Some councils have been overstating their financial woes, levelling up secretary Michael Gove has claimed, as authorities deal with rising demand and high costs.
Suspected fraud relating to a housing maintenance contract led Guildford Borough Council to uncover widespread governance issues in its housing service, and the authority is now carrying out a review.
The government has only met its target to show debt will fall by “pretending” certain measures, including the fuel duty freeze, will end this year, economists at the Institute for Fiscal Studies have...
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.
Soaring demand for adult and children’s care and a “fundamental structural problem” with funding have created a forecast budget gap of £100m in 2024-25 and led Somerset Council to declare a financial...
An unaddressed “structural” budget deficit and a lack of usable reserves mean Birmingham City Council must make £200m of cuts in the next two years, casting doubt over its ability to set a lawful...
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.
Growing costs of supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities are creating huge deficits in school budgets and could force some councils to issue Section 114 notices, a senior...
Below-inflation funding and “consistently high” spending pressures have weakened the financial flexibility of councils and contributed to the credit rating downgrade of five authorities by Moody’s.