Another six Whitehall departments, including the Home Office, have reached agreement with the Treasury on spending cuts for 2015/16 ahead of the June 26 Spending Review, it has been announced.
More than 40% of council chief executives and leaders now fear Whitehall funding reductions will lead to frontline service cuts, a dramatic increase on the 2% who voiced these worries a year ago,...
The government is to launch a ‘rolling programme’ of Community Budgets at this month's Spending Review to give all areas a chance to join the pooled funding initiative.
Planning relaxations that come into effect in England today will ‘significantly reduce’ councils' ability to decide on important developments in their area, the Local Government Association has...
UK spending cuts planned for the next two years are ‘appropriate’, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said today. The international body also called for infrastructure...
Councils should take a flexible and fair approach to poorer residents who get into arrears as council tax support is cut away, Citizens Advice said today.
The idea that the Local Government Association will be able to replace the Audit Commission’s improvement work is ‘illusory’, the former chair of the body has warned.
Local government minister Brandon Lewis has set out plans to undertake a ‘root-and-branch review’ of the Local Government Pension Scheme’s investment regulations. The possibility of merging schemes...
Around £200m could be saved each year if the efficiency of England’s fire services was improved, an independent report commissioned by the Department for Communities and Local Government has...
Councils could start to ‘fail’ their communities if the government imposes further cuts in the June Spending Review, the Local Government Association warned today.
The Conservatives have lost more than 300 councillors and control of ten authorities in the results following yesterday’s local elections, as both Labour and the UK Independence Party have gained...
The UK has yet to make a ‘sustained recovery’ from the financial crisis as economic output has been flat for more than two and a half years, an analysis by the National Institute of Economic and...
Public sector borrowing in 2012/13 was £120.6bn, excluding special factors, down just £300m on the previous year, the Office for National Statistics has announced.
Local government spending on leisure and education services could be reduced to zero as a result of Whitehall cuts, a report by the New Local Government Network has warned today.
Three-quarters of local government leaders say funding cuts are the most important issue facing their areas, according to an Ipsos Mori poll published today.
Ministers today began consulting on a radical transformation of the legal aid system, including restricting access, slashing fees and introducing a competitive market for criminal cases.
Disability campaigners have warned that more than half a million disabled people are set to lose out financially as benefit changes come into force this week.
MPs today urged the Department for Work and Pensions to re-examine the impact of the ‘bedroom tax’, warning that the Housing Benefit reductions could hit divorced parents and disabled people.
The government needs to ensure people without internet access do not lose out as more public services, including Universal Credit, are moved online, the National Audit Office said today.
Local authorities could face a ‘deluge’ of legal challenges over social care services unless the government clarifies which costs count towards the planned lifetime cap on charges, MPs and peers...
The first internal audit standards to apply across the whole of the public sector will help ensure transparency and accountability at a time of spending cuts, CIPFA has said.