Despite significant support from central government, the outlook for local authority finances is uncertain, says National Audit Office director Aileen Murphie.
Levels of waste recycling have a direct impact on local authorities’ balance sheets – and reforms to the system are expected to provide a welcome boost
The first year of full compliance with the Financial Management Code is upon us – but authorities have flexibility to interpret it to fit their circumstances
Ahead of the first full year of compliance with the Financial Management Code, Joanna Pitt, local government policy manager at CIPFA, gives a run down of the new guidance.
Despite some significant gaps, the 2021 Budget provides a good balance between growth and resilience – and crucially allows leeway for further fiscal intervention later this year, says Jeffrey Matsu.
Covid-19 has reversed the normal fiscal cycle between elections, bringing a spending splurge at the beginning of this Parliament – Dan Corry wonders whether announcements on future tax rises in the...
Tax fraud costs the public purse around ten times as much as benefit fraud. So why does the government employ three times as many people to tackle the latter, asks TaxWatch’s George Turner.
Issues with external audit are not confined to local government – the NHS system is also not working, says Emma Knowles, director of policy and research at the Healthcare Financial Management...
Sedgemoor District Council leader Duncan McGinty makes the case for a two-unitary solution to Somerset’s upcoming reorganisation of local government structures.
The government’s decision to revoke the £95,000 exit payment cap is likely to cause work for public sector bodies in a number of areas, according to Sarah Lamont, employment lawyer at law firm Bevan...
Closer working between external and internal auditors can help achieve better value for money, according to CIPFA advisers Diana Melville and Ellen Millington.
Help is at hand for local authorities looking to increase their anti-fraud capabilities, says Heidi Loren de Sousa, manager of CIPFA's Counter Fraud Apprenticeship programme.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak needs to think very carefully about the potentially damaging consequences of scrapping council tax and replacing it with a new national property tax, says Jessica Studdert...
A report showing healthy profits for independent providers of children’s residential care while councils struggle underlines the need for reform, says Judith Blake chair of the Local Government...
Richard Lloyd-Bithell, senior technical manager at CIPFA, runs through the new proposals for the Prudential Code in response to increased local authority investment in commercial property.
The UK’s death toll from Covid-19 this week reached 100,000. The grim milestone is a legacy of underfunding for health and care services, says Anita Charlesworth, director of research and REAL Centre...
Aligning tax rates between employees and the self-employed would reduce inequity while encouraging entrepreneurial risk-taking, says Stuart Adam, senior research economist at the Institute for Fiscal...
David Fothergill, leader of Somerset County Council – currently in reorganisation talks with central government - makes the economic case for creating a unitary authority.
The cyber attack on the London Borough of Hackney will divert resources that could be better spent on the authority’s Covid-19 response for months to come, says director of finance and resources Ian...
Covid-19 has hastened reforms to NHS funding, but governance risks exist in areas of the country lacking mature relationships between health partners and councils, says Patrick Garratt, senior policy...
Covid-19 could mean big changes to the future of office working, presenting public bodies with opportunities to reduce costs and raise income, says John Burgess.
