Local government in the UK has been “gutted” by government policies reflecting the “dismantling of the social safety net”, a United Nations report has found.
The rising number of children in care places “huge demand” on councils and reinforces the need for greater funding for children’s services, council leaders have said.
An additional commissioner is likely to be sent into troubled Northamptonshire County Council after Ofsted found children’s services have “significantly declined”.
Austerity is not over for older and disabled people as a survey reveals the strain on council adult social care budgets, an umbrella group has claimed.
Councils have been granted a statutory override on accounting changes to pooled investments for five years, despite most stakeholders opposing a time-limited period.
Council tenants claiming universal credit owe on average more than two-and-a-half times the rent arrears of claimants on the previous housing benefit system.
Help offered by councils to young homeless people is ineffective half the time because of inadequate funding, analysis by the Centrepoint charity has revealed.
