[HN] Councils in England in crisis as Birmingham ‘declares itself bankrupt’

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The crisis in local authorities was laid bare on Tuesday as Birmingham city council in effect declared itself bankrupt, with experts warning that others across the UK were now living “hand to mouth”.

But the contagion spreading to Europe’s largest local authority, which hosted last summer’s Commonwealth Games, is likely to intensify pressure on Rishi Sunak’s government over the legacy of 13 years of austerity.

“From huge increases in adult social care demand and dramatic reductions in business rates income, to the impact of rampant inflation, it is clear that local government is facing a perfect storm,” they said.

Andy Street, Conservative mayor of the West Midlands, rejected the idea that Birmingham’s woes were part of a UK-wide malaise, however, saying the section 114 notice raised “serious questions about the council’s leadership and the decisions they have taken over the past decade”.

He said that “no plan has emerged” as to how the council intended to tackle its equal pay bill, and argued that while local authorities had “faced significant cuts over the past decade”, most have managed “to keep services running to the standard that people expect”.

David Phillips, associate director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, painted a more reassuring picture of local authority finances, with central government funding expanding at a “decent clip”, this year and next, and many councils able to dip into reserves built up after the Covid crisis.

The original article contains 1,066 words, the summary contains 234 words. Saved 78%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!