DEPRIVED areas are seeing larger cuts to local Government budgets than affluent ones, according to the York-based Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Its interim report – Coping With Cuts? Local government and poorer communities – is part of its research to track the impact of tighter public spending and the state of the economy on poorer people and places.

The foundation says local government spending, excluding police, schools and housing benefit, is set to fall by nearly 30 per cent in real terms between 2008 and 2015 in England. The report found a difference of about £100 per head between cuts in more deprived local authorities than in more affluent ones.

“Deprived authorities have seen greater reductions in spending power – down by 21.4 per cent – than affluent ones – down by 15.8 per cent,” said a spokesman.

A major reason for this discrepancy is that deprived authorities were more grant-dependent than other authorities.

“The scrapping or consolidation of many specific grants, some of which were particularly geared to tackling deprivation, almost inevitably means that local authorities with the highest levels of deprivation will be disproportionately affected by austerity.”

The report also found that cuts were also generally greater in the North and Midlands than in the south of England.

John Low, policy and research manager at the foundation, said it was clear cuts were “biting deep” into the poorest and most deprived communities.

“Unless we can muster the national will to correct or mitigate the unacceptable divergence of resources between more and less affluent authorities, we are slowly but inexorably creating a more divided society.”