Local authority finances were unusually high up the agenda at the Labour conference this year but councils remain in a state of flux until the government realises the system of funding them needs...
Officers and members need to communicate and work together to find solutions to the many challenges facing local government, says Cliff Dalton, CIPFA’s head of advisory services
Local government funding is “not fit for purpose” and council-run public finance scrutiny bodies are needed, the shadow communities secretary has told the Labour conference.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn promised to “confront the challenge of rebuilding our public services” after nearly a decade of austerity, at the party’s conference today.
Police forces in England and Wales are struggling to maintain an effective service as the government fails to ensure they are financially sustainable, according to the public spending watchdog.
Two Northamptonshire councils have voted to accept unitary reorganisation, which means the decision can now be sent to secretary of state James Brokenshire.
The recalculation of local government funding allocations should take into account all the ways councils could bring in money, explains the IFS’s Neil Amin-Smith.
Stricken Northamptonshire County Council is looking for a new permanent finance director who will “roll their sleeves up” and is ready to make “hard decisions”.
Northern Ireland’s public services incurred the biggest spending per head in the UK in 2016-17, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics.
Northamptonshire Council has proposed “radical service reductions” in areas including care for vulnerable people as a response to its second 114 notice.