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Coping with the Cuts? The Management of the Worst Financial Settlement in Living Memory

Author

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  • Annette Hastings
  • Nick Bailey
  • Maria Gannon
  • Kirsten Besemer
  • Glen Bramley

Abstract

The scale of the cuts to local government finance, coupled with increasing demand for services, has led to unprecedented ‘budget gaps’ in council budgets. Arguably, two competing narratives of the trajectory of local government have emerged in which contrasting futures are imagined for the sector – a positive story of adaptation and survival and more negative one of residualisation and marginalisation. Drawing on case study evidence from three English local authorities, the paper distinguishes and provides examples of three strategic approaches to managing austerity – efficiency, retrenchment and investment. It demonstrates how and why the balance of these strategies has shifted between the early and later phases of austerity and considers the extent to which the evidence of the case studies provide support for either the survival or marginalisation narrative. The paper concludes by arguing that a third narrative – responsibilisation – captures more fully the trajectory of local government in England.

Suggested Citation

  • Annette Hastings & Nick Bailey & Maria Gannon & Kirsten Besemer & Glen Bramley, 2015. "Coping with the Cuts? The Management of the Worst Financial Settlement in Living Memory," Local Government Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(4), pages 601-621, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:flgsxx:v:41:y:2015:i:4:p:601-621
    DOI: 10.1080/03003930.2015.1036987
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Maximilian Lemprière & Vivien Lowndes, 2019. "Why did the North East Combined Authority fail to achieve a devolution deal with the UK government?," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 34(2), pages 149-166, March.
    2. Federico Savini, 2017. "Planning, uncertainty and risk: The neoliberal logics of Amsterdam urbanism," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 49(4), pages 857-875, April.
    3. Annette Hastings & Nick Bailey & Glen Bramley & Maria Gannon, 2017. "Austerity urbanism in England: The ‘regressive redistribution’ of local government services and the impact on the poor and marginalised," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 49(9), pages 2007-2024, September.
    4. Mackenzie, Mhairi & Skivington, Kathryn & Fergie, Gillian, 2020. "“The state They're in”: Unpicking fantasy paradigms of health improvement interventions as tools for addressing health inequalities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    5. Dennis Pepple & Kehinde Olowookere, 2021. "Towards an Understanding of the Dynamics of Work and Employment Relations during Austerity," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 281-297, June.
    6. Sébastien Dony, 2017. "Ce que nous apprennent les démarches d'amélioration de l'efficience dans les collectivités territoriales," Post-Print hal-01907400, HAL.
    7. Emil Turc & Marcel Guenoun, 2019. "Dimensions et modalités des programmes de réduction des coûts mis en œuvre par les collectivités territoriales françaises," Post-Print hal-03511291, HAL.
    8. Crispian Fuller, 2017. "City government in an age of austerity: Discursive institutions and critique," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 49(4), pages 745-766, April.
    9. Tania Arrieta, 2022. "Austerity in the United Kingdom and its legacy: Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 33(2), pages 238-255, June.
    10. Phil Higson, 2017. "From customer service to customer-driven services: Practitioner perspectives on a strategy for dealing with local authority austerity budgets," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 32(7), pages 778-795, November.

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