Public sector bodies should protect themselves against the potential of highly costly fraud attacks, says ‘white collar’ crime solicitor Rahman Ravelli.
Councils own a huge number and variety of buildings. Their condition should be surveyed regularly to ensure they remain fit for purpose, says CIPFA’s David Brindley.
Local authorities are struggling to repay loans as a result of a “pernicious” rule change by the Public Works Loan Board, a financial risk analysis website has said.
Devolving control over all taxes, rates, fees and charges would equip local authorities to meet financial challenges head on, says Alison Payne of Reform Scotland.
The government will find it hard to increase spending on public services even if it wishes to do so, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned after yesterday’s Spring Statement.
Scotland benefits from a diversity of opinion on its economic future, even when these predictions appear contradictory, according to the body responsible for producing the nation’s economic and...
More than 80% of the public support the idea of councils cutting grass areas less frequently to protect the nation’s bees, according to a survey by Friends of the Earth and Buglife.
Local government staff are under unprecedented pressure across the country due to council cutbacks and staff shortages, the trade union Unison has claimed.
Debt servicing costs are increasing across local government, and now account for at least 9.9% of revenue expenditure in a quarter of single-tier and county councils, according to the National Audit...
A charity has claimed that the Care Act has failed after revealing that council spending on support for disabled people and carers fell in the first year after implementation.
All schools in England are still likely to become academies despite the government’s pledge to not to impose the reform, the CentreForum think-tank has concluded.
Unison has called for changes in the law to ensure the independence of local authority pension funds to take investment decisions in the best interest of their members.
David Cameron has said the government’s “devolution revolution” is introducing localist reforms to give councils more control over their finances and greater freedoms over development.
Bungalows and other homes for older people could make up as much as a quarter of council properties sold to fund a controversial government extension to the Right to Buy scheme, a report has...
Communities secretary Greg Clark has announced the government will provide a £150m transitional support scheme for councils in each of the next two years in response to concerns over changes to...
The Treasury today set out plans to further restrict public sector redundancy payments by better coordinating the rules for calculating payoffs across the civil service, the NHS and local government.
In the face of a tight spending settlement, Scottish councils are preparing plans for service cuts and council tax rises. The future of local government funding is therefore set to be one of the big...
