International evidence has shown that devolution of welfare-to-work schemes to local authorities can improve services – if funding and accountability challenges can be overcome.
Sir Derek Myers speaks to Public Finance about the recommendations of the Service Transformation Challenge Panel, how to spread reforms across the public sector, and his priorities as lead...
Councils in Greater Manchester and around Cambridge are to be allowed to retain all additional business rate growth from next month, Chancellor George Osborne announced in the Budget as he urged...
A senior council leader has warned that local authorities will face legal challenges over failure to provide statutory services during the next parliament if funding cuts persist.
Scotland’s continuing obsession with wresting powers from Westminster is in danger of hijacking the ‘more pressing’ need to devolve power down from Holyrood to local authority level...
The most deprived areas of England have suffered the deepest cuts in government funding during this Parliament, which has broken the historic link between local deprivation levels and spending, an...
Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles said today that he was ‘ending the war’ on motorists by giving drivers a 10-minute grace period for being late back to their vehicle.
Council spending in England has been cut by almost a quarter on a per person basis since 2009/10, according to an analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
Billions of pounds should be devolved to the North of England to rebalance the economy and revitalise the region’s creaking transport network, according to IPPR North.
Unprecedented pressures lie ahead for Scottish local government finances, and councils need effective long-term plans to prepare for them, the Accounts Commission for Scotland warns today in its...
The government’s council tax freeze has saved households in England £168 a year, but cost public services around £2.8bn, CIPFA’s annual survey and analysis has found.
Extending devolution to England’s non-metropolitan areas is vital to expanding economic growth and tackling skills shortages, an expert commission has concluded.
English counties are today calling for the devolution of health and social care systems, warning that centralised NHS structures are causing barriers between services.
Devolution in England could add £144bn a year to the UK economy by 2020 by handing powers and funds to local enterprise partnerships, according to a report from Localis.
New planning rules freeing builders from the requirement to build social homes have taken effect. In return, ministers are expecting builders to slash their usual sale prices by 20% in bid to help...
A deal to devolve £6bn of NHS funding to Greater Manchester’s combined authority has been sealed, with the groundbreaking pact set to devolve all health spending in an effort to improve...
Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has appointed Sir Derek Myers, former chief executive of Hammersmith and Fulham and the Kensington and Chelsea London boroughs, to lead the government’s...
Nine out of ten senior council executives are worried about the impact of cuts on frontline services, according to a recent poll carried out by the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and...
Changes made to the Better Care Fund, which allowed some pooled money to be used to provide NHS services, nearly led councils to walk away from the scheme, it has been revealed.
The Greater Manchester combined authority is to be given complete control over all health spending in the city region in a groundbreaking devolution deal to be announced later this week.
The next government must give local authorities long-term financial settlements focused on providing enough funding for services such as adult social care to ensure they are sustainable, a group of...
