Local authorities could reverse the cuts of the last seven years providing they make full use of council tax raising powers, economists have calculated.

An Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) report published last week highlighted that, while revenues from council tax, business rates and grants, (excluding ringfenced funding for social care) would continue to fall over the next three years, local authorities would receive a growing pot of ring-fenced funding for social care. The mixture of grants, including the Improved Better Care Fund, and the social care precept, means total revenue would have decreased by just 0.4% between 2009/10 and 2019/20. This equates to £5.4bn of ringfenced social care funding in 2019/20.