Seven years of austerity has already squeezed many of our budgets so hard that there is a danger that not even statutory levels of service can be delivered, particularly with rising demand for critical services. Even the financial sustainability of some councils is in question and this picture may be more widespread in future if things do not change.

The last government recog-nised those pressures and put interim additional support in the form of the Better Care Fund. But that is time limited and the reality is that a more permanent additional funding stream for adult social care needs to be put in place. There are other unfunded pressures, such as children's social care, increasing school place requirements and mental health – the latter impacts on local government services.