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.
Local authority borrowing from the Public Works Loan Board has reached a seven-year high as cash-strapped councils increasingly invest in capital projects.
Local government must transform, innovate and work together to cope with the pressures of increased need for services with less central funding, according to two major accounting bodies.
Public private partnerships need to be managed actively and effectively throughout the life of the contract if value is to be realised, says Morag Baird of the Global Infrastructure Hub
The role of local government is changing. Commercialisation is now a necessary response to funding cuts and a new freedom to take risks, says Zurich’s Andrew Jepp
CIPFA’s proposed resilience index for English local authorities will be a “blunt instrument” that will do little to alleviate financial pressure, county chiefs have claimed.
As the public sector enters a second wave of digital development, the impact on the finance profession – on working practices, the skills and roles required – is set to pose a significant challenge.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has only a “shaky grasp” of the issues facing local authority finances, the Public Accounts Committee has claimed.
Less than half of risk professionals in public sector organisations have said there is not enough risk awareness when managing commercial projects, research has suggested.
