IN describing the state of local government finances, the spending watchdog The Accounts Commission has used one of those euphemisms that are common in official reports. In the years to come, says the commission, Scotland’s councils will face “significant challenges”, by which it means serious problems. Government funding is falling and will keep on falling; councils are spending billions to service debt; and funding reserves will fall to next to nothing without major cuts. It may all be wrapped in the fairly neutral language of financial reports, but there is no doubt this is a grim prognosis for councils and those who rely on their services.

Anyone who has been watching the state of Scotland’s councils will not be surprised. As the report points out, between 2010/11 and 2015/16, the Scottish Government’s funding for councils has fallen in real terms by around £186 million, and since the vast majority of council spending is on services used by lower income groups, that means the effects will be felt most by the disadvantaged. This week, The Herald reported how the number of additional support teachers has fallen by 13 per cent since 2010, but that is just one area where the sharp edge of the cuts is being felt.

In the short term, some councils have tried to limit the damage by focusing their cuts on services that are proportionately used more by the better-off, such as galleries, but that can be no more than a short-term measure and social care and social work is not immune. The integration of health and social care, for example, has started with a £13 billion deficit and councils are also faced with helping to fund the minimum wage for care workers. The Government says it is helping with £250m extra for social care, but the current state of council finances means the most disadvantaged will feel the effects and they will only get worse.

The Accounts Commission is right to say that councils will need to change the way they work to cope with the mounting challenges, and it is disappointing that local authorities have shown so little willingness to work more across their boundaries and merge services. But more than half of councils’ income comes from the Scottish Government which means that, in the long term, only an increase in government funding will fix council finances and reduce the pressure on key services.

It is also disappointing the Government ducked the chance to properly reform council tax. A decade ago, the SNP promised radical reform, but after nine years of a council tax freeze, instead of ordering a thorough re-evaluation, ministers merely tweaked the system instead of reforming it. It has also limited the rises councils can impose and plans to claw back the extra money raised to use on education across the country.

The Accounts Commission makes it clear what all this means: without significant additional income, councils will have to make further savings, which is another of those financial euphemisms. “Savings” means cuts and cuts mean a profound and disturbing effect on those who rely most on local council services. If we are to protect and build council services that can care for people when they need it, there is no avoiding the truth: they will require more resources.