At first sight, the government’s plan to give councils control of business rates and Council Tax Benefit was a fine case of ‘localism’ in action. In practice, it means town halls will take the rap...
Derek Myers is no ordinary chief executive. Having run one London borough for a decade, he has taken on responsibility for a second and is sharing a range of services with a third. He tells PF how...
Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude has branded today’s public sector strike ‘inappropriate, untimely and irresponsible’ as thousands of schools closed nationwide and hospitals prioritised urgent...
Public sector pay rises will be capped at 1% after the current pay freeze ends as the government does ‘whatever it takes’ to protect Britain from the European debt crisis, Chancellor George Osborne...
Can the government’s Open Public Services agenda succeed in a period of local authority budget cuts? Public Finance and Zurich Municipal hosted a round table to debate the possibilities
The government is likely to fail in its attempt to freeze the council tax across England for a second year after local authorities revealed concerns about the proposal.
Personal data on individuals has been lost or stolen from UK councils on more than 1,000 occasions in the past three years, according to a report published today.
The Trades Union Congress has accused the government of misleading low paid public sector workers on the impact of the planned pension contribution hikes.
Nine out of ten councils are on track to stay within their budgets this year, despite 'unprecedented' cuts to their income, the Audit Commission said today.
Whitehall departments have been urged to address 'weaknesses' in how they distribute funding to local bodies, after MPs labelled the systems currently used 'complex and difficult to understand'.
An extension to the London underground network could be one of the projects given the go-ahead after a London council was awarded two top credit ratings.
People want police and crime commissioners in England and Wales to prioritise tackling antisocial behaviour, according to a Local Government Association survey.
Councils have been warned to make sure that they can manage an effective cut in their finances in 2013/14 before accepting the government's offer for next year’s council tax freeze.
Councils given more planning powers under the localism agenda should be monitored to ensure they take a positive attitude towards proposals to build new homes, according to business leaders.
Tell Us Once, the one-stop birth and death notification system recommended by Sir David Varney in 2006, is finally being rolled out nationally, promising public sector savings of more than £100m over...
Councils detected £185m worth of fraud in 2010/11 – a 37% increase over the previous year but still only the 'tip of a very large iceberg', the Audit Commission warned today.
Government plans to fast-track a 50% cut in the tariff paid for electricity generated by solar panels could cost councils hundreds of millions of pounds, the Local Government Association said today.
More than half of central and local government workers would be unwilling to recommend a job in the public sector to others, according to a survey published today.
