For 15 years local authorities have faced brutal austerity cuts, with frontline workers and services facing the brunt. This has to stop.
The impact of the cuts can be seen across our communities, when streets cannot be cleaned on time, roads are not gritted, streetlights are dimmed, youth centres and libraries close and housing repairs are delayed.
At the same time, council and school workers have faced years of real term pay cuts, reductions in terms and conditions, fewer resources and job losses. But none of this is necessary.
Austerity is a political choice and we can see that it has failed. We call on the Labour government to do the right thing and fund local government fairly!
Listen to the workers
To get a proper understanding of what is happening in communities up and down the country, Unite talked to workers on the front line, delivering services with ever falling budgets. This is why it's time for fair funding in local government.
Campaign background
Unite's Fair Funding campaign comes amid a backdrop of severe cuts to public services and jobs as well as a financial crisis in the sector. Serious issues include:
- Local government debt across the UK has doubled since 2010 and is now spiralling out of control.
- UK local authorities were £122 billion in debt as of 2024, with government lenders charging high rates of interest
- Six councils have been declared bankrupt since 2021, with 43% of England’s 317 local authorities at risk according to data from the National Audit Office.
It does not have to be this way | Unite believes that unless local government funding is urgently restructured, such as by offering local authorities debt and interest relief, councils will have to make the impossible choice of further cuts, using declining reserves to stay afloat or issuing a Section 114 notice.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Local authority workers are the backbone of communities across the UK, providing many public services that are vital for a functioning society ... there now needs to be an immediate overhaul of how all councils are funded before it is too late.”
The impact of austerity and cuts
Meanwhile, years of swingeing cuts to local councils has led to a visible breakdown in public services, such as roads not being maintained and an increase in damage such as potholes, streetlights not being switched on, worsening quality of caring services and refuse collections happening less frequently.
Cuts to local council services and budgets have also led to local government workers seeing their pay decrease by around 30 per cent in real terms since 2010. As well as worsening pay and conditions, councils have also had a problem with recruiting and retaining workers.
Unite national officer for local authorities Clare Keogh said: “This is a grave situation. It is about political choices – whether to press on with austerity and cuts or whether to invest in well-funded jobs, public services and communities. Councils need more financial support as a matter of urgency and Unite believes our campaign will push the government into making the funding system for council fairer. The time to act is now.”