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24 May 2013

Hold off bailiffs for council tax arrears, town halls toldCouncils should take a flexible and fair approach to poorer residents who get into arrears as council tax support is cut away, Citizens Advice said today.

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Features & interviews

The state of things to comeThe June Spending Review is going to slice Whitehall's funding cake so thinly that departments will be left fighting over the crumbs. So how are public services meant to cope, asks Tony Travers

What about the workers?Local government employees have been hit by a double whammy. Already underpaid and undervalued compared with other sectors, they are now bearing the brunt of public service cuts, argues Heather Wakefield

Bank of England: under new managementIt's all change at the Bank of England with a new governor about to take over the reins and a revised remit from the chancellor. So can Mark Carney deliver, asks James Zuccollo

How to manage in cyberspaceAs technology advances and pressure mounts on the public sector to cut costs, virtual meetings are a possible solution. But to work effectively in this uncharted territory, leaders will need to adopt skills that may seem alien to them. Ghislaine Caulat advises

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Opinion

Instant analysis from expert bloggers and highlights from Public Finance

The Suffolk schools' solution
Matthew Taylor
The IMF and the inflexible chancellor
Tony Dolphin
Schools spending: could do better
James Zuccollo
The shared service solution
Anwen Robinson

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EDITOR'S CHOICE

Chancellor George Osborne today insisted that the welfare reforms taking effect this month were fair and would ‘make work pay’.

The IMF and the inflexible chancellor, by Tony Dolphin

Keynes said that when circumstances change, he would change his view. The IMF has commendably adopted this approach in its assessment of the UK economy – so why doesn’t George Osborne show similar flexibility?

Comments

Your latest comments from the PF blog

Comment on The IMF and the inflexible chancellor by Warren Park
George Osborne has retained the confidence of the markets and sustained low interests for all in doing so. GDP is higher than it would otherwise be...
Comment on The shared service solution by Steve Jorden
Shared services do work and can generate significant savings without compromising on service quality but you do need to be open to doing things...

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Spending Review 2013

Borrowing cap 'holding up council house building'
English councils have reiterated calls for borrowing caps to be scrapped to enable them to invest in a house building drive.
Ministers have failed to make the case for High Speed 2, says NAO
The National Audit Office has today slammed the Department for Transport's 'unclear' business case for the High Speed 2 rail line, warning that the...
Solace warns ministers of council funding crisis
Councils are facing a financial black hole of around £15bn in 2019/20 as a result of rising demand for services, such as social care, and government...