This is the Guardian. councils across England going bankrupt. have your attention please you can now book your train tickets on Uber and get

10% back in credits to spend on your next Uber ride so you don't have to walk

home in the rain again.

Trains now on Uber. Tees and sees apply. Check the Uber app. If you're lucky you probably won't have to think much about your local council or what it does. If your bins are being collected on time, if your children have got decent schools to go to, if there are parks nearby and there's

reasonably good local transport, well you probably just pay your council tax and get on with it. But councils provide

other vital services. If you're an adult who needs social care for example or a child with

special educational needs, if you're at risk

a homeless nurse you should be able to rely on them to help you but after years of

funding cuts from central governments, councils across the country are now struggling.

Sloughborough Council has asked for urgent government help after effectively declaring itself bankrupt.

Croydon has been declared bankrupt three times.

Woking Council that is now in 1.2 billion pounds, billion pounds worth of debt.

For residents who live in an area where a council has declared itself bankrupt,

I think it is pretty worrying.

There's things like council tax hikes, services being cut, potentially council assets like art galleries or museums

being put for sale. It takes quite a while for all of these consequences to reveal themselves.

This is Jess Murray who reports from the Midlands for the Guardian.

In the past week she's been finding out why Nottingham City Council in the East

Midlands is the latest to basically go bankrupt.

A dismal day for one of Britain's largest local authorities.

Nottingham City Council is short of happened in September and effectively bankrupt.

Over in Birmingham where she lives the same thing happened in September.

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