Councils face a 'cliff edge' unless the government provides urgent extra funding, local authorities leaders have warned - with some services disappearing altogether.
The Local Government Association (LGA) says councils have already faced unprecedented cuts since 2010 and now face £2.7bn reductions in central government funding - 54% - in the next two years.
It says the upcoming Local Government Finance Settlement should give 'replacement funding' to all councils in 2018/19 and 2019/20.
The LGA says almost half of all councils - 168 districts, counties, unitaries and London boroughs – will no longer receive any central government funding by 2019/20.
Instead, they will have to give some extra business rates income back to the government.
Cllr Nick Forbes, LGA senior vice chair, said: 'Smoothing out funding cuts over the next few years, introducing a fairer funding system and allowing local government to keep every penny of business rates collected to plug funding gaps is now the only way the government can ensure local authorities are able to protect the services communities rely on over the next few years.'
