According to research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), conducted on behalf of the Economic and Social Research Council, local authorities have reported that the pandemic increased net spending on non-education services for 2020-21 by approximately £7.8bn with an estimated reduction of the sales, fees, and charges (SFCs) income of £2.1bn, which includes parking revenue.

Official data published last month suggested that the increase was just £4.1bn more than normal expenditure which was far less than expected.

The IFS stated that an increase of around £2.2bn would have been expected in the absence of the pandemic and the actual figure is ‘not much more than half that was previously reported by councils’.

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