Councils call for more cash to keep libraries and leisure centres open

The money to fund popular services will shrink by 90 per cent as adult social care and other statutory responsibilities soak up almost all of the cash they spend, according to the financial projection by the Local Government Association (LGA).

The “conservative estimates” contained in the report show that by 2020 a £16.5bn funding shortfall will exist between the amount of money available to councils to provide services and the predicted cost of maintaining them at current levels.

The conclusions were published as YouGov research revealed that libraries and leisure facilities are the most popular services provided by councils.

More than a third of those asked said they had used or experienced public libraries in the last year, with 27 per cent saying they had visited council-run leisure facilities.

The LGA, which represents 373 councils in England and Wales, called on the Government to introduce “long overdue” reform of how adult social care is paid for and give councils access to more resources.

The report says a 28 per cent cut in the amount of money councils receive from central government between 2010/11 and 2014/15 will contribute considerably to the funding shortfall.

The authors found that the rising cost of providing social care and waste services meant the money available to pay for all other council services would fall from £24.5bn in 2010/11 to £8.4bn in 2019/20.

The gap between the money available starts at £1.4bn in 2012/13 and reaches £16.5bn in 2019/20.