Proposals to improve training and career prospects for care workers to help alleviate an ongoing workforce crisis may only “scratch the surface” and ignore the impact of low pay, experts have said.
Middlesbrough Council has become the latest authority to request additional government support to balance its 2024-25 budget and avoid a Section 114 notice.
Encouraging councils to use reserves as a one-off quick fix during the funding crisis is “misguided and unhelpful” and could put more authorities at risk of Section 114 notice, a finance director has...
Data collected by the Office for Local Government often lags behind that collected by councils and is currently not providing value for money, the Local Government Association has claimed.
Austerity could have contributed to almost 150,000 extra deaths in England in the decade prior to Covid-19 by amplifying the effect inequality had on life expectancy, a leading health equity expert...
The government should focus on the “fundamental problems” facing councils, the Special Interest Group of Municipal Authorities has said after a Treasury minister raised concerns over community assets...
A county council will issue a Section 114 notice unless the government grants its requests for extra flexibility, officers have warned as they work on the authority’s upcoming budget.
Mitigating a £120m “structural funding gap” at Bradford Council will be impossible without cuts, redundancies and exceptional financial support from the government, its finance chief has warned.
A real-terms increase in funding will not be enough for Scottish councils to run preventative services that help people out of poverty, local leaders have warned.
A city council facing government intervention has said ministers should not appoint commissioners, because the budget gap leading to its Section 114 notice was driven by “external pressures” rather...
Workforce shortages have forced Scottish NHS boards to spend more on expensive temporary staff to fill gaps, the Scottish Conservatives have claimed after making Freedom of Information requests.
Concerns over adherence with professional standards have prompted the Financial Reporting Council to launch an investigation into the conduct of an accountant at Thurrock Council following failed...
Reversing the declining performance in the NHS, courts and education systems could take two parliamentary terms and require a “bold package of reforms”, the Institute for Public Policy Research has...
Higher investment returns across the Local Government Pension Scheme should not lead to reductions in employer contributions, despite sector-wide financial constraints, the Scheme Advisory Board has...
Income tax is set to generate £700m more for the Scottish Government next year than previously expected, but only a small portion of this is from the hike for high-earners announced in this week’s...
Michael Gove has announced the government’s English council funding package for next year, but the sector has warned it will not stop the expected wave of Section 114 notices in the coming months.
