New development: Corporatization of local authorities in England in the wake of austerity 2010–2016

Abstract

A key institutional driver of current reforms within English local government is ‘alternative service delivery’. Our review of councils’ annual accounts between 2010/11 and 2016/17 suggests ‘corporatization’—the creation of local authority companies—is a growing phenomenon across the whole of English local government. This represents such a significant and far-reaching development in the governance, performance and efficiency of local public services that it constitutes a major field-level change at the interstices of the institutions of state, market, corporation and community. In this article, the authors briefly sketch ways corporatization could be regarded as a field-level change, before presenting findings and reflecting on their implications.

Keywords:

• Austerity
• corporatization
• England
• local authority companies
• local government

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Laurence Ferry

Laurence Ferry is Professor in Accounting at Durham University Business School, UK, and a Parliamentary Academic Fellow 2018/19.

Rhys Andrews

Rhys Andrews is Professor of Public Management, Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, UK.

Chris Skelcher

Chris Skelcher is Emeritus Professor of Public Governance, University of Birmingham, UK.

Piotr Wegorowski

Piotr Wegorowski is a doctoral researcher at Cardiff University, UK.