Childcare is edging its way up the political agenda, with all parties making offers on improved support. But they miss the point about the quality of care, pay in the sector and universal need
Increasing demands are being made of the fledgling Education Funding Agency, but there are questions over its capacity to absorb new responsibilities and how its performance will be monitored,...
A government top-slice of council funding for early intervention projects could lead to cuts in services intended to protect vulnerable children, authorities have warned today
Local authorities in England are to share in an additional £2.35bn in capital funding over three years to help them create the extra school places that will be needed by 2017, Education Secretary...
Ministers should consider setting out multi-year funding plans for children’s centres as part of a long-term plan for early years education, according to the Commons education committee.
Councils could face bankruptcy if Chancellor George Osborne announces more cuts to local authority funding in Thursday’s Autumn Statement, trade union Unison has warned
Two government departments did not work effectively together when introducing overlapping programmes to support troubled families, according to a report published today by the National Audit Office.
Many councils are struggling to improve their child protection services and need better leadership to bring about sustained improvement in performance, Ofsted has warned today.
Schools minister David Laws has revealed that the government is considering making long-term capital allocations to councils to provide new school places, in a bid to tackle what he called the ‘...
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has told delegates at the Liberal Democrat conference today that the country’s economy is ‘growing stronger by the day’.
The government’s troubled families scheme has successfully turned round the lives of 14,000 households in England in its first 15 months, ministers claimed today
Steve Freer, CIPFA’s chief executive for the past 13 years, weighs up the significance for the public sector, the accountancy profession and the institute of this extraordinarily turbulent period
The government is to double the number of free childcare places available for two-year-olds to help more children get ‘a brighter start in life’, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has said.
Rob Whiteman likes to pump up the volume, whether it’s belting out operatic arias or singing the praises of accountants. CIPFA’s new chief executive tells PF he intends to be a vocal presence in the...
As the new term starts, Michael Gove’s education revolution continues apace. But where’s the evidence that academies and free schools will benefit the majority of pupils?
Around 340 carers will have their allowances backdated after an investigation by the Local Government Ombudsman discovered Liverpool City Council had been underpaying them for years.
The government’s Troubled Families Programme is to be expanded to provide targeted help to an extra 400,000 households at risk of suffering from a number of social problems, the Treasury has...
The number of children living in relative poverty has fallen by around a quarter since the financial crisis in 2007/08, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has found.
Councils have warned that the government’s threat to remove local authorities from the process of recruiting and assessing potential child adopters could jeopardise recent improvements to the system.
