A union has warned that some councils will not be able to provide even basic services due to black holes in their finances.

Unison made the claim after a BBC study found that the average council in the UK is now predicted to face a £33 million deficit by 2025.

Some local authorities in north London face an even bigger budget black hole, with Camden’s and Hackney’s predicted shortfall to stand at around £40 million.

It comes despite both councils having already made significant savings in their budgets for this year.

Cuts total £16.5 million in Camden and £5.74 million in Hackney.

Barnet Council is also predicted to face a budget black hole of £27.2 million by 2025, despite approving savings of £4.6 million this year.

Just one north London council – Islington – was revealed to be on track to not have any shortfall in its budget in two years’ time.

The authority approved £12.4 million worth of savings earlier this year.

Brent Council said that it had made £13.5 million worth of savings, but did not reveal its predicted budget shortfall by 2025.

Three local authorities in London – Enfield, Haringey and Harrow – declined to provide the figures to the BBC.

After the release of the latest study into the state of council finances, leader of Camden Council and chair of London councils, Cllr Georgia Gould, claimed that pressures on boroughs' finances “feel as bad as ever”.

She said: “Budgets have been hollowed out by years of government austerity cuts, followed in quick succession by the Covid-19 pandemic, skyrocketing inflation, and the cost-of-living crisis. 

“The funding boroughs receive from the government has not kept pace with London’s growing population and the fast-rising demand for services.

“This leaves budgets squeezed and undermines boroughs’ work tackling the most pressing challenges in their communities."

She added: “The Government needs to work with us to deliver sustainable long-term funding for local services.”

A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokesperson said: “No decision on funding levels for beyond 2024-25 in England will be taken until the next Spending Review, so these numbers are unsupported.

“Councils in England have benefitted from an increase in core spending power of up to £5.1 billion in 2023-24 compared to the previous year, with almost £60 billion made available for local government overall.”