Nearly one in five children in England start school with poor speech and language skills as English regions suffer funding cuts for therapy, research has found.
Funding shortfalls have meant increasing numbers of children with special educational needs are attending schools outside their council area, according to figures obtained by The Observer.
English councils could be forced to make draconian cuts to local services if Westminster does not pump extra cash into local government to avoid a £51.8bn black hole over the next six years.
Human trafficking rates are exploding, yet many public sector bodies know little about the Modern Slavery Act and the responsibilities it places on them. Dominic Brady reports.
Council leaders have defended council executive pay after a campaign group’s research found the average local authority in the UK had six employees on salaries above £100,000 in 2017-18.
The largest growing area of fraud being detected or prevented by councils is business rates fraud, yet this represents only a fraction of the total, says CIPFA’s Marc McAuley.
Central government has gone some way towards supporting the building of social rented homes but it needs to do much more, says Chartered Institute of Housing policy advisor John Perry.
Scottish councils are to be given the power to levy a local tourist tax as part of “the most significant empowerment of local authorities since devolution” under a budget deal struck by the Scottish...
The Scottish finance secretary has defended his planned settlement for local government while stressing he is “open minded” to giving councils greater fiscal autonomy.
