English communities are being denied the public services they deserve due to the way Whitehall allocates and spends taxpayers’ money, Local Government Association chair Sir Merrick Cockell said today...
Pressure on public sector budgets has led to a rise in zero-hours contracts, particularly in the care sector. The biggest losers are vulnerable service-users and staff on poor pay and insecure hours...
The proposed national eligibility threshold for social care is to be based on the current ‘substantial’ need level used by councils, care minister Norman Lamb has announced.
CIPFA’s new president, Jaki Salisbury, has built a ‘can-do’ reputation, and won the loyalty of her colleagues for her hands-on tackling of local government problems. The ‘treasurer who likes to say...
Those who take the risks reap the rewards. Or do they? The truth is that from Silicon Valley to Singapore, innovation relies heavily on state funding. It’s time for the private sector to give...
The man who promised to 'intervene before breakfast, lunch and dinner' is back, and demanding a new local growth plan. Lord Heseltine talked to Judy Hirst ahead of the Spending Review
The National Audit Office has qualified the accounts of the Department for Communities and Local Government after finding the ministry breached two spending limits in 2012/13.
A review of financial management across Whitehall has been commissioned by the chancellor and chief secretary to the Treasury and will report to them by the end of this year.
The government will fund or guarantee £300bn of capital spending by the end of the decade, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander has announced.
Public sector pay rises are to be limited to an average of 1% in 2015/16, the chancellor confirmed today as he set out plans for that year in his Spending Review.
Welfare spending is to be capped to control the overall cost of the benefit bill from April 2015, Chancellor George Osborne announced in the Spending Review.
Education and health emerged as relative winners from today's Spending Review, with the chancellor pledging an overhaul of the school funding system and reaffirming the government’s commitment to the...
A new drive to help central and local government share offices and other buildings was launched yesterday, with 12 councils to be given extra Whitehall support to make better use of the public sector...
The Housing Revenue Account subsidy system is to be scrapped in Wales and councils put on a par with their English counterparts and made self-financing in terms of housing, the Treasury announced...
Sir Stephen Houghton, chair of Sigoma, has called for a new independent body to set council funding every three years, after warning that authorities could ‘wither away’ under the current finance...
The government’s Troubled Families Programme is to be expanded to provide targeted help to an extra 400,000 households at risk of suffering from a number of social problems, the Treasury has...
Funding for local bus services should be protected in Wednesday’s Spending Review, MPs said today. The Environmental Audit Committee said spending on buses was vital to ensuring that people were able...
Chancellor George Osborne has missed his target to cut public sector borrowing year on year, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.
Ministers have been urged to ‘get a grip’ on the use of gagging clauses and severance payments when staff leave jobs in the public sector after auditors found a ‘lack of transparency’ in the deals.
Chancellor George Osborne has confirmed that he has taken the first step towards selling the government’s stake in the bailed-out Lloyds Banking Group. He said the Treasury was now ‘actively...
