There were repeated warnings that 2015/16 would be the crunch financial year for local government.
Now, with budgets for that dreaded year being drawn up, it appears that councils have yet again managed to delay the sector’s worst fears being realised.
Many in local government are now talking about 2018/19 as the year when the situation will become critical.
Only the taking of yet more difficult decisions has staved off an immediate crisis and the alarm bells for the future are still ringing loudly, as the results of this year’s The MJ and Local Government Information Unit (LGiU) finance survey reveal.
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