The government is asking for views on the potential of a capital values tax or online services tax to replace business rates in its comprehensive review of the tax.
Delayed local government audits are to blame for the Treasury’s slow production of the Whole of Government Accounts, according to the National Audit Office.
The Covid-19 response has brought to the surface a new set of tensions to bedevil central and local government relations, which may imperil recovery efforts
Local authority borrowing continued to rise in June to £3bn, £100m more than in May, and ten times higher than the figure for June 2019, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.
Councils borrowed £875m for housing projects in March from the Public Works Loan Board after the introduction of a special rate for housing revenue account projects in the Budget.
Birmingham City Council has received the biggest allocation from the government’s latest £500m pot to support councils with spending related to Covid-19.
Councils have demonstrated their value like never before in helping tackle the Covid-19 pandemic. Finance departments may not be directly on the frontline, but their role ensuring that public money...
Luton Borough Council has agreed a “horrendous” package of spending cuts after the airport operator it owns declared it could not make an expected £16m dividend payment due to Covid-19.
The government is “blind” to the extreme risks some councils have exposed themselves to through their commercial investments, a report by the Public Accounts Committee has claimed.
As we design the way the NHS and wider public sector will work in the future, we should remember the collaborative successes achieved during the pandemic, argues the Healthcare Financial Management...
Thurrock Council has rejected concerns raised in the Financial Times over its investment strategy, which has seen it borrow more than £1bn from other councils.
Moving away from current budgeting principles to ease the pressures of the Covid-19 response would be a retrograde step for local government, writes Rob Whiteman.
Local government minister Simon Clarke said the government’s forthcoming devolution white paper will help the country’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
Council investment in land and buildings has dropped for the first time since 2011-12, according to data from the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Secretary of state Robert Jenrick has told local authorities he will “try his best” to secure more government funding for councils if it is needed as councils struggle to deal with financial burdens...
Just a few months ago, amid efforts to decarbonise transport, the future looked bright for the bus and rail industry, but Covid-19 has obscured the route ahead, writes Peter White.
PF reveals the scale of the financial challenge posed to councils by Covid-19 and hears how finance chiefs are tackling budgets, given the lack of funding clarity.
£500m additional Covid-19-related funding from central government is not enough to prevent cuts to local authority budgets, according to the Special Interest Group of Municipal Authorities.
The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead has been warned it could be forced into a section 114 notice in a CIPFA report which found a flawed process for setting reserve levels.
Liverpool City Council has submitted a £1.4bn post coronavirus recovery fund to the government, aimed to prevent a socio-economic crisis deeper than the 1980s recession.
The Centre for Public Scrutiny and CIPFA have released a new guide for local authorities in England to support effective financial scrutiny following the Covid-19 pandemic.
The National Audit Office has published new guidance to help audit and risk committees advise their organisations on financial management and reporting during the coronavirus pandemic.
