Employers and unions are on the brink of ending the long-running local government pay dispute after one union backed the package on offer and councils indicated their broad support.
Government plans to strip councils of most of their education responsibilities will rupture relations between Whitehall and county hall, the Local Government Association's new chair has warned.
A national education funding quango would be a 'retrograde step' for the sector, which must retain local flexibilities in determining how schools receive and spend cash, according to the incoming...
Scottish local authorities have called on ministers to agree to a budget of £9.3bn to fund basic services over the next year, according to proposals submitted in advance of the Spending Review.
Up to 11,000 civil service posts could be slashed following this week's overhaul of benefits and pensions processing at the Department for Work and Pensions a third of the job cuts targeted by the...
Last week's row over which party would offer patients genuine choice of where and when they are treated in hospital left NHS managers bemused. Few believe the mantra of choice is the key to...
The accounts of seven of Northern Ireland's 17 departments and major public bodies have been qualified for 2002/03 in the second year of resource accounting.
Council budgets for 2005/06 will be thrown into turmoil next week when the Office for National Statistics finally accepts that its 2001 Census was flawed.
Primary care organisations are timid and lack the strategic vision to make the most of the new doctors' contract, according to GPs' leader John Chisholm.
Unison maintained its official support for Labour this week in the face of heightened hostility from members, and despite its leaders' private anger at the government's last-minute withdrawal from a...
English local authorities collected an extra £15m in council tax last year, but the rate of improvement slowed, leading to claims from private sector analysts that the government has adopted a '...
Local plans to improve communities are being undermined by the myriad of confusing and complex funding streams, targets and new initiatives emerging from Whitehall, the Audit Commission has reported.
Ministers have given cautious approval to the Local Government Association's proposal to take over the Employers Organisation as a way of improving the handling of pay negotiations.
Hopes that council-owned housing companies might be able to borrow money privately in the same way as registered social landlords have been dashed by a key government adviser.
Patients' power to choose where and when they are treated will be expanded, no matter which party wins the next general election. Both Labour and the Conservatives put patient choice at the heart of...
Communities may take it on themselves to choose which providers clean their streets or empty their bins under a vision of public service delivery set out by the local government minister this week.
Nearly 75% of finance professionals rate a 'valuable' pension scheme as one of the main benefits of working in the public sector, a survey revealed this week.
The Healthcare Commission is to overhaul its approach to inspection and is examining the Comprehensive Performance Assessment model used in local government.
