Many voters think EU membership makes no difference to public services, despite evidence to the contrary, a new report argues.

The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) has published a study showing a high proportion of the people who took part in a ComRes poll believed EU membership made no difference to health and social care (46%).

The results showed a similar trend when it came to the quality of higher education (60%), consumer protection (44%) and regional economic development (40%).

CIPFA, however, carried out a series of interviews with public sector chief executives, finance and service directors who argued that, contrary to popular opinion, EU membership has a far-reaching impact on public services.

The interviewees, according to CIPFA, detailed the positive impact of EU policy and regulation on public services and how cross-border collaboration between member states has acted as a catalyst for change.

CIPFA CEO, Rob Whiteman, said: ‘Jobs, healthcare, defence and all the issues we care about rely on public services that are deeply interlinked with EU membership. This message has not got through strongly enough.

‘Our research shows an extremely complex picture. Overall, in the research amongst public service leaders, respondents considered the benefits of EU membership outweigh the drawbacks.

‘What is abundantly clear, is that decoupling the British state from the EU will cause tremendous upheaval for public services for many years.’