As George Osborne finalises his Spending Review, local authorities – which have already borne the brunt of austerity since the last review in 2010 – are bracing themselves for more seemingly impossible juggling acts of sustaining services while grappling with further budget cuts.

The chancellor has told unprotected Whitehall departments to model cuts of 25% and 40% – to secure £20bn worth of savings from government expenditure by 2019/20 – on top of the £12bn of welfare savings identified in the Summer Budget.