Cutting hundreds of jobs, selling assets and reducing services have been mooted as Leeds City Council attempts to close a forecast £163m budget gap by 2026-27.
The government’s supposed flagship policy of levelling up will fail if councils do not receive additional funding and powers, experts have said after one of the policy’s original architects said...
Councils will have to make cuts or raid reserves to meet rising costs amid a forecast £2bn funding shortfall this year, the Local Government Association has warned.
More flexible council funding and the understanding that services will be run locally “by default” are the cornerstones of the Scottish Government’s new deal with its local authorities.
Almost three-quarters of councils in England have used reserves to pay for ballooning adult social care costs – a fact care leaders have highlighted as unsustainable.
The government will need to spend £6bn over the next three years to help implement care reforms or risk the sector falling into a “state of collapse”, the author of an independent report has warned.
The government must develop a flexible long-term funding strategy if it is to meet its target of eliminating rough sleeping by 2024, according to experts.
Local authorities will require a centralised strategy to ensure that net zero commitments are met, and councils are not forced to “go it alone”, according to a senior peer.
