The cost of delivering services across Scottish councils is rising faster than available funding, raising serious questions about their financial sustainability over the next three to five years.
Delays in discharging patients are costing NHS Scotland an estimated £440m in hospital days alone, but the full financial impact wider on the health and social care system has yet to be quantified,...
As chair of the Accounts Commission, Jo Armstrong wants to encourage Scotland’s ‘beleaguered’ local authorities to take on more risks and chase down efficiencies as they seek to meet their ongoing...
Exit packages worth over £1m paid to senior staff at Glasgow City Council – including the former chief executive – were subject to a “deeply concerning” lack of scrutiny, according to the watchdog...
Scottish councils have been told to make urgent improvements to their workforce planning as concerns over financial sustainability intensify and sickness absence rates reach a record high.
The financial position of Scotland’s integration joint boards has become increasingly precarious, with a funding gap of over £450m projected for this financial year, according to analysis.
Scottish councils have been warned that their increasing reliance on reserves to deal with the “severe financial pressures” they face is no longer sustainable.
Local authorities must learn from failings that allowed a £1m fraud to go undetected for almost two decades, Scotland’s public spending watchdog has said.
Clackmannanshire Council has been told to urgently address its financial situation, with auditors warning that its approach to balancing the books is unsustainable in the face of deteriorating...
Action to tackle digital exclusion across Scotland is being undermined by a lack of clear national leadership, according to the nation’s spending watchdogs.
Scottish councils face “severe challenges” to balance their books, with cuts in expenditure of up to 8.5% required over the next three years, the nation’s spending watchdog has warned.
Scotland spent less than it might have done in the first two years of Covid-19, and the nation’s spending watchdog has urged public bodies to use the lessons learned from the pandemic to help plan...
Inflation has left local authorities in Scotland with their “most difficult budget-setting context seen for many years” and could require millions of pounds of service provision being cut, the...
The Scottish audit watchdog has raised concerns that Shetland Islands Council lacks a clear plan on how it will fund a forecast medium-term budget gap of up to £142m.
The bodies responsible for coordinating local care services in Scotland face significant financial challenges due to rising demand and a lack of certainty over funding, the national watchdog has...
Falkirk Council has so far been unable to make “difficult decisions” it needs to in order to make the savings required for financial sustainability, according to a watchdog’s heavily critical report.
Funding from the Scottish Government will only meet between 60% and 70% of overall financial pressures identified by councils, according to the country’s local government spending watchdog.
