Funding and financing local government in England

Abstract

Abstract Situated within the UK state, local government in England lacks constitutional or legislative protection. It is a creature of the national government and Parliament, operating in a highly centralized and evolving system of central–local relations. Integral to local statecraft, this status strongly defines local government’s powers, functions, and politics. The local government system is inherently diverse across England. It has evolved incrementally, punctuated by periods of radical reorganization, from the ‘sovereign council’ through ‘new public management’ (NPM) to ‘networked governance’. Funding and financing are complex, fragmented, and highly centralized. Budgeting, expenditure, income, balance sheets, and accountability work in distinctive ways. Key processes shape local government’s evolution with implications for its funding and financing. Centralization concentrates powers and resources at the national level. Repeated modernization efforts involve experiments with new organizational models. Continued pressure forfewer, larger local government units underpins ongoing reorganization. Disaggregation increases the organizations constituting the local state working with local government. Reflecting national management of central–local relations, funding and financing experiments and innovations punctuate local government’s history as local statecrafters try to exert their autonomies.