Councils are threatening to cut services in the expectation of receiving an average 4.9% grant increase when the provisional finance settlement is announced next week.
The Audit Commission expects to see its income fall by £36m over the next three years because of its diminishing responsibilities and its emphasis on more strategic regulation.
Union officials have warned that further job cuts may be looming if the Audit Commission loses its battle to audit NHS foundation trusts, after the regulator announced it is cutting 250 posts.
The Audit Commission has confirmed that the best councils will lose their 'excellent' status under the Comprehensive Performance Assessments if their performance in future falls below 2002 thresholds.
Employers accused the Fire Brigades Union of trying to rewrite their summer agreement on pay and conditions after a new dispute blew up this week over a November wage increase.
London councils that have or plan to set up arm's-length companies to manage their housing stand to lose more than £167m per year because of cuts in government management and maintenance allowances.
Local government leaders have warned ministers that the latest proposals to make police forces more accountable risk 'reinventing the wheel' and undermining the work of councils.
A shadow was cast over plans to introduce a database for children this week after the British Medical Association said it would breach data protection law, while local authorities were also revealed...
Local authorities are demanding a guarantee from Charles Clarke that the promised 4% funding increase for schools next year will not starve other vital services of cash.
Stronger and more formal links between local public service providers are unlikely to materialise unless Whitehall stands by its commitment to relax its hold over local government, a London council...
MPs this week blasted the Highways Agency for its poor management of Britain's roads last winter, just hours after industrialists claimed the transport network was at 'breaking point'.
Unions are likely to focus their annual inflation-busting wage claim on attempts to close the gender pay gap across councils, which was flagged up in this week's long-awaited report from the Local...
Councils need an extra £17m if they are to fulfil emergency planning requirements and meet heightened public expectations in the wake of the September 11 attacks, the Local Government Association has...
Town hall leaders are increasingly confident that radical reform of the funding system is on the way, after ministers agreed to detailed research into the implications of potentially far-reaching...
Armagh City and District Council in Northern Ireland is to pay £32,500 in compensation to a Catholic man who failed to be appointed as its chief executive.
Town hall leaders fear the government is pressing ahead too quickly with its reforms to children's services, after Education Secretary Charles Clarke revealed he wanted a Bill in next month's Queen's...
Public sector unions have condemned as 'spiteful' the decision by the capital's local authorities to withdraw the offer of an extra £200 London weighting for the lowest-paid council workers.
Pensioner and anti-council tax groups are to oppose the move led by Kent County Council to give elderly people a discount on the amount of tax they pay.
Home Office ministers and senior police officers have admitted that more work needs to be done to improve police performance, following the publication of indicators that showed falling detection and...
