The message from the Institute for Fiscal Studies report on the next Spending Review this week was clear: once you take out the extra £20bn for the NHS, the 0.7% pledged for overseas aid and the 2% of GDP committed to defence, there is very little left for the rest of the public sector. Austerity is supposedly over but for local government it's the same old story while rising costs in adult care and children's services continue to swallow an increasing share of a diminishing cake.

Northamptonshire CC's budget failure provided a wake-up call to those in Whitehall who believed councils could go on taking the medicine. Even taking into account the county's history of inept political management, which contributed to its downfall, the sector is struggling.