Birmingham City Council has delayed its meeting to approve spending plans as it waits for a government decision it said is key to setting a balanced budget for 2024-25.
Encouraging councils to use reserves as a one-off quick fix during the funding crisis is “misguided and unhelpful” and could put more authorities at risk of Section 114 notice, a finance director has...
Councils are likely to receive an above-inflation funding settlement for 2024-25, a senior civil servant has said amid sector-wide concerns over resources.
South Cambridgeshire District Council has reacted angrily to the government seeking greater oversight of its four-day working week pilot, which the authority’s leader said is delivering savings.
English councils have been asked again by the government not to pursue four-day working week pilots in “any format” as Whitehall commits to “exploring other measures” to prevent the practice.
Qualified opinions on historical council accounts are likely if the government waives some reporting requirements as it strives for a “system reset”, which it currently plans to do, a senior civil...
A minister told Woking Borough Council it should review its mammoth capital programme in 2021 while rejecting the authority’s request for financial support.
Only around a quarter of councils’ usable reserves can be used to shore up services and meet demand, despite government figures suggesting larger sums might be available, experts have said.
Data sharing with Whitehall is seen as “burdensome” by many small councils, which often lack the resources and relationship with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities larger...
Insufficient data means the government has no understanding of what departments and combined authorities are spending on levelling up, MPs have warned.
A minister has not disputed that the Treasury does not have confidence in her department’s ability to spend public money well, according to a senior MP.
Raising planning fees will do little to alleviate the current issues in the planning system without also changing how decisions are made, experts have warned.
The government has briefed that allowing councils to keep 100% of their right to buy receipts for two years will help increase social housing stock by thousands – but it could fail without other...
A “fundamental shift” in culture at Slough Borough Council is needed to avoid it being broken up, the government has warned after reading a report from the team trying to turn the organisation around.
The government wants to step up its intervention in the London Borough of Croydon because, despite the council's hard work, it is continuing to not meet its best value duty.
