through the “legal invalid” given by the previous government. However, the accounting maneuver ends in March 2026, the end of the current accounting of the Cari.

The investigation, housing, communities and the Ministry of Local Government said that the Ministry of Treasury and Education should work together to ensure that local authorities can work together to ensure that they can achieve a sustainable financial position when the legal invalid ends in March 2026.

Louise Gitins, the President of the Local Government Association representing the councils, said: uz We expect the government to urgently clarify how the government plans to address the high need vulnerabilities foreseen next year, next year.

“More than half of the councils warned us, when the elasticity of making legal invalidation ends next year, and we continue to call the government to write these vulnerabilities.”

The Committee also accused the government of creating “important uncertainty üzerinde on a number of promised reforms and reorganizations, including financing, providing special needs and social care.

ClifTon-Brown said: “Requests for comprehensive reforms seem to be not interested in a reality where local authorities do not have a good and strong capacity to fundamentally change the way they work.”

However, local government Minister Jim McMahon said: “These claims are not supported by evidence. From a standing start we set an open plan to correct the foundations of local government and we did not waste time to take action as part of our change plan.

“We have taken action to restore the audit system to a situation that operates, to reorganize our approach to the best value of the council and put a legislation to bring a new local audit office.

“Expenditure examination provided a new grant fund of over 5 billion pounds for local services, which we have injected to increase the council financing this year.”

Guardian last week, the Council leaders in the UK Multibillion -pound high -need deficits, council scores within months to push a “combustion platform”, he said.

Ministers aim to publish a school white article in autumn, including reforms in education, health and care plans, known as EHCPS. Plans give children and young people until the age of 25 to support the high -need budgets of local authorities for conditions such as autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and speech, language and communication needs.