Councils will be forced to make huge cuts or go bankrupt in the face of a £6.9billion financial black hole.
The elderly, young and vulnerable are likely to be hit hard this winter as frontline services are slashed.
Bin collections, social services, youth activities and libraries will also suffer and some leisure centres will never reopen after lockdown.
Council incomes have plunged during the pandemic as revenue from local taxes and charges has nosedived.
That comes on top of a decade of Tory cuts which saw a 60 per cent drop in government funding.
Legally, town hall budgets have to be balanced rather than overdrawn, meaning councils have to make cuts or go bankrupt.
Manchester City Council is short of £133million due partly to revenue lost from its airport. Leeds has a £123million gap, while York, Sunderland, Boston and Craven face shortfalls from £900,000 to £35million.
Luton, which is almost £50million down, is also on the brink of “disaster” and has called on locals to support a petition begging for government help.
It is one of many authorities demanding ministers honour a pledge to give them what they need to fight the virus.
Steve Reed, Shadow Local Government Secretary, said: “Many councils are on the brink of bankruptcy because of the costs of tackling Covid-19.
“Councils have kept their part of the bargain, now the Government must do the same rather than punish communities with cuts.”
The Local Government Association estimates councils are short of £6.9billion, despite a £3.2billion government injection in March and a further £500million last week.
Chairman James Jamieson warned of a “looming crisis that cannot be ignored”.
The Local Government department said: “In the next spending review we will determine what support councils need to help them meet the pressures of income loss.”
