Police forces in England and Wales are struggling to maintain an effective service as the government fails to ensure they are financially sustainable, according to the public spending watchdog.
Two Northamptonshire councils have voted to accept unitary reorganisation, which means the decision can now be sent to secretary of state James Brokenshire.
The recalculation of local government funding allocations should take into account all the ways councils could bring in money, explains the IFS’s Neil Amin-Smith.
Stricken Northamptonshire County Council is looking for a new permanent finance director who will “roll their sleeves up” and is ready to make “hard decisions”.
Northern Ireland’s public services incurred the biggest spending per head in the UK in 2016-17, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics.
Northamptonshire Council has proposed “radical service reductions” in areas including care for vulnerable people as a response to its second 114 notice.
Local authority borrowing from the Public Works Loan Board has reached a seven-year high as cash-strapped councils increasingly invest in capital projects.
Local government must transform, innovate and work together to cope with the pressures of increased need for services with less central funding, according to two major accounting bodies.
Public private partnerships need to be managed actively and effectively throughout the life of the contract if value is to be realised, says Morag Baird of the Global Infrastructure Hub