Insufficient funding for councils and the government’s failure to properly regulate supported housing mean fraud in the sector is going “largely unaddressed”, MPs have warned.
Soaring demand for adult and children’s care and a “fundamental structural problem” with funding have created a forecast budget gap of £100m in 2024-25 and led Somerset Council to declare a financial...
An unaddressed “structural” budget deficit and a lack of usable reserves mean Birmingham City Council must make £200m of cuts in the next two years, casting doubt over its ability to set a lawful...
Councils will be unable to build new social and affordable homes to help address the housing crisis without political support from Westminster, an expert has said.
A lack of resources is preventing local authorities from prioritising investment in preventative children’s services, care and police inspectorates have warned.
The local audit backlog could have “serious financial consequences” and avoiding any delays in clearing it should be a priority for the government, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England...
PF speaks with Darren Baxter, principal policy adviser for housing and land at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, to discuss the options for dealing with the unsustainable use of temporary accommodation...
Improving the generosity of benefits and making a long-term commitment to boost social and affordable housing numbers are critical to fixing the temporary accommodation crisis, an expert has said.
Signing off the mounting backlog of historical local authority audits could take up to five years as capacity issues restrict progress, an expert has told PF .
South Cambridgeshire District Council has reacted angrily to the government seeking greater oversight of its four-day working week pilot, which the authority’s leader said is delivering savings.
Growing costs of supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities are creating huge deficits in school budgets and could force some councils to issue Section 114 notices, a senior...
England’s largest independent children’s care providers recorded profits of £310m in 2021-22, according to the Local Government Association, prompting renewed calls for greater government oversight.
Most public services will remain worse in four years’ time than they were just before Covid-19 – and most of them were already worse than they were in 2010 – CIPFA and the Institute for Government’s...
