Research published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation shows that the most deprived areas of England have seen the largest cuts in funding since 2010. There is still scope for many councils to save money by redesigning the way services are run but the current pace of the cuts risks making this more difficult. Many local authorities will struggle to invest in and remodel services to lower costs in the medium term, while still meeting residents’ needs and balancing their budgets. Analysis of local government expenditure data reveals that the poorest English authorities have seen reductions of £182 more per head than the most affluent, this breaks the historic link between the amount a local authority spends per head and local deprivation levels. In 2010/11, the most deprived councils had an extra 45 per cent of expenditure per head to cope with additional needs. By 2014/15, this had been reduced to 17 per cent.