A further threat to the Local Government Pension Scheme comes from those arguing that the 'Fair Deal for Staff Pensions' arrangement should be abolished.
With pay for many council and school staff at poverty levels, the combination of a pay freeze and increased LGPS contributions might just be too much for the pension scheme.
Paving the way for the public service reform white paper, David Cameron is right to argue that reform should put more power into the hands of the citizen.
I know poorly paid young people lack the voting power of weekend forest-goers, but if the government cares about social mobility, it will make important changes to plans to scrap the EMA.
Charities can't plug the gaps in their budgets by rattling tins outside Tesco's. If we want them to become financially stable and sustainable for the long term we have to treat them like the social...
Local authorities should be looking for best practice across the UK, the EU and beyond. This is not the time for insularity but for a broad scanning of the wider horizons
The government has sent a team of finance experts into one PFI hospital. So can such deals be unpicked saving huge sums for the taxpayer? Well, it certainly won't be easy
One issue that doesn't yet seem to have cropped up in policy discussion about the Big Society is how will we know whether it works. Surveys can help here, but unfortunately the two most important...
Now we know that the Private Finance Initiative often offered poor value for money, the Treasury cannot escape corporate blame for requiring so many of these deals to be signed
There have been calls for a rise in interest rates following the news that CPI inflation has reached 4%. But this could be catastrophic for the economy and for public services
Today sees the launch of the coalition's flagship Welfare Reform Bill. Looking at the reform challenges this government has set itself, the next few years are not going to be easy.
The Audit Commission cheats death! It's now a fair bet - you could try laying odds at Paddy Power - that Eric Pickles' bete noire will outlast his tenure as Communities Secretary
The fact that the NHS is failing to provide the most basic standards of care for the elderly will hardly come as a shock for patients and their relatives. Sadly the cases revealed in the Health...
A new report shows that the public sector leads the way on fraud prevention. So what does this mean for a government committed to transferring functions to the private and voluntary sectors?
The Education Secretary has been defeated in the courts over the cancellation of Building Schools for the Future projects. It shows that hard times do not mean that ministers can ignore their legal...
Councils are being squeezed in all directions and still have services to run. But better use of data and IT can cut costs and the administration burden
Local authorities have been given a range of new powers to encourage development, but a more business-like mind-set is needed to make them a success, says Chris Shepherd
Extreme weather damage will stretch councils' resources this winter, but not as much as unhappy staff. All the more reason to communicate better with them, says Andrew Jepp
David Cameron is having another relaunch of his Big Society today. Always a bad sign in government, this one is compounded by his slightly implausible declaration that this half-formed policy is his...
Local government finance departments must not be cut to the bone in the search for savings. If this does happen, it will have a negative effect on both reducing the deficit and ensuring good...
