Computer glitches have been blamed for a substantial drop in council tax collection in 23 local authorities, leading to a loss of more than £26m from town hall budgets last year, Public Finance has...
The government has given way to union demands to delay retirement age increases for long-serving members of the Local Government Pension Scheme until 2020, local government minister Phil Woolas...
Consumer satisfaction is one vital area of public services that is not getting the attention it deserves. The solution is to measure improvements against criteria that put users right at the heart of...
The Private Finance Initiative has had more than a decade to prove its worth for public services. Dave Prentis explains why it has been tested and found wanting by numerous official bodies
Alex Salmond's government might be 'in office, not in power'. But that is not holding the Scottish National Party back from launching a radical public sector shake-up. Iain Macwhirter reports from...
The NHS and local authorities must collaborate over continuing health care but uncertainty about the framework is making this difficult, and the lack of a dispute resolution procedure will not help...
Britain will honour the aid pledges it made at Gleneagles in 2005, even if others are reneging on them, Development Secretary Hilary Benn has told Public Finance
The public sector faces a back-to-the-future scenario under this year's Comprehensive Spending Review, according to Robert Chote, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
Proposals to restructure equality legislation need to be seen as an opportunity to tackle entrenched social inequalities, according to the Commission for Equality and Human Rights.
Large housing associations have stepped into the debate over how much landlords can afford to borrow by warning the government to keep its hands off their surpluses.
The Local Government Association has published a 'prospectus' outlining what every high-performing council should be doing and detailing areas where more work is needed.
The Welsh Local Government Association has welcomed First Minister Rhodri Morgan's commitment to consider reallocating some business rates to councils.
Public sector trade unions' opposition to the government's reform agenda led to a massive increase in the number of working days lost to strikes last year, according to figures published by the...
Public sector managers and politicians will have to ditch their embedded opposition to shared services and offshoring to achieve the savings required by the Comprehensive Spending Review, CIPFA...
Scottish local government finance could be heading for a radical change if a move to outcome budgeting is sanctioned by the new Executive, CIPFA delegates heard on June 13.
Informing the public is more than a duty, it's a challenge to make your audiences sit up and take notice. Wychavon council and the other winners of the Public Reporting and Accountability Awards have...
The need to base public service reforms on market disciplines has been an uphill battle for the Labour government. But there really is no practicable alternative, argues Anthony Browne
The incoming CIPFA president intends to apply the same drive and determination to his institute role as he has to his career and to his passion for orienteering
Is New Labour's modernisation agenda for public services anywhere near endgame? Tony Travers surveys the progress so far and asks whether a Brown government should slow down or speed up the pace of...
It seems the NHS is now safe in everyone's hands. But while its founding principles remain intact it will have to undergo radical surgery to keep up with twenty-first century demands, argues former...
Cost-consciousness in the English NHS has led to a 29% rise in emergency readmission rates for all age groups, Public Finance has been told. Ministers pledged to examine the figures.
The Scottish National Party has added to its success in becoming the minority government at Holyrood by winning influential positions of power locally.
