The hollowing-out of local capability by a decade of cuts left local government struggling to cope with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, a new study has found.

Published by Oxford University, the report said English councils did not have the ‘infrastructure, capabilities, data or governance frameworks' to execute an effective localised approach to the management of outbreaks because of the preceding decade of cuts.

The study found that a lack of financial certainty for councils around funding for the extra costs incurred during the early stages of the pandemic undermined the local response.

It also highlighted that a lack of trust from central Government in local capabilities was also a problem.

The report read: ‘Local capacity was not as strong as it needed to be and, where it existed, was not understood or properly valued centrally. The attempt at variable localised management of Covid-19 was destined to fail.'