Pandemic-era contracts for unsuitable personal protective equipment cost the government £1.4bn, of which £762m is unlikely to ever be recovered, according to an interim report commissioned by...
Cuts leading up to Covid-19 left Public Health England insufficiently funded to meet its new pandemic responsibilities, the body’s former chief executive has said.
The fall in productivity since the onset of Covid-19 has meant the NHS has been unable to “secure the full benefits” of increased spending and staff numbers, the National Audit Office has warned.
Every pound the government spends is worth scrutinising, especially during an emergency such as the pandemic, parliament's Public Accounts Committee chair Meg Hillier writes upon publication of her...
Sporadic funding at the onset of Covid-19 following a decade of underinvestment left social care with an “array of weaknesses” that hampered services during the pandemic, researchers have said.
Funding given to care homes in the first year of the pandemic led to a sharp rise in dividend payments in some large companies while staff in the sector struggled with low pay and high workloads,...
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...
“Woeful” progress on recovering fraudulent and incorrect claims from Covid-19 job support schemes has left billions of pounds of public money at risk, the Public Accounts Committee has warned.
The shift to hybrid working has left North Somerset Council’s primary office mostly empty, and the authority is considering demolishing the building to make way for a new housing development.
Economic volatility from shocks such as wars and Covid-19 have been the “most difficult thing” for Office for Budget Responsibility forecasters to contend with when trying to help the government plan...
Around a third of UK investors that received money from a Covid-19 support fund would have invested money had the fund not existed, an independent report has found.
Poor understanding of fraud risks and the failure to set targets to reduce incorrect payments could see the government saddled with unacceptable levels of fraud in the benefits system, the Public...
Leicester City Council is set to place three office buildings for sale or lease after the rise of hybrid working left the properties surplus to requirements.
The soaring cost of living combined with a decade of austerity could see up to a sixth of English councils fully deplete their reserves in 2023-24 without substantial spending cuts, experts have...
The government has reached an agreement with Transport for London to supply £1.2bn of funding and additional capital support to avoid a “managed decline” in services.
Businesses in Bolton will be automatically awarded a share of pandemic relief grants despite not having applied for them because the council wants to make sure all available money goes into the city’...
Failing to agree a new funding settlement with the government could leave Transport for London at risk of issuing a section 114 notice and having to stop all non-essential spending, its finance...
