The past year has been one of uncertainty and change for local government: from the outcome of the EU referendum, to the emergence of a new cohort of metro mayors and most recently the General Election. This, also accompanied by the new context provided by the Grenfell Tower tragedy increases the pressure on the leadership of the sector.

Our latest Local State We're In survey shows that councils have coped well in the face of this uncertainty in the short-term, but concerns about the longer-term remain high and the scale of the challenge ahead is significant. For example, half (54%) of our local authority survey respondents believe some councils will get into serious financial difficulty in the next year, while 88% expect that to happen inside the next five years.