Date: 16 Apr 2021
Power of local government eroded over decades, report concludes
Local authorities have seen a ‘steady erosion’ of their autonomy by central Government over the last four decades, a new report has concluded.
Commissioned by the campaign group Unlock Democracy, ‘Local Government in England – 40 Years of Decline’ looks at the relationship between central and local Government. It also focuses on finance, services and representation.
Written by members of the Local Governance Research Centre (LGRC) at De Montfort University Leicester, the report concluded that the balance between councils and Westminster has ‘increasingly tilted towards the centre, leaving local government and the communities it serves weakened.’
Date: 16 Apr 2021
LGA welcomes Covid-19 grant scheme extension
The Local Government Association (LGA) has welcomed the government’s announcement that a Covid-19 grant scheme providing help with food and bills for vulnerable households has been extended until June.
Work and Pensions Secretary, Therese Coffey, said that an extra £40 million will be available to councils in England through the COVID Local Support Grant, which was previously called the COVID Winter Grant.
It will now run until 20 June, in line with England’s roadmap, which is expected to see final lockdown restrictions lifted on 21 June.
Date: 16 Apr 2021
Pfizer boss says people may need additional vaccines beyond their second dose
People are "likely" to need a third dose of the coronavirus vaccine within 12 months of getting the first two, Pfizer's chief executive has said.
Dr Albert Bourla said a booster jab could be necessary "somewhere between six and 12 months" after the second one - and every year thereafter.
"A likely scenario is that there will be likely a need for a third dose, somewhere between six and 12 months and then from there, there will be an annual revaccination, but all of that needs to be confirmed," he told CNBC.
Other Headlines
- Rapid Covid testing in England may be scaled back over false positives
Date: 15 Apr 2021
Senior government officials have raised “urgent” concerns about the mass expansion of rapid coronavirus testing, estimating that as few as 2% to 10% of positive results may be accurate in places with low Covid rates, such as London.
Boris Johnson last week urged everyone in England to take two rapid-turnaround tests a week in the biggest expansion of the multibillion-pound testing programme to date.
However, leaked emails seen by the Guardian show that senior officials are now considering scaling back the widespread testing of people without symptoms, due to a growing number of false positives.
- Croydon hopes to receive ‘majority’ of housing company loan interest
Date: 15 Apr 2021
The London Borough of Croydon expects to receive the majority of “at-risk” loan interest from its crisis hit housing company Brick by Brick in 2020-21, according to its finance chief.
A report discussed at the council’s cabinet on Monday, found that the council’s funding gap rose by a further £4m at the end of January to £69.1m, with a further £26.6m of additional risks identified.
If these risks – £20.6m of which are attributed to Brick by Brick – crystalise then the council would need to meet a larger budget shortfall in 2020-21, with only £7.4m currently sitting in its reserves, the report said.
- Sector raises worries over homes bonus threshold proposal
Date: 15 Apr 2021
Local authorities and industry bodies are against the proposed changes to the annual housing growth threshold for payment under the New Homes Bonus.
Under current regulations, authorities need to increase their annual council tax base by 0.4% per year to receive the bonus, but a government consultation launched earlier this years is seeking views on raising that threshold.
A number of respondents to the consultation have rejected the proposed increase to between 0.6% -1%, as they said it would negatively impact too many authorities.
- Storm brewing over exit payment data demands
Date: 15 Apr 2021
Government demands for details of senior staff pay-offs have been branded ‘particularly pernicious’ and unfairly aimed at local government.
Officials at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) have written to finance directors demanding details of exit payments going back seven years after the Treasury was forced into a U-turn on its £95,000 cap earlier this year.
Controversial rules to squeeze public sector exit payments were introduced in November, but they were shelved in February in the face of a High Court challenge by Lawyers in Local Government, the Association of Local Authority Chief Executives (ALACE), and a further legal challenge by other trade unions.
- Debate should move from survival to stability, says NAO lead
Date: 15 Apr 2021
The government needs to demonstrate it has a strategy for local government beyond the sector’s mere “survival”, a leading National Audit Office figure has told LGC.
Aileen Murphie, who stepped down as the NAO’s director covering local government at the end of last month, spoke to LGC after a report from the watchdog said the sector’s finance after a year of pandemic response was a “cause for concern”.
Ms Murphie predicted cuts may be seen “across the whole gamut” of services in 2021-22, including reductions to social care and special educational needs packages, as well as the closure or reduced opening times of libraries, leisure centres and tourist attractions.
- Welsh PPE procurement praised despite pandemic challenges
Date: 14 Apr 2021
The Welsh Government and NHS responded well to the challenges procuring personal protective equipment during the pandemic, a spending watchdog found.
Audit Wales said PPE was bought quickly but some problems that occurred in England were avoided.
Spending on PPE grew to more than £300m in 2020-21, when normally the government and NHS Wales Shared Services would expect to pay about £8m.
- Jenrick moves to quell districts’ plan for reorganisation referendum
Date: 14 Apr 2021
Communities secretary Robert Jenrick has waded into a row in Somerset between the two principal tiers of local government over districts’ plans to hold a referendum to ensure their residents’ views on reorganisation proposals are properly heard.
Councils in Somerset, along with those in North Yorkshire and Cumbria, are currently undergoing a consultation process on local government reorganisation that ends on Monday.
In Somerset, where the county’s proposal for a county-wide unitary is vying with the districts’ proposal for two new unitaries, the process has sparked antagonism between the two tiers, with South Somerset DC leader Val Keitch (Lib Dem) arguing the consultation process is “convoluted and complicated” and county council leader David Fothergill (Con) believing districts have “questions to answer” over some of the publicity tactics they have deployed.
- Pubs and bars face being punished for Covid rule-busting queues
Date: 13 Apr 2021
Scores of people lined up outside pubs around the country as they reopened for business in line with second step of lockdown easing...
- England gets third jab as Moderna rollout begins
Date: 13 Apr 2021
England is giving out its first doses of the Moderna jab, the third Covid-19 vaccine in the nation's rollout.
It will be available at 21 sites, included the Madejski Stadium in Reading and the Sheffield Arena.
Along with the Pfizer jab, it offers an alternative to the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for under-30s, after concerns about a possible link to very rare blood clots.
- 4.6m people missed out on hospital treatment in England in 2020
Date: 13 Apr 2021
More than 4.5 million people missed out on hospital treatment in England last year due to the disruption to the NHS caused by Covid, with growing numbers turning to crowdfunding to pay for cancer drugs and operations.
The number of patients having planned surgery such as a joint replacement plummeted from 16.62 million in 2019 to just under 12 million last year – a drop of 4.64 million people – an analysis of NHS hospital activity by the Health Foundation reveals.
- Commission calls for abolition of Spending Reviews
Date: 13 Apr 2021
The government’s Spending Review is “not workable” and needs to be abolished, according to an independent commission. Spending Reviews are “spun" documents”, designed to support the political messages the government wishes to make, rather than presenting information in a consistent format, a report from the Commission for Smart Government said.
It said that the reviews should be replaced by a new plan for government developed at the start of each parliament.
The report said: “Past Spending Reviews have suffered from not being connected to any clear strategic view of government’s priorities and does not produce workable, reliable plans which make best use of spending.”
- Covid lockdown eases: 'Sense of celebration' as pubs and shops reopen
Date: 12 Apr 2021
For the first time in months, pub gardens, shops and hairdressers are reopening in England, as rules are also eased in the rest of the UK.
Some pubs and salons opened at midnight, with one landlord saying there was a "sense of celebration", and shoppers queued outside Primark stores.
Northern Ireland's "stay-at-home" order is ending and some rules are also being relaxed in Scotland and Wales.
- People in their forties are next in line as Covid vaccine rollout hits target
Date: 12 Apr 2021
People in their forties are due to be invited for vaccinations from tomorrow after the government reached its target to offer jabs to everyone in the nine priority groups.
Only the late forties are expected to be called first in what sources described as an “easing into” the second phase of the vaccination programme.
Government scientists are also considering whether offering priority vaccination to regular travellers who are exempt from quarantine rules would help to reduce the risk of importing dangerous variants.
- UK records lowest deaths and cases figures since September
Date: 11 Apr 2021
The UK has recorded another seven COVID-related deaths, as shops, gyms, beer gardens and hairdressers in England prepare to reopen.
The number is the lowest since 13 September last year, but figures at the weekend are often lower due to reporting lags.
The UK also recorded another 1,730 positive COVID-19 cases in the latest 24-hour reporting period - the lowest since 2 September.
- Twice-weekly lateral flow coronavirus tests now available for free in England
Date: 09 Apr 2021
Everyone in England can now get twice-weekly COVID tests for free under a new effort to keep the journey out of lockdown on track.
Ministers hope regular use of the rapid lateral flow tests will become a habit and help keep cases low as the economy reopens.
The tests will be available from locations such as pharmacies, workplaces and community spaces - and can also be ordered for home delivery.
- People can start thinking about foreign travel - Shapps
Date: 09 Apr 2021
People in England can start thinking about booking foreign holidays again for this summer, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has said.
But he said the cost of Covid tests needed to be driven down amid criticism from the travel sector.
Mr Shapps has been giving more detail about England's traffic light system which aims to allow foreign travel.
- MPs call for review of 'dangerous' obesity strategy
Date: 09 Apr 2021
The Government’s Obesity Strategy has been branded as ‘dangerous’ for people with negative body image by MPs.
The Women and Equalities Committee has warned the strategy could actually trigger eating disorders in the people it is designed to help. It also said the National Child Measurement Programme is ‘likely to cause harm’.
In a new report, the committee is calling for an independent review of the strategy and for the use of the Body Mass Index (BMI) to be scrapped immediately.
- Shapps announces £18m cycle training fund
Date: 09 Apr 2021
Local authorities will be able to offer bespoke Bikeability Family training sessions to help people feel more confident cycling.
Transport secretary, Grant Shapps, has announced a new £18m fund to deliver cycle training for children and their families.
The funding, which is managed via the Bikeability Trust charity, will provide practical on-road cycle training as a modern day equivalent of the ‘cycling proficiency’ scheme.
- Children ‘bearing brunt’ of mental health crisis
Date: 09 Apr 2021
The number of children seeking help for mental health problems increased by 28% during the pandemic, new figures have revealed.
Analysis of NHS Digital data by the Royal College of Psychiatrists shows that children have been most affected by the ‘mental health crisis’.
The data shows 80,226 more children and young people were referred to CYP mental health services between April and December last year, up by 28% on 2019.
- Councils urged to bid for £15m traffic signals cash
Date: 09 Apr 2021
The Department for Transport (DfT) is urging English local authorities outside London to submit expressions of interest for a share of £15m of new funding to repair and upgrade their traffic signals.
The DfT announced last week that £15m extra cash has been allocated to supplement existing local authority spending on the upgrade and maintenance of traffic signals and associated equipment
Its deputy director, traffic and technology, Anthony Ferguson, has now written to the chief executives at 126 highway authorities and combined authorities to invite bids for the cash, which must be spent in 2021-22.
- Public back more city devolution
Date: 09 Apr 2021
More than eight in ten people support more devolution to England’s largest cities, a new poll has revealed.
The research by Centre for Cities shows 83% of people in city-regions going to the polls on 6 May back some form of greater devolution.
More than half of people (51%) want the provision of affordable housing to be devolved to local politicians, while 47% want supporting businesses to be devolved.
- Extent of mental health crisis in England at ‘terrifying’ level
Date: 09 Apr 2021
England is “in the grip of a mental health crisis” because of the Covid pandemic, with under-18s suffering the most, psychiatrists are to warn on Friday.
Record numbers of children and adults sought NHS help last year for problems such as anxiety, depression and eating disorders, or because they ended up in a mental health crisis.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists has highlighted the sharp rise in mental ill health, that began after the first lockdown in March 2020, in an analysis of NHS and Office for National Statistics data. The college said NHS services were struggling to cope with the demand.
- Hong Kong families moving to UK to benefit from £43m support package
Date: 08 Apr 2021
Families coming to live in the UK from Hong Kong using a new visa route will benefit from a support package worth £43 million, the government has announced.
Welcome hubs will help arrivals from Hong Kong to access housing, education and employment to build a life in the UK, according to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).
Hongkongers with British National (Overseas) status and their dependents are eligible for the new immigration route, which was announced in the wake of Beijing’s national security law being imposed on Hong Kong last year.
- High Street sales tipped to surge 50% on 12 April
Date: 08 Apr 2021
The number of shoppers visiting retail parks and essential shops in March shows consumers have missed bricks-and-mortar shops, says Springboard.
The analyst predicts a 48% rise in sales when lockdown restrictions are lifted on 12 April.
While footfall was still lower in March, the annual decline had halved in retail parks by the end of the month.
- English councils handing huge extra care bills to disabled and mentally ill adults
Date: 08 Apr 2021
Adults with a disability or mental illness are receiving extra care bills running into thousands of pounds that they say could force them to cut back on food and heating and threaten their social independence.
Amid a care funding crisis, some English councils are quietly increasing charges to people with learning disabilities and mental illness, in effect clawing back welfare payments and leaving some working-age adults with little more than £3 a day to spend.
People facing the charges fear they will be unable to afford enough clothes and worry that basic pleasures like swimming trips will have to stop. One single man living with bipolar disorder said he may have to put down his dog because he will be unable to afford to look after it.
- Virtual meetings case ‘helped’ by Jenrick move
Date: 08 Apr 2021
The court case seeking to allow virtual council meetings to continue after 6 May has been strengthened by the government’s decision to support it, the two bodies involved have said.
Communities secretary Robert Jenrick said yesterday that the government would support the argument that virtual meetings were permitted by the Local Government Act 1972, despite the ‘sunset clause’ used to permit them in the coronavirus regulations ending on 6 May.
The Act allows councils freedom of action in various circumstances that could apply even though virtual meetings were not envisaged in 1972.
- Almost 3,000 council fat cats now earn more than £100,000 a year: Shocking rise in pay for town hall bosses amid growing fury over soaring local tax bills
Date: 07 Apr 2021
Spiralling town hall pay pushed the number of local government officials who earned above £100,000 last year to more than 2,800, it was revealed yesterday.
As council tax rises have soared above inflation, councils have pushed ahead with salary increases for some of their best-paid employees, analysis showed.
The breakdown – covering the financial year 2019-20, which ended just as the coronavirus pandemic struck – was published amid evidence of growing public discontent at council tax levels.
- Shoppers may need Covid vaccine passports
Date: 07 Apr 2021
Coronavirus certificates could be needed in high street shops this summer, Downing Street has hinted, as Labour said that it was prepared to vote against the plans.
Boris Johnson indicated that the government was moving towards a system of domestic Covid status certificates in his press conference on Monday night, although he said that in certain “essential” areas of life such documents would never have to be presented.
Pressed for details yesterday on which shops would count as essential, the prime minister’s spokesman did not offer any examples.
- More help for new and expectant mothers in England
Date: 06 Apr 2021
Mental health "hubs" for new, expectant or bereaved mothers are to be set up around England.
The 26 sites, due to be opened by next April, will offer physical health checks and psychological therapy in one building.
NHS England said these centres would provide treatment for about 6,000 new parents in the first year.
Five years ago, 40% of areas in England had no dedicated maternal mental health services.
- Boris Johnson gives green light for shops and pubs to open from Monday
Date: 06 Apr 2021
Boris Johnson has thrown summer holiday plans into disarray by delaying for another month the decision on when international travel can restart after the coronavirus lockdown.
The travel industry responded with dismay to an official review that said it was too early to say whether non-essential trips abroad can resume as planned on 17 May.
One industry leader said the sector was being “crippled” by the lack of certainty from the government, while another said that tens of thousands of jobs remained at risk as long as travel was kept on ice.
- COVID passports have ‘significant implications’ for councils
Date: 06 Apr 2021
Local authority leaders have called on the Government to work closely with councils on the COVID-19 status certification proposals because of the impact they will have on local enforcement and other areas.
- Campaigners in legal challenge to Levelling Up Fund criteria
Date: 06 Apr 2021
Campaign Group the Good Law Project has sent a pre-action protocol letter, the first formal step in legal proceedings, claiming the fund’s priority criteria favour areas with Conservative MPs.
The government has faced questions over the criteria since the fund’s announcement in March’s Budget, with areas such as Richmondshire, represented by chancellor Rishi Sunak, placed above more deprived areas.
- England’s Covid vaccine programme could slow sharply, Sage says
Date: 06 Apr 2021
The pace of first-dose vaccinations looks set to slow significantly for several weeks after a downwards revision in official forecasts and a delay in the import of 5 million doses from India now expected to last until at least June.
A modelling paper produced for the Sage scientific advisory committee said the pace of England’s vaccination programme could be squeezed to 2.7m a week until the end of July, leaving little surplus for first doses until tens of millions of second doses had been administered.
Published on Monday, the paper said that “the central rollout scenario” provided to academics by the Cabinet Office was considerably slower than previously used.
- Tests to be offered twice-weekly to all in England
Date: 05 Apr 2021
Everyone in England is to be given access to two rapid coronavirus tests a week from Friday, under an extension of the government's testing programme.
The lateral flow kits, which can provide results in around 30 minutes, will be available for free at testing sites, pharmacies and through the post.
The health secretary said it would help squash any outbreaks as lockdown eases.
But critics of the programme say it risks becoming a "scandalous" waste of money.
- Two-thirds of councils cashing in with biggest bill hikes are Labour: 51 left-wing local authorities ramped up charges to 5% limit - more than 12 times the inflation rate of 0.4%
Date: 04 Apr 2021
The Labour Party runs almost two-thirds of authorities which raised council tax to the maximum amount of nearly five per cent this year.
Analysis by The Mail on Sunday has found that 51 Labour councils ramped up charges to the limit of 4.99 per cent – more than 12 times the inflation rate of 0.4 per cent.
They include Nottingham City Council, which now has the highest tax bill in the country at £2,226. It raised bills after squandering £38 million on a failed bid to run its own power company, Robin Hood Energy, which went bust this year.
- Sunset clause planned to head off vaccine certificate revolt
Date: 03 Apr 2021
Vaccination passports could be imposed on the public for less than a year, according to plans being drawn up by Downing Street to head off a Tory revolt.
Boris Johnson will give the green light on Monday to the development of a system of “vaccine certification” as he looks to reinvigorate the economy.
Ministers believe the scheme may be essential in reopening venues such as theatres and stadiums which rely on large crowds.
- Parents forced to crowdfund to stop playgrounds in England crumbling
Date: 03 Apr 2021
Parents and play experts are turning to crowdfunding to rebuild and maintain playgrounds as cash-strapped local authorities cut their budgets across England.
Despite calls by child development experts for a “summer of play” for children as the pandemic ends, there is a funding crisis across all parts of the play sector – from park playgrounds to new spaces built by housing developers.
In Coggeshall, Essex, Jemma Green and her neighbours got the idea for crowdfunding their playground from others. “It’s incredibly common now. We have got £110,000 and nearly all of that has come from fundraising. The parish council saved for two years to give us £30,000 – we are lucky they could do that. And we had £25,000 from Enovert, a local landfill company. But all our other grant applications were turned down – National Lottery, things like that.
- Coronavirus passports can get people 'back to doing things they love', culture secretary says
Date: 02 Apr 2021
COVID passports could be introduced as a way of ensuring people can get "back to doing the things they love", the culture secretary has said.
Oliver Dowden made the comments as more than 70 MPs sent a warning shot to Prime Minister Boris Johnson by forming a major cross-party campaign against the use of such passports within the UK.
Mr Dowden said cabinet minister Michael Gove is conducting a review into whether "we could make a COVID status certification work".
- Appetite for PWLB borrowing returns in March
Date: 01 Apr 2021
Local authorities in England borrowed £856m from the Public Works Loan Board last month, as councils refocus on capital projects following a lull due to Covid-19.
The spike in borrowing in March saw more local authorities seek finance from the board than the previous two months comined total of £493m was borrowed.
The largest loan was the £140m taken out by the North London Waste Company, which is owned by seven London boroughs and borrowed to help fund a major redevelopment programme.
David Blake, strategic director at Treasury advisors Arlingclose, told PF: “We are now seeing the fog lift and local authorities have a better handle on their cash positions and borrowing requirements.
- Rise in pothole repairs
Date: 31 Mar 2021
The number of potholes filled by councils in England and Wales grew by 13 per cent in the past 12 months, new figures show. Some 1.7 million potholes were filled during the past year, compared with 1.5 million during 2019/20, according to council responses to an annual survey by the Asphalt Industry Alliance. Cllr David Renard, Transport spokesperson for the LGA, said councils “have been working hard to repair our roads”.
- Shielding coming to an end for millions
Date: 31 Mar 2021
Today marks the last day that about four million of the most clinically vulnerable people in England and Wales are advised to shield at home. They are still being advised to keep social contacts at low levels, work from home where possible and stay at a distance from other people. The change comes amid falling COVID-19 cases and hospital admissions.
- Second vaccine doses outnumber first jabs for first time in single day
Date: 31 Mar 2021
For the first time, the number of second doses of COVID-19 vaccine administered in the UK in a single day has exceeded first doses.
A total of 270,526 second doses were registered on Tuesday, compared with 224,590 first jabs, according to the latest government figures.
Until now, the number of first jabs per day had always been higher than second jabs.
- Everyone's Invited: Schools abuse helpline and review launched
Date: 31 Mar 2021
A helpline and immediate review into sexual abuse in schools have been set up by the government in response to thousands of allegations from students.
Ofsted will look at safeguarding in both state and independent schools.
The helpline will be run by the NSPCC to both support potential victims and provide advice to children and adults.
"Sexual abuse in any form is abhorrent and it is vital that these allegations are dealt with properly," Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said.
"While the majority of schools take their safeguarding responsibilities extremely seriously, I am determined to make sure the right resources and processes are in place across the education system to support any victims of abuse to come forward."
The debate about a culture of sexual abuse at schools has escalated in recent weeks after a website set up for victims to anonymously post their experiences gained more than 11,000 posts, some from children as young as nine.
- Many students say their mental health is worse due to pandemic
Date: 31 Mar 2021
Almost two-thirds of university students in the UK say their mental health is worse because of the Covid pandemic, a survey suggests.
The Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) report says ministers must "take heed" of the poll as restrictions ease.
A total of 56% are not expecting any more face-to-face teaching in this academic year, but 66% of them are living in their student accommodation.
The Department for Education has given £70 million to help students in need.
- IFS: Funding 30% higher per head in Scotland than England
Date: 31 Mar 2021
The economic research group said that although Scotland has 2% less to spend per person than it did in 2010-11 in real terms, there has been a much larger decrease in England.
In a report, the IFS put most of the gap (28.9 percentage points of the 30.6% difference) down to high levels of funding from the UK government via the Barnett formula, with Scottish Government tax revenues making “only a marginal contribution”.
“Indeed, the relatively weak performance of the Scottish economy means that the net revenues received from income tax have only increased slightly, despite tax increases in Scotland,” said IFS associate director and report author David Phillips.
- Government 'recycling' cash between flagship funds
Date: 30 Mar 2021
Labour has slammed ministers for ‘announcing then re-announcing the same funding under different names’ after the Government refused to disclose how much of the controversial £3.6bn Towns Fund has been diverted to other cash pots, such as the new Levelling Up Fund (LUF).
- Get aboard £120m zero-emission bus scheme
Date: 30 Mar 2021
The Government has launched a £120m fund scheme to help local transport authorities in England roll out zero-emission buses. Officials said the cash from the zero-emission-buses regional area (ZEBRA) scheme, will deliver up to 500 buses, ‘supporting the Government’s wider commitment to introduce 4,000 zero-emission buses’.
It comes under £3bn pledged under the National Bus Strategy, published earlier this month. The Department for Transport said that to ensure the cash is used quickly, it is calling on consortia of local transport authorities, energy companies, bus operators and manufacturers to come together to work up strong cases for funding.
Bidders will have until 21 May to submit expressions of interest for a fast-track process that will allow local transport authorities with well-developed proposals to move quickly in their bid to secure funding.
- ‘Favouritism’ in levelling up grants shows declining standards, says anti-corruption body
Date: 30 Mar 2021
“Partisan favouritism in decisions” such as the distribution of the towns fund is contributing to a decline in public standards, corruption experts have told an official review.
In evidence given to a Committee on Standards in Public Life consultation, published last week, Centre for the Study of Corruption (CSC) at the University of Sussex points to recent “norm violations” by ministers as an example of how “UK standards in public life are in decline and at risk of declining further”.
The CSC says there have been “numerous recent breaches of integrity at the heart of politics and public life”. These include the “allocation of public funds to secure political advantage (as in the case of the towns fund grants to marginal seats)”.
- Alert apps and ‘sponge’ road surfaces among new technology to deal with flooding
Date: 29 Mar 2021
New technology including flood alert apps and “sponge” road surfaces will be part of a new £150 million project to tackle flooding. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs announced the funding will be shared between 25 local schemes to improve waterway defences and coastal resilience.
- Rob Whiteman: To solve local government funding, form should follow function
Date: 29 Mar 2021
To get funding right we need to ask about the purpose of local government, writes the chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy.
This month I had the opportunity to give evidence to the Commons public accounts committee on local government funding and the impact of the pandemic. What became clear to me immediately was that two hours is not nearly enough time to crack this particular nut.
While we were able to discuss in a fair amount of detail the challenges facing local authority budgets in the present and upcoming financial years, one question put to me was when would be an appropriate time to restart the conversation about local government funding reform?
- Principal authorities encouraged to pass £56m Welcome Back funding to local councils
Date: 29 Mar 2021
The government is strongly encouraging principal authorities in England to work with parish and town (local) councils to pass on funding from the £56m Welcome Back Fund.
Secretary of state for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Robert Jenrick, has written to the Chair of the National Association of Local Councils (NALC), Councillor Sue Baxter, about the new fund which aims to help councils boost tourism, improve green spaces and provide more outdoor seating areas, markets and food stall pop-ups.
NALC has been lobbying the government on the issue of funding and has called for dedicated funding initiatives, such as for parks, high streets and town centres, to be made available to local councils.
- Grant Thornton defends Liverpool audits
Date: 29 Mar 2021
Grant Thornton has not fully certified the council’s accounts for five years, but offered unqualified opinions each year, meaning it was satisfied the financial statements fairly presented the financial position of the council.
Andrew Makinson, leader of opposition Liberal Democrats asked Grant Thornton at an Audit and Governance committee last week why the “taxpayers of Liverpool should have confidence” in the firm.
He said: “The taxpayers of Liverpool have been paying £191,000 per year to Grant Thornton to provide assurances that the city’s accounts are in order.
- £500m mental health plan targets people affected by pandemic
Date: 27 Mar 2021
People are to be offered counselling for anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress affected by the pandemic, under the Government’s Mental Health Recovery Plan. A £500 million expansion of mental health services will focus on young adults, aged 18 to 25, children with complex trauma, and for youth projects and community groups helping those most affected by COVID-19.
- Government to ban Covid-19 business rates appeals
Date: 26 Mar 2021
The government is to retrospectively ban business rates appeals based on a drop in property values due to Covid-19, a move labelled as “scandalous” by rating’s advisors.
- NHS trusts climb down over business rates claim
Date: 26 Mar 2021
A decision by NHS trusts to back down in their legal battle to receive business rates rebates removes a huge headache for local authorities, experts have told PF.
- Next phase of Supporting Families programme launched with £165m
Date: 26 Mar 2021
Local authority leaders have welcomed the next phase of the Government’s programme to support vulnerable families which has been launched with £165m behind it. The newly named ‘Supporting Families’ programme, previously known as the ‘Troubled Families’ programme, includes work to support people to leave abusive relationships, get the right joined-up support for those with mental health issues and help people to find work.
The programme, which began in 2012, assigns families a dedicated keyworker, who brings local services together to resolve issues at an early stage, before they develop into more significant problems.
According to the Government, since 2015 over 400,000 vulnerable families have received support and over 870,000 families have benefited from the programme’s ‘whole family’ approach.
- Financial collapse at Croydon could have been avoided
Date: 26 Mar 2021
Croydon LBC’s financial plight could have been avoided if action had been taken earlier, its leader has admitted.
Discussions were also taking place behind closed doors and the council’s culture was a ‘barrier’ to tackling overspending, MPs have heard.
Croydon’s leader and chief executive were questioned by the Housing Communities and Local Government Committee after issuing two Section 114 notices and receiving capitalisation directions worth £70m this year and £50m next year.
- Online ‘family hubs’
Date: 25 Mar 2021
New parents will have more co-ordinated access to help and services through an online “family hub” network and digital “red books” used to log babies’ health, following a government review on early years. The hub will offer services such as birth registration, mental health support, feeding advice and more. Cllr Judith Blake, Chair of the LGA’s Children and Young People Board, said that the review “rightly recognises the crucial support provided by councils”, and that the LGA was keen to work with government on the next phase of the review, but stressed that “it will need to be properly resourced.”
- NHS trusts climb down over business rates claim
Date: 25 Mar 2021
A decision by NHS trusts to back down in their legal battle to receive business rates rebates removes a huge headache for local authorities, experts have told PF.
According to reports, the 10 trusts bringing the case dropped their action, which had been due for a hearing in the Court of Appeal next month. The 23 authorities involved in the case would have had to shoulder around £2.3bn of rebates if had their claim for backdated reliefs of 80% had been successful, a source told PF.
Geoff Winterbottom, principal researcher at the Special Interest Group for Municipal Authorities, told PF: “From the time authorities became aware of the legal challenge, they would have been making a full or partial provision against losing the rate income.
“Now the case has crystallised, and the appeals are definitely not payable, they are in a position to release those provisions.
- Government to ban Covid-19 business rates appeals
Date: 25 Mar 2021
The government is to retrospectively ban business rates appeals based on a drop in property values due to Covid-19, a move labelled as “scandalous” by rating advisers.
Businesses should be able to self assess the value of their properties as part of further reforms to the business rate system, according to the Local Government Association.
Announcing the move today, the government said that economic changes to property values, including Covid-19, can only be properly considered at general rates revaluations, with the next one not expected until 2023.
In a move that follows a slew of appeals from office occupiers, which are not covered by government business rate holidays, the Treasury said that it will legislate to rule out Covid-related ‘material change of circumstance’ challenges.
Instead, £1.5bn will be allocated to councils to distribute reliefs to business which have yet to receive any rate support during the pandemic.
- Marmot: austerity-era cuts to local government must be reversed
Date: 25 Mar 2021
Cuts to local government funding during austerity need to be reversed, the author of a landmark study on health inequalities has said. Sir Michael Marmot, whose 2010 Fair Society, Healthy Lives report was followed by an update in February 2020 which examined the period of austerity, also told today’s LGC Future Places conference that he supported local government’s role in public health.
He was asked how much local government could do to address health inequalities given huge cuts to their budgets, and whether measures to tackle the issues he had identified always require large amounts of money.
He said that while “as a nation, shortage of money should not be the issue” due to the low cost of government borrowing and quantitative easing, “at the local government level you do need money, no question”.
- Baroness Harding: communities not aware of Covid financial support
Date: 25 Mar 2021
The head of the national NHS Test and Trace programme Baroness Dido Harding has told council representatives she is concerned that communities are not being made aware of the financial support available to help people with Covid-19 self-isolate.
Speaking at a public health conference yesterday organised by the Local Government Association and the Association of Directors of Public Health, Baroness Harding said there are “real issues” in this area. Pointing to the “substantial increase in funding” councils have had to offer discretionary support to those told to self isolate, she said there was a “really important role for everyone on this call to play to make sure that you are tailoring those [grants] to meet your local community needs”.
- Cost of social care to double within two decades, says NAO
Date: 25 Mar 2021
The cost of adult social care is set to double over the next 20 years, according to the National Audit Office. The Department of Health & Social Care projects that about 29% more adults aged 18 to 64, and 57% more of those over 65, will need care in 2038 compared to 2018, an NAO report today says.
“Over this period, the total cost of care is projected to rise by 90% for adults aged 18 to 64, and 106% for adults aged 65 and over,” it adds.
This would mean the total cost of social care doubling from £27.9bn to £55.8bn.
The NAO is calling on DHSC to set out a “cross-government, long-term, funded vision” for social care as a priority, saying current demographic trends suggest care will form an “ever-increasing proportion of public expenditure”.
- UK to set up health agency to combat future pandemics
Date: 25 Mar 2021
A new health security body comprising Public Health England, NHS Test and Trace and the Joint Biosecurity Centre will provide a "protective shield" over the UK from next month. Speaking at the LGA and Association of Directors of Public Health annual public health conference, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) would provide a "total focus" on the prevention and response to pandemics, infectious diseases and external threats, such as bioterrorism. The new organisation will be led by Dr Jenny Harries, England's deputy chief medical officer. Cllr Ian Hudspeth, Chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, said council public health teams looked forward to working with the agency. He said: “The UKHSA needs to be able to operate nationally as a global player to major health threats. This needs to be aligned with councils’ ability to react swiftly on the ground, using their local knowledge, expertise and skills.” Meanwhile, the Metro reports that Baroness Dido Harding, who is in charge of the contact tracing project, told the conference that Test and Trace was the second most downloaded app in the UK last year – only after Zoom, which was on 21 million smart devices.
- Lack of social care strategy left system weakened when COVID-19 struck – report
Date: 25 Mar 2021
The Government’s struggle to get a grip on England’s social care crisis left the care system weakened when the pandemic struck and has left thousands of people unable to access the help they need, according to the public spending watchdog. The National Audit Office (NAO) said COVID-19 had focused attention on social care in England “as never before”, highlighting pre-existing shortcomings in services as well as major gaps in the Government’s understanding and oversight of the care system. Cllr Ian Hudspeth, Chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “As the NAO recognises, short-term funding and ongoing uncertainty has made it difficult for councils, which are already facing significant financial pressures, to plan for care and support services in the long term.” Meanwhile, the Times reports Boris Johnson’s evidence to the Commons Liaison Committee in which he offered the closest indication yet of when reforms to social care might be announced, saying that it was “highly likely” that social care would be featured in the Queen’s speech on 11 May.
- Short-term funding has held back care, says watchdog
Date: 25 Mar 2021
Short-term funding has held back investment in the unstable £16.5bn adult social care market despite a forecast 57% in demand from the over-65s by 2036 says a report from the National Audit Office (NAO).
Some 76% of care homes for older adults and adults with dementia are for-profit while of the remaining 24%, 14% are not-for-profit and 10% are run by a local authority or the NHS.
Yet some 55% of large for-profit care homes and 39% of large for-profit care at home providers reported a return on investment of less than 5% in 2019.
- Councils face rise in demand for short-term care
Date: 25 Mar 2021
Councils have faced a 7% rise in demand for short-term support in the last four years and are dealing with an increase in new care requests from younger people, says a new report.
The latest adult social care statistics in England report from NHS Digital (NHSD) also show the number of older adults getting long-term state-supported care has decreased, with expenditure continuing to rise.
Expenditure is up by 6% in real terms in the last five years from 2015-16, to £19.7bn, following a period of decline after 2010.
- ‘Inevitable’ third Covid-19 wave will not change the plan, vows Boris Johnson
Date: 24 Mar 2021
Boris Johnson and Chris Whitty have both said that Britain will suffer another surge of coronavirus as restrictions are eased.
The prime minister last night told Conservative MPs that a third wave coming from Europe was “inevitable”.
However, he insisted that “we are prepared” and there was “no reason to deviate” from the unlocking road map he set out last month. He hailed the success of the vaccine rollout as a reason to persist with the existing timetable even if cases rise again.
- Online sales tax ‘could help subsidise business rate reductions’
Date: 24 Mar 2021
An interim report released by the Treasury respondents were “widely opposed” to CVT, citing low or non-existent benefits, and significant drawbacks.
Some respondents were however in favour of an OST, as it would help to “level the playing field”, and could help fund business rate reductions.
The Treasury document said: “Potential difficulties in implementation [of CVT] were commonly highlighted, most notably the current lack of a comprehensive register of freehold property ownership.
“Most respondents felt that this could make it challenging to locate property owners in order to pay the tax, particularly where these are nondomiciled, or part of a joint-ownership structure.”
A CVT would be based on the combined value of businesses’ land and property – either the purchase price or a regular valuation.
- £34.5m stolen in pandemic scams
Date: 24 Mar 2021
More than 6,000 cases of COVID-19-related fraud and cyber-crime have been recorded by the UK's police forces during the pandemic. The Action Fraud team said £34.5 million had been stolen since 1 March 2020. These involves attempts to breach the NHS, vaccine producers and vaccine supply chains, among other organisations.
- Second home owners face tax changes
Date: 24 Mar 2021
Tens of thousands of second-home owners who falsely register their properties as holiday lets in order to claim tax breaks tax face a clampdown. Many claim business rates relief, as their properties have a rateable value of £12,000 or less, but do not attempt to let their properties out.
- Increase in small funding pots will hinder levelling up efforts, warn met chiefs
Date: 24 Mar 2021
The government’s increasing use of small funding pots that councils have to bid for will hinder its levelling up agenda, the LGC Future Places conference has heard.
Tom Stannard, chief executive of Salford City Council, told a panel this morning that one of his concerns about this month’s Budget was “the extent of creep in terms of those bilateral competitions for funding”.
He said: “I think we’ve got to get serious about tackling that. We can do without more of those bilateral competitions for single pots of funding. We are losing count of the number of those that have now been reintroduced in the Budget.
- Business rates review finds little enthusiasm for more localised system
Date: 24 Mar 2021
The Treasury has published the feedback to its fundamental review of business rates, revealing that most respondents were opposed to greater discretion for councils to set reliefs and exemptions, with some calling for ratepayers to be able to challenge councils' decisions on relief applications.
The interim report, which discloses the findings of a consultation launched in July 2020, comes ahead of the final report that the Treasury says will follow this autumn. This will set out the government's “priorities for reform, and its longer-term vision for the business rates system”.
The document details the range of reliefs and support offered to businesses to help them get through the pandemic. It says respondents felt that an “extensive reliefs regime” places a “significant burden” on local authorities to administer, and that “some struggle to administer all available reliefs”.
- Hancock: Integration with DPHs the ‘only way’ new health security agency can work
Date: 24 Mar 2021
The health secretary has revealed details about how his department and the new UK health security agency will take over functions from Public Health England.
Matt Hancock said the “only way” the new agency, which launches next Thursday, must work is through “integration with directors of public health at a local level”.
The new agency, which was previously known as the National Institute for Health Protection when it was initially introduced as part of the pandemic response last August, will take over PHE’s health security role at a local and national level to ensure the UK can respond quickly to the current and future pandemics, and “cast a protective shield over the nation's health”.
- SEND family spends £20k fighting for school place
Date: 24 Mar 2021
Parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) say they are struggling to secure suitable school places for them.
Anna Geldard spent £20,000 fighting for the Education, Health and Social Care Plan (EHCP) her child is entitled to..
The government said the SEND system was under review and it had also increased SEND funding to £8bn in 2021-22.
- County set to walk out of LGA membership
Date: 24 Mar 2021
Leicestershire CC leader Nick Rushton has said he will pull the council out of membership of the Local Government Association (LGA) at the end of the month.
The leader claimed the association was ‘an expensive club’ and he would prefer to put the membership cash towards repairing potholes in the county.
Speaking at a virtual council meeting, Cllr Rushton said: ‘Ourselves and Lincolnshire have been on a rolling one-year notice with the LGA for three or four years. In consultation with Martin [Hill] in Lincolnshire, we think it is time to bite the bullet and formally leave the LGA.
- Government opts to retain legacy public pension calculations
Date: 24 Mar 2021
Public service pension schemes will continue to handle separate payments for historic provisions, after the government deemed a potential replacement as too resource intensive.
A government consultation was launched in 2016 after reforms saw public pension funds make a dedicated calculation for the full cost of yearly changes in legacy guaranteed minimum pension requirements.
In response to the consultation, published yesterday, the Treasury opted to make this measure permanent, rejecting an alternative organisational approach which would have merged GMP liabilities into regular scheme payments.
Ian Colvin, head of LGPS benefit consultancy at pensions consultants Hymans Robertson, told PF: “It is the right decision at the stage, if they bought in conversion, it would only affect a small number of people who had not yet reached retirement.
- Councils call for long-term plan to tackle education inequalities
Date: 24 Mar 2021
Education inequalities that have been exacerbated by the pandemic are unlikely to be solved by a quick “catch-up” initiative, council leaders have warned today.
In a new report, the Local Government Association (LGA) said COVID-19 has increased existing vulnerabilities and learning gaps to such an extent that a long-term strategy providing intensive and holistic support is required.
It also said that increased joint working throughout the crisis has exposed levels of deprivation and hardship that were previously hidden to settings, schools and services.
Cllr Judith Blake, chair of the LGA’s Children and Young People Board, said: 'A quick “catch-up” initiative does not do justice to what is needed to ensure the best outcomes for all children and young people.
- Hopes rise for office-based companies of cut in business rates
Date: 23 Mar 2021
There is growing optimism that the government will offer a settlement for office-based companies that say their business rates bills are unreasonably high during a period when they have been forced to tell staff to work at home.
Hundreds of thousands of office-based businesses are challenging their business rates bill for 2020-21 on the basis that the pandemic has resulted in a “material change of circumstance”.
Unlike businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors, office-based companies have had no business rates holidays during the pandemic. More than 400,000 businesses are estimated to have lodged the first stage of an appeal against their rates bill.
- Payrolled employment rises for third month after a year of lockdown misery for jobs
Date: 23 Mar 2021
The number of people in payrolled employment has risen for a third consecutive month despite further lockdown misery for the economy, according to official figures.
Data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed an increase of 68,000 last month.
But the figures also laid bare the toll on people's livelihoods during the COVID-19 pandemic to date, with the total down by 693,000 since February 2020 - the month before the first crisis restrictions were imposed, forcing much of the economy into hibernation.
- Life expectancy a decade lower for men in poorest areas
Date: 23 Mar 2021
Life expectancy for men in England’s most deprived areas is nearly a decade shorter than it is for those from the wealthiest, according to the latest official analysis.
Men living in the most deprived areas have a life expectancy of 74.1 years, compared with 83.5 in the least deprived areas, research by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows.
Women in the poorest areas were expected to live to 78.7, compared with 86.4 for those in the least deprived.
- UK faces 'Covid decade' due to damage done by pandemic, says report
Date: 23 Mar 2021
Britain faces a “Covid decade” of social and cultural upheaval marked by growing inequality and deepening economic deprivation, a landmark review has concluded.
Major changes to the way society is run in the wake of the pandemic are needed to mitigate the impact of the “long shadow” cast by the virus, including declining public trust and an explosion in mental illness, the British Academy report found.
Published on the anniversary of the UK’s first lockdown, the report brings together more than 200 academic social science and humanities experts and hundreds of research projects. It was set up last year at the behest of the government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance.
- Government strengthens tax policymaking with over 30 updates, consultations and documents published
Date: 23 Mar 2021
The government has today published a series of tax documents and consultations in a move to strengthen policymaking and help create a more trusted, simple and modern tax system (23 March).
- Whitty warns of ‘real risk’ of local and national links disappearing post-crisis
Date: 23 Mar 2021
England’s chief medical officer has told the local government sector of his concerns there is a “real risk” that as the country recovers from the Covid pandemic, the links built up between the local and national health systems will “disappear”.
Chris Whitty was speaking one year since the first lockdown began at a conference today held by the Local Government Association and the Association of Directors of Public Health. He said that before the pandemic, “many people” inside and outside local authorities did not realise the "key role" of public health teams, saying these links are “so central to the long term protection of and improvement in the health of our populations”.
- Government piles on pressure to speed up business grant distribution
Date: 23 Mar 2021
The government is putting pressure on councils to disperse certain business grants as quickly as possible through the conditions it is attaching to one of its latest funding rounds.
This comes amid mounting concerns about the “tremendous amounts of stress” that finance teams are being put under by having to allocate grants, submit returns to government and apply for new funding pots simultaneously.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has updated guidance for the additional restrictions grant, which aims to help businesses severely impacted by Covid.
Councils now have until 30 June to “prove that they have spent or made a validated attempt to spend” all of their first two additional restrictions grants allocations in order to be able to access the latest £425m round of the funding.
- COVID-19: How has the past year affected council staff?
Date: 23 Mar 2021
Council staff have been left feeling ‘undervalued and overwhelmed’ this past year as a result of COVID-19, according to an exclusive survey by LocalGov.
To mark a year since the first lockdown began, we surveyed council workers to find out what impact the pandemic has had on their mental health, their job role, and how they feel about working in local government.
More than six in ten respondents (64%) said the pandemic has affected their mental health, with 75% feeling stressed and 65% feeling anxious. Nearly half (47%) of those affected also said they have felt depressed in the last year.
- Government allocates £562m green improvement fund
Date: 23 Mar 2021
Over 50,000 social housing properties and low-income households will be upgraded with green improvements with the launch of a £562m Government fund.
The funding will enable over 200 local authorities across England and Scotland to upgrade the UK’s least energy efficient and fuel-poor homes.
This includes measures such as cavity wall, underfloor and loft insulation, and replacing gas boilers with low carbon alternatives.
- Commission calls on councils to improve digital services for social care
Date: 23 Mar 2021
ot enough local authorities or care providers are using the available technology within social care to keep people safe at home, a new study finds.
A commission led by The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) and the TEC Services Association (TSA) has heard evidence from nearly 60 people including individuals and their relatives who access social care support, front line care professionals, directors of adult social care, housing and health leaders and technology suppliers.
It found that while there were pockets of best practice, digital projects are rarely joined up and turned into intelligence to prevent people reaching a crisis.
- Smokers in England cost local care services £1.2bn each year
Date: 23 Mar 2021
Smokers in England need care 10 years sooner than non-smokers, which places a considerable burden on local social care services, research reveals.
The analysis, by Landman Economics for Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), finds that 1.5 million people need help with everyday tasks, such as dressing, walking across a room and using the toilet due to smoking.
This high level of social care needed has a significant impact on local authority social care budgets, ASH warns.
- Government allocates £562m green improvement fund
Date: 23 Mar 2021
Over 50,000 social housing properties and low-income households will be upgraded with green improvements with the launch of a £562m Government fund.
The funding will enable over 200 local authorities across England and Scotland to upgrade the UK’s least energy efficient and fuel-poor homes.
This includes measures such as cavity wall, underfloor and loft insulation, and replacing gas boilers with low carbon alternatives.
Housing minister Christopher Pincher said: 'The challenges involved in improving the energy efficiency of our homes and reducing carbon emissions are substantial. However, the investment being announced today along with our Future Homes Standard will help ensure that existing and newly built homes will be fit for the future, better for the environment and affordable for households to heat using low carbon energy.'
- Commission calls on councils to improve digital services for social care
Date: 23 Mar 2021
Not enough local authorities or care providers are using the available technology within social care to keep people safe at home, a new study finds.
A commission led by The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) and the TEC Services Association (TSA) has heard evidence from nearly 60 people including individuals and their relatives who access social care support, front line care professionals, directors of adult social care, housing and health leaders and technology suppliers.
It found that while there were pockets of best practice, digital projects are rarely joined up and turned into intelligence to prevent people reaching a crisis.
- London – 40 per cent of households in four boroughs claiming housing costs
Date: 22 Mar 2021
At least 40% of households in four London boroughs are having to claim help with affording a place to live as the economic impact of Covid-19 exacerbates the housing crisis in urban areas, analysis reveals.
Research by the Conservative thinktank Bright Blue found that the most significant increases in the proportion of households claiming state support for housing costs in the first nine months of the pandemic were in cities – particularly London.
In Newham, Haringey, Barnet and Hackney, 40% or more of households are now reliant on benefits – such as the housing element of universal credit – to meet part of their housing costs.
- Local authorities allocated £100m leisure recovery fund
Date: 22 Mar 2021
The Government has allocated £100m funding to 266 local authorities across England to help leisure centres prepare to re-open safely. The funding, announced last October, will support the recovery of publicly-owned leisure centres and gym facilities.
Sports minister Nigel Huddleston said: 'We know that local authorities have faced significant financial pressure as a result of the pandemic so this £100m for leisure will be vital in helping them recover.
- 'Welcome back' fund launched for high streets and coastal areas
Date: 22 Mar 2021
Councils will receive £56m to help high streets and seaside resorts open safely this summer. The new £56m Welcome Back Fund can be used to install signage and floor markings, invest in street planting and seating areas, run publicity campaigns and prepare to hold events.
Communities secretary, Robert Jenrick, also said the first 70 councils to benefit from support from the High Streets Task Force have been selected.
- Plymouth to set up council-owned care company
Date: 22 Mar 2021
Plymouth City Council is setting up its own care company after a number of providers warned they could not provide services at short notice. The council said the move would ensure care could be provided to the most vulnerable if a care company is not able to continue providing its services for any reason.
Cllr Kate Taylor, the council’s cabinet member for health and adult social care, said: ‘We’ve had some really concerning cases where vulnerable people have had their care service stop at short notice and it can be really stressful for them, their families and the staff involved while alternatives are worked out.
- Mets to get bigger share of Covid outbreak fund as their income plunges
Date: 22 Mar 2021
The government will apply a formula to distribute the latest £400m allocation of the contain outbreak management fund (Comf) to reflect population and deprivation levels in different local authority areas. This will mean more money for struggling metropolitan councils, which have seen their income drop by more than a third since January.
The contain outbreak management fund, which is worth £2bn since the government introduced it in October to cover Covid-related public health activities, was initially allocated on a per head basis, with councils in higher restriction tiers receiving more.
During England's second lockdown in November, the government changed the way it distributed the funding so all areas received an equal amount. But now the Department of Health & Social Care, which allocated the fund, has updated its guidance to apply the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government’s relative needs formula. DHSC says this is “weighted according to population and deprivation and maps well against areas of enduring transmission”.
- Communities call for funding powers
Date: 22 Mar 2021
Funds aimed at levelling up the country should be devolved to communities, according to a new report. Locality, which includes 12 cross-party councils, has launched a Keep it Local manifesto with an open letter to communities secretary Robert Jenrick.
Chief executive of Locality, Tony Armstrong, said: ‘When things haven’t worked well – like test and trace or the NHS volunteer scheme – it’s been when government’s centralising tendencies have overridden its ability to harness the skills and expertise of local areas.
‘With its attention increasingly focused on recovery and renewal, it is vital government learns these lessons and makes community power the cornerstone of its levelling up ambitions.’
- Five councils strike bailout deals with government over SEND
Date: 22 Mar 2021
Five councils have struck deals worth at least £100m that will allow them to wipe out their massive special educational needs deficits (SEND).
Bury MBC, Stoke-on-Trent City Council, and Hammersmith & Fulham, Richmond upon Thames and Kingston upon Thames LBCs – which have some of the highest dedicated school grant (DSG) deficits - have agreed to make reforms to their SEND services and meet strict savings targets in exchange for the Department for Education bailing out their historic deficits.
Under the DSG ‘safety valve’ agreements, the councils will have to implement agreed action plans and report at least quarterly on their progress.
Both Bury and Hammersmith & Fulham have agreed to reach a positive in-year balance on their DSG account by the end of 2022-23 in exchange for £20m each, spread over the next five financial years.
- More councils in funding talks
Date: 21 Mar 2021
The Government said it continues to talk to a “small number” of councils about additional financial support this year to meet ongoing funding and demand pressures. It comes ahead of the Government publishing interim findings of its review into business rates next week. The LGA said councils’ confidence in business rates as a reliable income source has “reduced” with income from the tax accounting for more than a quarter of council core spending power. Cllr Richard Watts, Chair of the LGA’s Resources Board, said: “The attention needs to shift towards developing new sources of finance for councils and different ways of incentivising growth.”
- Government to extend duration of Right to Buy expiry
Date: 19 Mar 2021
In a response to a 2018 consultation, released today, the Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government said the two-year increase in the timeframe for holding funds will be backdated to 2017-2018.
The ministry said this move will give councils the ability to plan for the longer-term and take on more ambitious housing plans.
The response said: “Currently local authorities have three years to spend receipts from the quarter the receipts were received in, meaning they have four separate deadlines for spending receipts in each year.
“Moving to a five-year timeframe plus annual pooling will make it much easier for local authorities to plan their expenditure and for the department to administer the process”.
- Sleep-in shifts legal battle ends
Date: 19 Mar 2021
A long-running legal challenge by care workers over pay worth £400m has been rejected by the Supreme Court. Justice Lady Arden ruled that workers should not be paid the minimum wage for hours they are asleep during sleep-in shifts. The judgement brings to an end an uneasy four years for care providers since a 2017 tribunal ruled in favour of carer Clare Tomlinson-Blake. Providers had feared they would face an estimated £400m bill for six years of back pay.
- Schools missing out on millions
Date: 19 Mar 2021
Schools are missing out on millions of pounds in funding due to a shift in eligibility dates. A total of £1,345 or more is awarded for each primary school pupil receiving free school meals, but the Department for Education announced last year that eligibility for the funding would be based on the school census in October 2020 rather than January as in previous years. However, a survey by the National Association of Head Teachers found that the number of students claiming free school meals rose considerably after the October deadline. Cllr Judith Blake, Chair of the LGA’s Children and Young People Board, said: “Schools need certainty that they will not lose out as soon as possible.”
- Special needs support in schools
Date: 19 Mar 2021
Children with special needs and disabilities in England are less likely to receive support if they are from poorer areas or attend academy schools, a study from the Education Policy Institute found. The report observed that the approach among schools and regions in how they identify children as having special education needs and disabilities (SEND) varied, with those the most vulnerable, frequently absent from school or moved around a lot less likely to be identified.
- Hancock unveils £7bn funding boost for NHS and social care
Date: 19 Mar 2021
The Government has announced an extra £341m for infection control measures and rapid testing in adult social care services.The funding is part of a wider £7bn package for NHS and social care services to support the next phase of the response to COVID-19.
The package includes £594m ring-fenced funding to continue the hospital discharge programme and an additional £87m to provide enhanced discharge from inpatient mental health care.
Health and social care secretary, Matt Hancock, said: 'I can announce £341m to support adult social care with the costs of infection prevention control and testing that will make sure visits are safe for everyone.
- Schools and hospitals face 'serious disruptions' as PFI contracts end
Date: 19 Mar 2021
Vital public assets such as roads, schools and hospitals will face 'serious disruption' if Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contracts expire without a plan in place, MPs have warned today. A new report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) warned the Government had failed to prepare for the massive transfer of public assets when these contracts end.
The report shows there are around 700 contracts in place, looking after assets worth £60bn. It warns that any 'mismanagement' of the expiry process could result in large sums of taxpayer’s money being wasted. Public authorities could also be left with huge bills for rectification work which the PFI company has already been paid to do, the report said.
- Exclusive: Districts question fairness of reorganisation consultation process
Date: 19 Mar 2021
District councils in North Yorkshire, Cumbria and Somerset where consultations on local government reorganisation are under way have complained that they feel sidelined by the government's approach to the process.
LGC has seen a letter sent this week from Bill Cullen, chair of the District Councils’ Network chief executive group, to Paul Rowsell, head of the governance reform and democracy unit at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, urging him to take “action to ensure parity”.
Districts are said to be aggrieved that in all three consultations, the ‘named consultees’ put forward by government, whose opinions carry more weight in the final outcome of the consultation, are predominantly made up of bodies they feel are predisposed to be favourable to county councils’ cases for larger unitary authorities.
- Marsham Street told to improve transparency
Date: 19 Mar 2021
The Ministry of Housing ,Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has come under fire from finance watchdogs for a lack of transparency. Government officials told the Public Accounts Committee they were ‘comfortable’ with the level of information sharing with the National Audit Office (NAO) in its recent report on sector finances.
However, the NAO’s outgoing director of local government, Aileen Murphie, told the committee: ‘It wasn’t possible for us to understand the full picture of financial stress in the sector or evaluate how effective the department was being in addressing it without knowing the level of demand for exceptional support.
'The department has not yet found a way of being more transparent about the level of financial stress.'
- Social care leaders warn of funding 'cliff edge'
Date: 18 Mar 2021
Leading care organisations in England are warning of a "cliff edge" when emergency funding to support infection control and visits during the pandemic runs out in two weeks.
Some providers fear the financial pressure could force them to close.
They say the budget was a missed chance to tackle the short- and long-term funding crisis in adult social care.
- IFS: Local government cuts set to be far worse than expected
Date: 18 Mar 2021
Future cuts to local government funding could potentially be significantly worse than previously expected, according to Institute for Fiscal Studies analysis.
The IFS today says that plans announced in this year’s Budget were expected to amount to a real-terms cut of around 1% for ‘unprotected’ departments, which include the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, between 2021-22 and 2022-23.
But the institute says these figures do not account for the Barnett formula, which is used to calculate block grants for the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
When this is accounted for, the scale of planned cuts for unprotected departments “is in fact more like 3% in real terms”, says the IFS.
- Size of Slough and Copeland loans revealed as support package hits £287m
Date: 18 Mar 2021
The government has revealed more details of the "exceptional support" packages it is delivering to nine councils, which will amount to £287m over two years.
Two districts, two London boroughs, four unitaries and one metropolitan borough will receive a total of £149.5m this financial year and £137.5m next year in the most dramatic support package specifically for struggling councils that has been seen in many years.
Slough and Copeland BCs have sealed deals with government worth £15.2m and £1.5m respectively in capitalisation loans covering the next financial year.
This comes on top of similar loans to Bexley and Croydon LBCs, Eastbourne DC, Luton BC, Peterborough and Nottingham city councils and Wirral MBC, which have already been reported.
- Jenrick announces £212m pot to tackle rough sleeping
Date: 18 Mar 2021
Local authorities have been invited to bid for a share of a multi-million-pound fund which is aimed at providing people sleeping rough with secure, long-term accommodation.
Housing secretary Robert Jenrick today announced that £212m will be invested in delivering 6,000 new homes by the end of this Parliament with the aim of ‘ending rough sleeping once and for all.’
- 1.4% funding rise for council health services labelled `inadequate'
Date: 18 Mar 2021
Spending on local health services, including local contact tracing for coronavirus infections, will rise by 1.4 per cent from next month. The increase amounts to £45 million extra for 2021/22 and is equivalent to a 24 per cent cut in real terms to local health budgets since 2015, which have dropped from £4.2 billion in 2015/16 to £3.3 billion now. The rise has been described as "inadequate" by health experts.
- COVID-19 shows need to reform, fire service told
Date: 18 Mar 2021
The pandemic has shown that “significant” reform of the fire service in England is needed “now more than ever”, according to the chief inspector of fire and rescue services. Sir Thomas Winsor found there were too many “barriers impeding the efficiency and effectiveness of services” and said that more needed to be done to address “outdated” and inflexible working arrangements.
- Pandemic forces finance reform rethink
Date: 17 Mar 2021
Whitehall plans for local government finance reform were thrown into doubt this week after civil servants indicated the pandemic would force them to rethink. Proposals for 75% business rates retention and the results of a fair funding review, which were originally due to be introduced in 2020-21, were last year delayed for a second time until at least 2022-23 to ‘allow councils to focus on meeting the immediate public health challenge posed by the pandemic’.
A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) spokesperson was unable to confirm that the reforms would definitely take place.
- Safer Streets fund doubled to £45m in wake of Sarah Everard death
Date: 16 Mar 2021
The Safer Streets fund, which provides neighbourhood measures such as better lighting and CCTV, is to be doubled to £45 million as part of a series of "immediate steps" to improve security and “give assurance” to women and girls in the wake of Sarah Everard’s death. Following a meeting of the Government's Crime and Justice Taskforce, Downing Street said undercover police could also be sent to clubs, bars and popular nightspots to relay intelligence about predatory or suspicious offenders to uniformed officers, in pilots of so-called Project Vigilant, rolled out across the country.
- Major review aims to transform children’s lives in England
Date: 16 Mar 2021
The new Children’s Commissioner for England has launched a root and branch review aimed at improving all aspects of children’s lives, from mental health to schooling, poverty and career prospects. Dame Rachel de Souza said the independent Childhood Commission was a “once in a generation” chance to put children’s welfare and life chances at the heart of the country’s policy agenda, as it looks to recover economically from the coronavirus pandemic.
- Services at risk unless NHS England gets £8bn extra funding within days
Date: 16 Mar 2021
Hospitals will have to start cutting services unless the NHS gets £8bn of extra funding within days, health service leaders are warning ministers.
The NHS will not be able to tackle the huge backlog of surgery that has built up during the pandemic unless it gets the money to cover additional costs resulting from Covid, hospital bosses say.
The Treasury and NHS England are involved in a standoff over the service’s demand for the cash, which is still unresolved with just 16 days to go until the start of the 2021-22 financial year.
- Net zero 'not enough' to combat climate change, Environment Agency warns
Date: 16 Mar 2021
Focusing efforts on reducing emissions will not be enough to stop the climate change emergency, the Environment Agency chief executive has warned.
Sir James Bevan said "even with the ambitious global and national actions we all want to see to reduce emissions, some further climate change is now inevitable".
He added: "That is why as a nation we need to be climate ready so that we are resilient to the future hazards and potential shocks that would otherwise impact our economy, our prosperity, and our lifestyle."
- UK vaccination surge expected in coming days
Date: 16 Mar 2021
UK experts say there will be a big increase in the number of people being offered Covid vaccinations in the coming days.
The number of shots given is expected to top 4 million this week, nearly double what has been achieved per week recently, NHS sources say.
It should mean all over 50s will have been given at least one dose by the end of the month.
- E-scooters are coming to a street near you amid surging demand
Date: 16 Mar 2021
The number of electric scooters operating on urban streets is set to soar by as much as two-thirds in the coming months because of huge demand.
Talks are taking place between the country’s biggest e-scooter rental company and the government over the deployment of thousands of additional machines by the summer.
It is understood that the number could grow by as much as 75 per cent in some areas.
- Half of local audits late as NAO calls for reform
Date: 16 Mar 2021
The National Audit Office has demanded "clear leadership from government" in ending delays to council audits after confirming that less than half of council financial audits for 2019-20 were completed on time.
Fifty-five percent of audit opinions were not issued by the 30 November 2020 deadline , despite the deadline being extended four months due to the pandemic by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, an NAO report out today reveals, describing the delays as “concerning”.
The 45% completion rate is down from 57% in 2018-19 and 95% in 2015-16.
- Whitehall to pilot place-based approach to local government
Date: 16 Mar 2021
The former head of the civil service Lord Kerslake has told LGC he “applauds the ambition” of Whitehall’s attempts to break down departmental silos, as a new pilot project emerges which aims to evaluate how Whitehall can be more joined up for local government.
The pilot is part of a series of cross-departmental projects which are intended to drive greater Whitehall integration through a shared outcomes fund. The fund was launched with little fanfare in the 2019 spending review with a £46m pilot for new approaches to supporting adults with complex needs, and will be worth £200m in 2021-22.
- Kerslake: Levelling up set to become ‘synonymous with pork barrel politics’
Date: 16 Mar 2021
Former civil service chief Lord Bob Kerslake has said ministers' decision-making on 'levelling up' is damaging trust and credibility in the institutions of government and risk making the issue “synonymous with pork barrel politics”.
In an LGC interview, Lord Kerslake (Crossbench) said there was "no innocent explanation" for why the levelling up fund had been allocated to many apparently richer places, many of them with Conservative MPs.
- Third wave of Covid in autumn is inevitable, says ONS chief Sir Ian Diamond
Date: 15 Mar 2021
The national statistician has warned of a further wave of Covid-19 infections in autumn despite strong early evidence of vaccine protection.
Sir Ian Diamond, head of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), said that although the case rate was the lowest since September it was still much higher than last summer when the first lockdown was lifted.
The latest ONS survey found that the infection rate in England was 0.37 per cent, equal to about 6,000 cases a day, compared with 0.04 per cent last summer when it was deemed safe enough to lift the first lockdown.
- Boris Johnson unveils £3bn bus revolution in ‘act of levelling up’
Date: 15 Mar 2021
Buses will be more frequent, cheaper, greener and easier to use thanks to a £3 billion revolution, the Government has said.
The Prime Minister is unveiling a shake-up of the bus sector which aims to see lower, simpler flat fares in towns and cities, turn-up-and-go services on main routes, and new flexible services to reconnect communities.
The Department for Transport (DfT) said the strategy will see passengers across England benefiting from more frequent, more reliable, easier to use, better coordinated and cheaper bus services.
- Councils welcome boost to COVID Winter Grant Scheme
Date: 15 Mar 2021
Council leaders have welcomed the £59m funding boost to the COVID Winter Grant Scheme to help support vulnerable families over the Easter period.
The Government has announced the scheme will now run until 16 April to enable councils to provide low-income families with grants to buy food and pay for essential bills.
The Local Government Association (LGA) welcomed the extension but warned a long-term solution to tackle poverty is needed.
- Fresh council warning over rates appeals
Date: 15 Mar 2021
Councils have warned they could face financial collapse if potential cuts to business rates go ahead.
Up to 350,000 businesses across a wide range of sectors - including offices, retail, airports, stadiums, car parks and factories - are thought to have started the process to claim for material change of circumstances business rates appeals after being hit by repeated coronavirus lockdowns.
In a letter to local government secretary Robert Jenrick, Nottinghamshire councils warned they would need ‘significant financial support’ for the next two financial years ‘if they are to avoid the issuing of s114 notices in the future’.
- Boris Johnson launches £3bn ‘greener bus revolution’ to improve services
Date: 15 Mar 2021
Ministers have announced new plans to make England’s buses more frequent, cheaper, greener and easier to use as part of the government’s ongoing “levelling up” agenda.
The strategy, which is backed by £3bn of investment, is intended to encourage existing and prospective passengers to choose buses over cars with the promise of better coordinated services across the country.
Turn-up-and-go services will be introduced on main routes, while operators and local councils will be asked to enter into statutory “enhanced partnerships”, or franchising agreements, before they can receive the new funding – putting an end to the commercialised bus market that has operated outside London since 1986.
- Reform urged for outdated council tax that hits poor hardest
Date: 14 Mar 2021
The current council tax system is a “wealth tax” on poorer parts of Britain and is in urgent need of a comprehensive overhaul, according to a coalition of academics and thinktanks from across the political divide.
The crudity of the system means there are eight parliamentary constituencies in which the average household pays no more than 0.2% of their home’s value in council tax. However, there are 41 constituencies in the north and Midlands in which the average household’s council tax burden is 1% or higher.
In Easington, County Durham, when the charge is measured against the average cost of a home, some are paying as much as three times the rate of council tax.
- Council Tax hikes to see some baseline household bills exceed £2,000 for first time
Date: 12 Mar 2021
People living in band D council tax properties in the north east and the south west of England could see their bills exceed the £2,000 mark for the first time, a survey has suggested.
Local authorities across the UK are set to raise the amount of tax they claim in April, with research from the Daily Mirror suggesting two thirds of all major UK councils will put a 5 per cent increase on the levy going into the new financial year.
The chancellor gave local authorities the ability to add a 5 per cent hike in the budget, up from the previous cap of 2 per cent unless a higher rate was agreed by a referendum.
- Only 60% of care home workers vaccinated in one part of UK as progress stagnates
Date: 12 Mar 2021
Only about 60% of care home workers in London have been vaccinated against COVID-19, while progress across England appears to be stagnating.
Analysis by Sky News has found take up rates ranging between 59.9% in the capital, and 77.7% in the North East and Yorkshire.
The NHS England data covers staff who have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine in the last four weeks.
- Where are elections happening on 6 May and why do they matter? [OPINION]
Date: 11 Mar 2021
Elections may be the last thing on Britons’ minds as the country emerges from the coronavirus pandemic and the prospect of summer holidays beckons.
But in just a few weeks most of the country is facing polls which could have a fundamental impact not only on the political direction of the 2020s but on the future of the UK itself.
- Income losses drive 11% jump in net council expenditure
Date: 11 Mar 2021
Councils’ net spending was 11% higher in the nine months to December than the same period last year, according to data compiled by the Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government.
Total local authority spending in the first three quarters of 2021-22 was £77.9bn, £7.9bn higher than in April-December last year, according to local authority outturn data published today.
The rise was partly fuelled by an 89% increase in net spending on economic affairs, which includes transport and maintenance services, to £6.1bn up from £3.2bn in the previous year.
- Council to consider capitalisation direction offer
Date: 11 Mar 2021
A capitalisation direction to be considered by Nottingham City Council on Friday will be used to spread losses from its failed energy company which left a £38m hole in council finances.
The council originally applied for the capitalisation direction in December, to help manage losses from its wholly-owned energy firm Robin Hood Energy over a “number of years”, and reduce reliance of reserves.
It is understood that the council has received a response from the government over the £35m direction request, and is assessing the conditions of the agreement before a committee votes on the support on Friday afternoon.
- LGA forced to pay back £1m in unused grant
Date: 11 Mar 2021
The Local Government Association (LGA) will have to pay back around £1m in unused cash to central government as part of a deal struck on its top slice funding.
The association was awarded £19.2m in 2020-21 for its sector led improvement.
However, the cost of delivery has been cut by the pandemic as there has little in the way of travel and hotel expenses for the past year. That cash will now be clawed back by central government.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is poised to sign its next annual deal with the LGA, which will see a 10% cut to funding for 2021-22, taking the grant down to £17.3m.
- Levelling-up ‘losing its way’
Date: 11 Mar 2021
The Government’s methods of levelling-up are further dividing rather than uniting the country, it has been claimed.
Local leaders warned the House of Lords' Public Services Committee the process would not deliver the desired results.
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said levelling-up ‘really is the right theme for the times we are living in’ but competitive bidding schemes such as the Towns Fund were not the way to achieve the policy.
- MPs condemn Government’s ‘staggering’ cost of programme that failed to stop spread of Covid-19
Date: 10 Mar 2021
The Government’s vast £23bn Test and Trace system has made “no measurable difference” on the Covid pandemic and failed to prevent two national lockdowns, MPs have concluded.
In a damning report on the performance of the NHS Test and Trace (NHST&T) scheme, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has accused the Government of treating the taxpayer like an “ATM machine”, branding the sums of money spent on the programme as “staggering”.
It is the latest attack aimed at the Government’s test and trace system, which had been previously heralded by Boris Johnson to be “world-beating”.
- Local authority test and trace ‘hampered’ by limited funding
Date: 10 Mar 2021
Councils’ ability to handle Covid-19 test and trace responsibilities have been hampered by a lack of clarity on funding levels, according to the Public Accounts Committee.
In a report on NHS Test and Trace, the Department of Health and Social Care said that it had provided a total of £925m to councils for test and trace activities since early summer.
However, evidence submitted by the National Audit Office and the Local Government Association highlighted a lack of clarity about whether and how much funding was available to local authorities.
- Warning over photo ID law change for UK-wide and English elections
Date: 09 Mar 2021
Changing the law to force people to show photo ID to take part in UK elections will be catastrophic for ethnic minority communities, increasing barriers to access and in effect disenfranchising them, equality and democracy campaigners have warned.
Boris Johnson’s government is expected to introduce a bill in the spring to make photo ID mandatory from 2023 for all UK-wide and English elections. But critics argue it is unnecessary, given low levels of voter fraud in the UK, and will disproportionately impact ethnic minority and working-class communities.
There was only one conviction for “personation” fraud, which voter ID is meant to prevent, in the UK in 2019.
- Child abuse laws to be expanded in England and Wales
Date: 09 Mar 2021
Sports coaches and faith leaders who have sexual relationships with 16 and 17-year-olds in their care will be breaking the law under new legislation planned for England and Wales.
The move would put them on par with roles like teachers and social workers. Children's charity the NSPCC said it was a "landmark step" for the protection of young people.
It is among a raft of measures included in a bill which is due to be introduced in Parliament later.
- Air quality soars in school streets that banished cars
Date: 09 Mar 2021
Closing roads around schools to traffic at pick-up and drop-off times has cut toxic nitrogen dioxide levels by up to 23 per cent, research has found.
Pollution sensors were installed at 18 primary schools in the London boroughs of Brent, Enfield and Lambeth in September. Half had introduced “school streets” in which traffic was temporarily banned and the other half had no restrictions.
The biggest difference was found at Kingfisher Hall Primary Academy in Enfield, where parent volunteers operated traffic barriers from 8.15 to 9.15am and 2.45 to 3.45pm, Monday to Friday.
- NAO: Local authority finances a ‘concern’ amid funding gap
Date: 09 Mar 2021
Councils still face a funding gap of more than £600m this financial year due to Covid-19, despite huge government support for the sector, the National Audit Office has found.
A report from the watchdog into the cost of the pandemic felt by local government found that the combined impact on spending and non-tax income in 2020-21 is £9.7bn – equivalent to 17.6% of revenue expenditure.
So far the government has announced £9.1bn of financial support, leaving a deficit of £605m, the NAO said.
- A tale of two Budgets?
Date: 09 Mar 2021
The chancellor’s Budget last week was never going to deliver what local government needs – a sustainable long-term finance solution that addresses the multiple issues of soaring adult social care costs, unsustainable business rates and increasingly ludicrous council taxes.
Instead, it offered a quick fix to bail out the economy until September – hopefully seeing the country through the worst of the pandemic – and a promise to start getting the UK’s bank balance back on track.
Councils, fresh from the finance settlement, will have to wait until the second half of the year to see if the chancellor searches down the back of the Treasury sofa for a top up, as Mr Sunak continues on the long tradition of short-term, piecemeal, bid-based funding for the sector.
- Children who receive false positive Covid tests at school to be banned from class for 10 days
Date: 08 Mar 2021
Children who receive false positives when tested at school will still be told to self-isolate and will be banned from the classroom for 10 days, the Government has said
- Boris Johnson urges caution as England schools to reopen
Date: 07 Mar 2021
Boris Johnson has said the country is starting to move towards a sense of "normality" as schools in England get ready to open to more pupils on Monday.
The PM has urged the public to stick to the rules as the government follows a "cautious" approach to easing lockdown.
Monday marks the first step of the "roadmap" out of national restrictions. But the UK's largest education union has accused the government of failing to put adequate safety measures in place ahead of schools reopening.
- Concern quick-result tests on pupils will give too many false positives
Date: 07 Mar 2021
Children may be wrongly kept off school because there is a risk that the "majority" of positive cases detected by the Government's lateral flow tests "could be false positives", experts have warned.
- People aged 56 to 59 in England invited to book in for a coronavirus jab from next week
Date: 07 Mar 2021
People aged 56 to 59 in England are being invited to book in for a COVID jab, as the NHS vaccination programme continues to gather pace.
Letters sent to 850,000 people in the age bracket began arriving on Saturday, with another 850,000 expected to arrive on Monday.
It comes after more than eight in 10 people aged between 65 and 69 took up the offer of a jab.
- All businesses in England to be given rapid coronavirus tests free of charge
Date: 06 Mar 2021
COVID test kits will be made available free of charge to small firms as well as larger companies, in a move aimed at giving employers and staff peace of mind.
All businesses in England, including those with fewer than 50 employees, will be able to sign up to the government's free COVID-19 workplace testing programme.
Tests in big companies are already under way but as part of the roadmap out of lockdown restrictions, businesses of all sizes can now register online to order free lateral flow tests for employees.
- Households face paying £100 a year more in council tax
Date: 06 Mar 2021
Council tax bills will increase by £1.8 billion from April under new rules that allow local authorities to put up rates without consultation, official forecasts have shown.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) estimates that two thirds of councils will increase their taxes by the maximum 5 per cent, costing households up to £100 a year. Over five years bills will increase by a total of about £7.5 billion.
In November the government loosened rules on the amount that local authorities could charge. Previously, any council wanting to increase taxes by more than 2 per cent would have to hold a referendum. That limit has been increased to 5 per cent.
- Mental health money for children's services
Date: 06 Mar 2021
Money to support children and young people's mental health after the "disruption" of the pandemic has been cautiously welcomed.
It is part of a £500m pot for mental health services across the board, announced in November.
The government confirmed £79m would be allocated to support children in school and in the community.
- UK Covid deaths and infections fall by a third in a week with 236 fatalities and 5,947 cases in last 24 hours
Date: 05 Mar 2021
The number of Covid deaths and infections in the UK has fallen by a third in a week with 236 fatalities and 5,947 cases recorded in the last 24 hours.
It is the biggest week-on-week drop since the second wave peak of the pandemic. Last Friday, 8,523 cases and 346 deaths were reported.
The dropping death toll raises hopes Brits are past the darkest time of the virus.
- UK 'well-equipped' to stay ahead of Covid variants, says top scientist
Date: 05 Mar 2021
A top scientist says the UK is "well-equipped" to stay ahead of Covid variants amid hopes for a better summer.
Professor Sharon Peacock, head of the Covid-19 Genomics UK scientific body, says new strains of coronavirus are “very unlikely to send us back to square one”.
Instead, the scientist is hopeful that things will be better by summer with vaccines adapting quickly to different variants.
- NHS may face a million long Covid patients after pandemic
Date: 05 Mar 2021
Senior doctors are braced for up to a million people needing treatment for long Covid after the pandemic, putting huge extra pressure on an already overstretched NHS, the Guardian can reveal.
Long Covid is a significant problem affecting huge numbers of patients that will confront the NHS for many years to come, one of the service’s expert advisers on the fast-emerging condition said.
Signs are already emerging that the health service is having trouble keeping up with the demand for care created by the sheer number of patients who are still displaying symptoms such as exhaustion, brain fog, chest pains and breathing problems months after having Covid.
- DCN bids to attract unitaries with new offer
Date: 04 Mar 2021
The District Councils’ Network (DCN) will create a new category of membership in a bid to keep new unitaries within the association, The MJ has learnt.
West Northamptonshire and North Northamptonshire – the two new unitaries being created to replace the county and its seven districts – are understood to have informally approached DCN with a view to joining.
The separate unitary membership would include access to the full range of DCN services, events, training and support though these councils would not influence the overall political balance of the organisation.
- Cautious continuity Budget indicates a lack of post-Covid vision [OPINION]
Date: 04 Mar 2021
The chancellor’s Budget promised much. This was the opportunity for Rishi Sunak to plot the UK’s way out of the economic challenges posed by Covid-19 and Brexit. In the event, so much had been leaked in advance that there were few surprises. Indeed, the most surprising element in the speech and accompanying documents was the overall sense that not much had happened.
Brexit was not mentioned once in the Budget ‘red book’. The government has clearly decided the economy will adjust now the transition period is finally over: companies that go to the wall will simply be part of the restructuring necessary now a sea of paperwork separates Dover and Calais – and, indeed, Holyhead and Dublin. New opportunities may await exporters, but the chancellor did not explicitly announce policies to help them.
- Sunak’s Budget focuses on growth – but little mention of public services
Date: 03 Mar 2021
A new £12bn national infrastructure bank was announced by chancellor Rishi Sunak in a Budget billed as being pro-business but offering little for public services.
Mr Sunak announced a series of measures to help the national economy bounce back, including £1bn for town deals, and the locations of eight freeports. He also announced a further business rates holiday, for which councils will be compensated.
And there was extra support for towns, with £1bn for 45 new town deals, and the National Infrastructure Fund being asked to produce a report on how infrastructure can best support economic prosperity and quality of life in towns, focusing on transport and digital infrastructure in particular.
- NHS reforms risk sowing confusion and undermining safety, MPs warned
Date: 02 Mar 2021
A bid for more control over the NHS by ministers risks undermining patient safety and sowing confusion over who is ultimately responsible for services, MPs have been warned.
The Commons Health Select Committee was told the proposals, set out in a new white paper published last month, lacked detail on the involvement of patients in local services and needed urgent clarification of the new powers the health secretary will have.
The plans will give ministers new powers over the independent Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB), including being able to tell it what to investigate and the power to remove protections for NHS staff who give evidence in secret.
- A £150k semi-detached home that pays more tax than a £77m mansion: That's just one of the injustices in the council tax postcode lottery
Date: 02 Mar 2021
One is a £77.5million eight-bedroom luxury mansion in one of London's most exclusive postcodes.
The other is a modest family home in County Durham on the market for £150,000. Yet the owners of the three-bedroom semi-detached home in the village of Lanchester have to pay £1,794 in council tax every year.
Whereas the millionaires whose grand Belgravia property is worth 500 times more have to pay just £1,560.
- Unison call for election safety measures
Date: 01 Mar 2021
The Government needs to implement strict measures in May’s local elections to keep staff safe, trade union Unison urged today.
Unison called for action and assurances to ensure polling stations do not become hotspots for infection in a letter to communities secretary Robert Jenrick and the Local Government Association (LGA).
Councils were told by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government last week that they would need to buy equipment for the protection of staff, voters and others at polling stations, postal vote openings and counts.
- ‘levelling up is levelling down for London’
Date: 01 Mar 2021
The departing leader of Islington LBC has warned the government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda and limitations on local democratic leaders of place are badly impacting on his borough.
Richard Watts (Lab) announced his intention to stand down in May after eight years of leading the London borough, telling party colleagues in a message last week: “I have found the challenges of the pandemic intense and at points draining.”
In an LGC interview he spoke both about his reasons for standing down and the future threats to Islington, in particular ‘levelling up’ which “seems to be in fact a levelling down in London”.
- Encourage unemployed to staff polling stations, says Cabinet Office
Date: 01 Mar 2021
The Cabinet Office has recommended that councils encourage unemployed people to step in to plug a staffing gap for May's local elections.
The move comes as a trade union warns of the risk of polling stations becoming “hotspots for infection spread” if new staff are drafted in without adequate precautions.
A letter from Ellen Atkinson, the department’s director for constitution, says it can help councils “tap into new sources of staff” by providing access to Job Centre customers, as well as civil servants from elsewhere in government, and young people in the National Citizen Service (NCS) network.
- Election campaigning allowed from 8 March
Date: 01 Mar 2021
Individual activists will be allowed to deliver leaflets and canvass voters outdoors from 8 March in the run up to the English local elections.
The new Government guidance will allow one-to-one campaigning outdoors as long as it is conducted in a COVID-secure way.
Campaigners have been reminded of the need to be socially distanced, wear face coverings and sanitise their hands.
- 'Now is not the time for tax rises', say MPs
Date: 01 Mar 2021
Now is "not the time for tax rises" as they could undermine the UK's economic recovery from Covid - but they may be needed at a later date, MPs have said.
Ahead of the Budget announcement on Wednesday, a Treasury Committee report says public finances are on an "unsustainable long-term trajectory".
It says some tax rises may not harm recovery, but advises against others. The committee's chairman, Mel Stride, told the BBC it was "almost inevitable" that some tax rises would occur.
- PM has 'no doubt' about strong jobs recovery
Date: 01 Mar 2021
The prime minister says he has "no doubt" there will be a strong jobs-led recovery from coronavirus.
Mr Johnson said it had "been expensive" to look after everyone during the pandemic and the chancellor would be "frank" about state of the economy in Wednesday's Budget.
45 Conservative MPs have urged Mr Sunak to cut business rates in England to help "save the High Streets".
- Households of school aged children eligible for rapid COVID tests
Date: 01 Mar 2021
All households of school aged children will get two rapid tests per person, per week, the Department of Health and Social Care has announced.
Families and households with primary school, secondary school and college age children, including childcare and support bubbles, will be able to test themselves twice every week from home as schools return from 8 March.
The Government’s roadmap, which aims to lead the country out of the national lockdown, will begin by trying to help all children and students return to face to face education in schools and college from 8 March.
- End Covid payments delay, says struggling events industry
Date: 01 Mar 2021
Local and national government have been urged to work together to tackle delays in paying emergency grants that were announced in October.
The Event Industry Alliance has written to Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, and Mark Lloyd, chief executive of the Local Government Association, to highlight “a very worrying trend of delayed payments by councils to businesses urgently in need of support”.
The group, which represents event organisers, venues and suppliers, asked for the government and local authorities to “urgently investigate” the latest position of grant payments and to “ensure clear guidance and assistance is given to ensure councils are able to release these funds to eligible businesses without delay”.
- Councils underspend £62m of childcare funding
Date: 01 Mar 2021
Nearly three-quarters (74%) of local education authorities reported underspending their funding for three-and-four-year-old childcare places in 2019-20, according to information collected by the National Day Nurseries Association.
A total of £62m was left unspent, it said.
- Government considers pubs plan that would see alcohol duty frozen
Date: 28 Feb 2021
The Government has discussed a giveaway for pubs which would see the business rates holiday extended and all alcohol duty frozen....
- Vaccinating by age not job 'will save the most lives' - Hancock
Date: 27 Feb 2021
The UK's decision not to prioritise key workers such as teachers or police officers for a Covid jab is "the moral thing to do" and will "save the most lives", the health secretary has said.
Matt Hancock confirmed the second phase of the vaccine rollout would follow expert advice to focus on age groups.
More than one in three adults in the UK have now had their first jab. One of England's top medics said Covid death rates were lower for teachers than several other professions.
- Coronavirus levels 'burning quite hot' in some of UK
Date: 27 Feb 2021
Some areas of the UK are "burning quite hot" with rising levels of new coronavirus infections, England's deputy chief medical officer says.
Although coronavirus levels are still decreasing across much of the UK, there are hotspots that buck the trend.
These are in the Midlands and east and west coast of England and some parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland.
- Rishi Sunak to inject £126m to boost traineeship scheme
Date: 27 Feb 2021
Chancellor Rishi Sunak is set to announce a £126m boost for traineeships in England in his Budget on Wednesday.
The scheme will include a new "flexi-job" apprenticeship that will enable apprentices to work with a number of different employers in one sector.
Unemployment is at its highest level in almost five years, with younger and typically lower-paid workers bearing the brunt of job losses.
- Compulsory jabs for care staff supported by Robert Buckland
Date: 27 Feb 2021
A senior cabinet minister has backed “no jab, no job” proposals from care homes as figures showed nearly one in three staff have not been vaccinated.
Robert Buckland, the justice secretary, said there was an “obvious rationale” for social care groups to introduce the policy in light of fears about vaccine hesitancy among care home workers. Only 6 per cent of residents are yet to have received a jab.
There are signs of particularly low uptake among carers in London, where 45 per cent of staff have not yet been vaccinated. Almost half of domiciliary care workers who look after people in their homes have not received the vaccine either. All carers have been offered a vaccine.
- If we don't reform social care now, when will we?
Date: 27 Feb 2021
The social care sector has borne the brunt of Covid-19 in many different and terrible ways. Some 28,000 care home residents have died from the virus since the pandemic began.
Nearly 500 brave care workers have given their lives doing much under-appreciated and usually low-paid jobs. Families have been unable to visit their relatives for months on end, losing touch with loved ones with dementia who may never recognise them again.
- Treasury officials are likely to find themselves in Darlington
Date: 27 Feb 2021
Darlington is the most likely location for the Treasury’s new northern base.
Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, will decide this weekend on where to place a new Treasury campus in the north of England — a central part of the government’s plan to decentralise the civil service.
He is under pressure from colleagues to opt for the railway town of Darlington on Teesside, one of the areas the Tories won from Labour in 2019.
- Major cities falling well behind in UK's bid to vaccinate its way out of lockdown
Date: 26 Feb 2021
The 15 areas of England to have vaccinated the lowest proportion of adults against COVID-19 are all in London.
In some boroughs, including Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Newham, just one in five adults have received a single dose of a vaccine, according to NHS England data up to 25 February.
Other cities including Nottingham and Manchester also have low vaccination rates.
- Green homes grant will meet only tiny fraction of target in England
Date: 26 Feb 2021
The government’s flagship green homes grant scheme will help just 8% of its target 600,000 households switch to renewable energy by the end of March, analysis reveals.
The £2bn for the scheme is being withdrawn at the end of next month. Analysis by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit thinktank reveals that at the current rate it will issue vouchers to just 49,000 members of the public by that time.
This equates to an annual carbon saving of 26,000 tonnes, or 0.4% of UK residential sector emissions.
- MPs investigate ditching smart motorways
Date: 26 Feb 2021
MPs have launched an investigation into the safety of smart motorways, after a coroner said they created an "ongoing risk" of death.
In 2019, 14 people reportedly died on the roads - on which hard shoulders can become driving lanes at peak congestion times, or on a permanent basis.
The Transport Committee is looking at whether they should go altogether or need better safety measures.
- Councils to provide grocery shopping to stop people breaking Covid self-isolation rules
Date: 26 Feb 2021
People forced to self-isolate with coronavirus will be given help with day to day chores, such as food shopping and care provision for family members, under a shake up of the Government’s test and trace programme.
Rishi Sunak is expected to announce millions in additional funding for local authorities to provide extra assistance to ensure people remain at home when asked to self-isolate in his Budget next week.
It follows growing concerns within the government over the persistent failure to ensure people remain in quarantine when they test positive for Covid-19 or if they come into contact with someone who has.
- Sunak to use budget to start repairing UK's public finances
Date: 26 Feb 2021
Rishi Sunak will use the volatility in global financial markets to ram home a budget message next week that immediate action is needed to repair the damage to the public finances caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Despite the deep downturn caused by the third nationwide lockdown in England, the chancellor – who has been closely monitoring market moves – will announce the first steps towards reducing the biggest peacetime deficit in Britain’s history.
Measures to reduce the gap between government tax income and spending are expected to include lifting the corporation tax rate to 23% from the current rate of 19% over the parliament, and increasing capital gains tax.
- Doorstep campaigning for local elections to resume in England
Date: 26 Feb 2021
Door-to-door political campaigning will be allowed to resume in England from 8 March in the run-up to local elections in May, the government has announced.
Activists will be permitted to stand on people’s doorsteps and canvass as long as they abide by the 2-metre social distancing rule.
They will not be able to enter people’s homes and should only access shared hallways in blocks of flats where “absolutely necessary”. The new advice also urges organisers to keep the number of campaigners to a minimum.
- How ministers are planning to seize control of policy from Public Health England
Date: 26 Feb 2021
Ministers plan to take more control of public health once Public Health England is disbanded, raising concerns about the growing centralisation of healthcare during the coronavirus pandemic.
Policies on smoking, air quality, obesity and mental health will be directed from Whitehall rather than by a specialist public health body under proposals set to be unveiled next month, Sky News has learned.
The plans were disclosed last Friday in a staff meeting hosted by senior leaders at Public Health England (PHE) and Test and Trace, a recording of which has been passed to Sky News.
- Single Pfizer vaccine dose could be enough for people who have had Covid, studies show
Date: 26 Feb 2021
One dose of the Pfizer vaccine could be enough to protect millions of people who have already had Covid, research by Public Health England suggests....
- School closures risk 'permanent scarring' to children, adviser warns
Date: 26 Feb 2021
School closures risk "permanent scarring", the president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has warned. ...
- Councils' loans legal action fails
Date: 26 Feb 2021
Councils are considering whether to appeal after a High Court judge threw out a bid to sue Barclays over a number of loans.
The bank asked Mrs Justice Cockerill to strike out the case brought by Greater Manchester Combined Authority, North East Lincolnshire Council, Newham LBC, Oldham MBC, and Leeds, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield city councils.
Councils had claimed their lender option borrower option loans, issued between September 2006 and November 2008, had been ‘tainted’ by the Libor rigging scandal.
- MPs call for review of local authority flood funding
Date: 26 Feb 2021
The Government needs a better understanding of whether funding allocated to local authorities to prevent flooding is matching local risks, MPs have warned.
A new report from the Public Accounts Committee warned increased housing development and the impact of climate change will continue to increase the UK’s flood risks.
MPs found that local authorities were being forced to spend more on managing local flood risks than they were allocated through the funding formula.
- New Levelling Up Fund using money diverted from Towns Fund
Date: 25 Feb 2021
New government 'levelling up' projects are being funded partly by diverting money originally earmarked for the Towns Fund, it has emerged.
A Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government source confirmed that around half of the government's new Levelling Up Fund next year will come from reshuffling former Towns Fund money. It has also emerged that £175m of new funding for freeports will include money previously earmarked for the Towns Fund.
Two years on from when the Towns Fund first launched - offering cash to kickstart capital projects in 101 towns - it has been hampered by delays, with resources diverted to deal with the pandemic. Only seven areas have so far had their final funding amounts confirmed, in deals worth £178m.
- Ring-fence national insurance to cover many care costs says PM’s ex-aide
Date: 25 Feb 2021
A report by a former aide to the prime minister says that councils should only step in to cover social care costs when they are relatively high.
The document by Conservative MP Danny Kruger calls for responsibility for social care to be shared between government, councils, individuals - and families, which will be asked to sign an agreement with "no legal force but... some moral force" to cover care costs. Under Mr Kruger's plan family homes will be protected from having to be sold to pay for support.
Mr Kruger rejects the idea of a National Care Service as “very bad news”, and says he has received ministerial assurance in the House of Commons that “no such step was contemplated”.
- Council facing legal action over 'knee-jerk' cycle lane removal
Date: 25 Feb 2021
Cycling UK has submitted an application for judicial review of West Sussex County Council’s decision to remove the cycle lane along Upper Shoreham Road in Shoreham-by-Sea, arguing that it is ‘irrational and unlawful’.
It said that at the heart of its challenge is that the council failed to consider the equalities implications of deciding to remove the cycle lane, and in particular did not consider the impact on young people.
The charity highlighted the popularity of the cycle lane for Shoreham’s families and residents and suggested the council had made an 'arbitrary' decision to remove it.
- Judge throws out council LOBO fraud claim against Barclays
Date: 25 Feb 2021
A high court judge has thrown-out a legal challenge tabled by eight local authorities against lender Barclays Bank over historic Lender Option Borrower Option loans.
Councils in Leeds, Greater Manchester, Newcastle, North East Lincolnshire, Nottingham, Oldham, Sheffield and Newham launched action to cancel the loans taken out between 2006-2008.
The councils claimed that Barclays had committed fraud by making the loans while wrongly implying that the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) – on which the loans’ repayments were based – was being set honestly.
- Leap in size of local authority peer lending
Date: 25 Feb 2021
The local authority peer-to-peer borrowing market grew by 12.5% during 2020, according to government figures.
The amount of money lent by councils to other authorities stood at £11.2bn at the end of the calendar year, compared to £9.8bn at the end of 2019.
Experts attributed the rise to an influx of cash from central government and a reduction in planned capital programmes due to Covid-19.
- Oxfordshire pays out £1.6m following procurement dispute
Date: 25 Feb 2021
Oxfordshire County Council has paid out more than £1.6m to a parking enforcement contractor that lost its contract with the council following a breach of procurement regulations, it has emerged.
In a report to be discussed at an audit and governance meeting next week, the council said it agreed to the settlement with Marston Holdings ltd after it received legal advice from a QC that found “significant failings” in the procurement of parking enforcement.
The firm alleged in June 2019 that the ongoing procurement of a new parking enforcement contract with the council had been “undertaken contrary to the procurement regulations” after its contract was not renewed.
- Councils fail to hand out £1.6bn of Covid grants for small business
Date: 25 Feb 2021
Ministers are demanding answers after councils across Britain failed to hand out more than £1.6bn of emergency Covid grants to struggling businesses. ...
- English school leaders despair over new rules on Covid tests and masks
Date: 25 Feb 2021
Headteachers fear that the reopening of England’s schools could be undermined because parents will not consent to Covid testing for their children and because guidance on the wearing of face masks in classes is unenforceable.
The warnings came after a slew of education announcements from the government, culminating in a flurry of guidance on summer assessments that will pile pressure on already overstretched teachers.
Announcing its plans this week for a full reopening of schools on 8 March, the government promised a series of measures designed to enhance Covid safety, including twice-weekly testing for secondary pupils and a recommendation to wear face coverings in classrooms.
- Labour calls for council powers to intervene in high streets
Date: 25 Feb 2021
Proposals for councils to take over empty shops and a ‘wholesale reform’ of business rates have been put forward by Labour.
Shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds unveiled the plans as part of a programme to revitalise ailing town centres.
Under the plan, local authorities would be granted new powers to ‘repurpose’ commercial properties if left vacant for a year and planning rules would be changed to require permission for changes of use to residential.
- Levelling Up Fund to feature rapid bid process
Date: 24 Feb 2021
The £4bn cross-departmental Levelling Up Fund will feature a rapid bid process, with all projects having to be completed before the next General Election, The MJ understands.
A prospectus for the competitive Whitehall-controlled fund, which will allow local areas to bid for millions of pounds to directly fund projects to help the Government achieve its key priority of levelling up the UK, could be published as part of next week’s Budget.
The Local Government Association has already expressed concerns about the prospect of a competitive bidding process ‘at a time when councils want to be fully focused on protecting communities and businesses from the impact of the pandemic’.
- New legislation extends proxy voting in local elections
Date: 24 Feb 2021
The Government has introduced new measures to ensure people needing to self-isolate will still be allowed to vote in the upcoming local elections.
It has made an amendment to emergency proxy voting rules to enable anyone self-isolating or shielding due to COVID-19 to access an emergency proxy vote up to 17:00 on election day.
Minister of state for the constitution & devolution, Chloe Smith, said: ‘These elections can and will be delivered in a COVID-secure way and the extended proxy voting rules are a key part of this.
- Sunak is planning 'giveaway' budget next week to inject the UK with a post-lockdown boom after No10's slow road to freedom - with help for motorists, hospitality firms and the housing market
Date: 24 Feb 2021
Rishi Sunak will use a giveaway budget next week to pave the way for a post-lockdown boom.
Help for motorists, hospitality firms and the housing market is expected to be among a string of eye-catching policies.
The Chancellor is set to shelve plans for tax rises, including a threatened 5p increase in fuel duty that would have hit millions of drivers.
He is also poised to announce further VAT and business rate cuts for the hospitality and tourist industries, continue the stamp duty holiday and extend the jobs furlough scheme.
- Figures show pre-pandemic fly-tipping rise across England
Date: 24 Feb 2021
Councils in England dealt with more than 976,000 instances of fly-tipping in the year up to the start of the coronavirus pandemic, figures show.
It was a 2% rise on the 950,000 incidents in 2018-19, with just under two thirds made up of household waste.
The most common places for the illegal dumping of waste were on roads and pavements.
- Index reveals funding woes
Date: 24 Feb 2021
Most councils allowed to use capital cash to prop up their finances faced problems before the impact of the pandemic hit, new figures have revealed.
The latest local authority resilience index from the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) laid bare the fiscal position of councils for the year until the end of March 2020 – just as the UK went into its first lockdown.
After a decade of austerity, the figures released by CIPFA last week showed two of the councils that have been granted capitalisation dispensations – Eastbourne BC and Peterborough City Council – were both considered high risk on all but one of the measures used.
- Children’s services face £824m budget gap
Date: 24 Feb 2021
A funding shortfall of £824m is being faced by children’s services, according to research published today.
The Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) said the amount was required just to enable their work to ‘stay still’ amid increasing demand.
ADCS' analysis - based on a survey on pressures during 2019/20 - found half of respondents reported a reduction in funding ranging between 15% and 30%.
- Councils bending rules to vaccinate key workers
Date: 24 Feb 2021
Councils are bending the vaccination priority rules to ensure key workers get Covid jabs as soon as possible, LGC has learned.
One director of public health told LGC that many places were carrying out “a very small local fudge” to get vaccinations for priority key workers, such as those working in early years settings.
Some of these priority groups were being put on the list of recipients for vaccinations of those working in social care, while their council had a “call-up priority list for end-of-day vaccinations that would otherwise go wasted”, they said.
- Mendip District Council back universal basic income trial
Date: 24 Feb 2021
Councillors in Mendip have backed calls for the district be a pilot area for universal basic income (UBI), which would offer residents a non-means-tested fixed sum paid by the government to cover the basic cost of living.
This would be issued to all residents regardless of their financial status and whether they are employed or unemployed.
Councillors keen to see a pilot introduced believe it would tackle the impacts on employment prospects and household incomes post-Covid, as well as other factors, such as Brexit, future automation and artificial intelligence.
- Government considering local audit ‘system leader’
Date: 24 Feb 2021
The government is considering whether a “system leader” could oversee local government audit in the future, after it rejected the Redmond review’s proposal of a statutory body.
Local government minster Luke Hall this week told MPs that the government was not in favour of Sir Tony Redmond’s proposed Office of Local Audit and Regulation, as primary legislation would be required.
He instead said that the government was looking at a variety of options, including a “system leader” which would work closely with the health bodies and “capitalise on opportunities for greater alignment” with the sector.
- UK government denies £1.7bn request from Scottish Government
Date: 24 Feb 2021
The UK government refused a request from Scottish finance secretary Kate Forbes for £1.7bn of additional funding to support the Holyrood administration’s Budget for 2021-22, it has emerged.
Following November’s Spending Review, Forbes wrote to chancellor Rishi Sunak requesting the release of Scotland’s share of the UK government’s £21bn Covid-19 reserve, to support the Scottish Budget next year.
However, Jesse Norman, chief secretary to the Treasury wrote back to Forbes in January to rejecting the request “on the basis that the UK Government will decide how to spend the reserve in 2021/22”, according to a report by Audit Scotland.
- NHS struggles with dysfunctional audit market
Date: 24 Feb 2021
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 Association.
“The NHS external audit market is broken”.
That is the view we heard several times during the HFMA’s new research into why some NHS organisations are struggling to appoint an external auditor.
- Boris Johnson unveils plan to end England restrictions by 21 June
Date: 23 Feb 2021
A new four-step plan to ease England's lockdown could see all legal limits on social contact lifted by 21 June, if strict conditions are met.
Shops, hairdressers, gyms and outdoor hospitality could reopen on 12 April in England under plans set out by the PM.
From 17 May, two households might be allowed to mix in homes, while the rule of six could apply in places like pubs. It requires four tests on vaccines, infection rates and new coronavirus variants to be met at each stage.
- Under-25s worst-hit as unemployment rises again
Date: 23 Feb 2021
Younger workers have borne the brunt of the job losses during the Covid crisis, official figures show, as the unemployment rate continues to rise.
The UK's jobless rate rose to 5.1% in the three months to December, the Office for National Statistics said, the highest for almost five years.
The figures show 726,000 fewer people are currently in payrolled employment than before the start of the pandemic.
- Torbay latest council to shelve commercial investment
Date: 23 Feb 2021
Torbay Council has become the latest authority to shelve its planned commercial investment following PWLB rules changes – scrapping £68m of its planned programme.
In 2017, Torbay set out plans to borrow £300m from the Public Works Loan Board to invest in commercial property in order to make returns to fund services.
The council report has already spent £231m towards its goal, with returns expected to be around £1m less during 2020/21 than the £4.8m budgeted for due to Covid-19.
- Budget 2021 rumour round-up: Corporation tax ‘hike expected’
Date: 23 Feb 2021
A rise in corporation tax and extensions to the Universal Credit uplift and furlough scheme are among potential government Budget moves being reported in the national press. PF rounds up the rumours.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak will use next week’s Budget to raise corporation tax over the next three years, in bid to help cover expanded Covid-19 support schemes, according to reports.
The Budget will see corporation tax be lifted by one percentage point to 20% this year, to help pay for the extension to the furlough scheme, VAT cut for hospitality and retail and business rates holiday, according to the Times.
- Covid-19 pressures hit grant fraud prevention
Date: 23 Feb 2021
UK councils’ efforts to tackle grant fraud are being hampered by the reallocation of resources to support efforts to respond to Covid-19, according to analysis from CIPFA.
Findings from the CIPFA Fraud and Corruption Tracker survey published yesterday, found that grant fraud was valued at only £36m in 2019-20, around 15% of identified council fraud.
However, councils told CIPFA that resources have been redirected to processing and reviewing Covid-19 business grants, restricting their ability to tackle grant-related fraud.
- Prudential code: “Not perfect, but its heart is in the right place”
Date: 23 Feb 2021
I have been asked to give my opinion on the new prudential code and the timing is excellent since , at our recent budget council, I ceased to be a section 151 officer as I retire next month. The mantle was passed to my successor. This puts me in a unique position as I no longer have any skin in the game.
I can see the reasoning behind the revisions to the prudential code: there is a worry that a small number of council’s are misbehaving with their investment strategies which could lead to a change in regulation which would tie the hands of local Government.
However, I’m not sure that these changes will have the desired effect.
- Boris Johnson to unveil 'cautious' plan to lift England's lockdown
Date: 22 Feb 2021
All schools in England are to reopen on 8 March as part of the prime minister's "cautious" four-part plan to lift the coronavirus lockdown.
Boris Johnson will share his finalised roadmap with ministers later, before unveiling it to MPs and then leading a news conference at 19:00 GMT.
Up to six people or two households will be allowed to meet outdoors from 29 March, the vaccines minister said.
- UK reports another 215 coronavirus deaths as number of people jabbed hits 17.5 million
Date: 22 Feb 2021
Another 215 COVID-19 deaths and 9,834 cases have been recorded in the UK, while the number of people to have received a first vaccine dose has now surpassed 17.5 million.
In what is set to be the final update to the statistics before Boris Johnson announces his roadmap out of lockdown, the number of people who have received their first dose of a COVID vaccine has risen by 334,679 to 17,582,121.
- Firms with government licences caught fly-tipping, Panorama investigation finds
Date: 22 Feb 2021
Rubbish firms with government licenses are fly-tipping waste on country lanes, a Panorama investigation has found....
- UK vaccine rollout should turn to children 'as fast as we can', says SAGE expert
Date: 22 Feb 2021
There is a "value" in giving COVID jabs to children, the health secretary has told Sky News - as a leading scientist said the UK's vaccine rollout should turn to younger age groups "as fast as we can".
Oxford University last week launched the first study to assess the safety and immune responses in children and young adults of their coronavirus vaccine.
Follow live coverage on Sky News on Monday as the PM is expected to address the House of Commons at 3.30pm and lead a Downing Street news conference at 7pm
- Catch-up narrative putting 'huge pressure' on children, psychologists say
Date: 22 Feb 2021
The idea that children must "catch up" with learning lost due to the pandemic is heaping "huge" pressure on them, educational psychologists have warned.
Many pupils have missed out on months of face-to-face teaching, and the PM has appointed a catch-up tsar to lead educational recovery in England.
But the British Psychological Society says children's wellbeing, rather than their learning, should be the focus.
- More than 7% of children have attempted suicide by 17
Date: 22 Feb 2021
About one British child in fourteen has tried to kill themselves by the age of 17, a study has revealed.
Pressures from education and social media were among the drivers, experts said, with fears growing that the pandemic would increase mental health problems among young people.
The figure comes from a survey of more than 10,000 young people collected as part of the Millennium Cohort Study, which tracks the lives of 19,000 people born at the start of the millennium.
- UK homeless deaths rise by more than a third in a year, study finds
Date: 22 Feb 2021
Deaths among homeless people have risen by more than a third in a year, according to an analysis by a social justice group that found that almost 1,000 unhoused people had died across the UK in 2020.
The Museum of Homelessness (MoH), a community-driven organisation which runs the Dying Homeless Project, called for action to prevent a repeat of such “terrible loss of life”. Among cases where a cause of death was confirmed, 36% were related to drug and alcohol use and 15% were suicide.
Jess Tuttle, the organisation’s co-founder, said the findings demonstrated how the pandemic had hit a system “already cut to the bone from 10 years of austerity”. The MoH is now calling for a national confidential inquiry into homeless deaths.
- Keep funding green homes to meet emissions target, say businesses
Date: 22 Feb 2021
Business groups are urging the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to keep funding home insulation and other low-carbon measures under the green homes grant, which is under threat from cuts.
They warned that moves to reduce the amount of money paid out under the scheme, or abandon it altogether, would make it harder to reach the government’s target of net zero emissions by 2050, and damage the UK’s credibility as host nation of this year’s Cop26 UN climate summit and president of the G7 group of rich nations.
“Only a long-term programme can provide the economic, social and environmental benefits associated with a focus on green homes, support the government’s important levelling-up agenda, and make real progress towards achieving the net zero target,” wrote the 25 organisations, in a letter to Sunak seen by the Guardian.
- Covid test and vaccine certificates could help sectors reopen in England
Date: 22 Feb 2021
People in England could be issued with certificates confirming their Covid test and vaccine status, as part of a potential plan to help some sectors reopen this summer.
A cross-government review has been set up to investigate the idea, touted by the vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi as far back as the end of November 2020, but ruled out later in the winter by senior cabinet figures including Michael Gove.
The certificates would be for domestic use only, while separate plans for so-called vaccine passports are drawn up by Whitehall for those planning to travel abroad when coronavirus measures allow.
- 'Large wave' of infections if restrictions were eased too fast and some measures will be needed beyond 2021, scientists warn
Date: 22 Feb 2021
The UK would face another "large wave" of coronavirus infections if lockdown restrictions were lifted too quickly and some measures will be needed beyond 2021, government scientists have warned.
Speaking before the prime minister unveiled his "roadmap" for ending England's lockdown, Sir Patrick Vallance said there is a risk of "flying blind" if all restrictions are scrapped at once.
The chief scientific adviser explained that it takes about four weeks to assess the impact that lifting a restriction has on COVID-19 cases - as he backed easing the lockdown in stages.
- Buss to take over as Croydon finance chief
Date: 22 Feb 2021
Experienced local government finance officer Chris Buss is joining London Borough of Croydon as director of finance on an interim basis, after the resignation of current post holder Lisa Taylor.
The council, which faces severe financial issues, has confirmed the resignation of finance director Taylor along with Guy Van Dichele, executive director of health, wellbeing and adults.
PF has learnt that Chris Buss, former director of finance and deputy chief executive at the London Borough of Wandsworth, has taken over from Taylor.
- Grants of £150m available to councils in homes partnership initiative
Date: 22 Feb 2021
Councils in England will be allowed to enter into strategic partnerships with government’s affordable housing quango Homes England for the first time.
Previously such partnerships had only been open to not-for-profit housing providers, but the body has now expanded this to help drive affordable housing investment.
Authorities will be able to bid for up to £150m of funding from the organisation and must build at least 1,500 homes which need to be completed by March 2028.
- MHCLG to make move from Whitehall to Wolverhampton
Date: 22 Feb 2021
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is setting up a second headquarters in the Black Country as part of plans to shift civil servants away from the capital.
The Government’s first ministerial department based outside of London will be located in Wolverhampton, creating 300 new roles in the region.
The ‘historic’ move has been welcomed by the leader of City of Wolverhampton Council, who said they had made a compelling case to the Government for the relocation.
- All UK adults to be offered jab by 31 July
Date: 21 Feb 2021
All adults in the UK will be offered their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine by the end of July, the prime minister has pledged.
More than 17 million people have been given a jab since the UK's Covid vaccine rollout began in December 2020.
But Boris Johnson said he now wants the programme to "go further and faster". He said the July target would allow vulnerable people to be protected "sooner" and would help to further ease lockdown rules across the country.
- End outside sport ban, top scientist urges Johnson as all adults set for jab by July
Date: 21 Feb 2021
Data on the number of Covid-19 cases is now so encouraging that outdoor sports for children and small numbers of adults should be allowed immediately as part of an accelerated easing of the lockdown, a leading scientist and adviser to government has told the Observer.
With the prime minister expected to take a cautious approach to lifting restrictions in a statement to the House of Commons on Monday, Prof Mark Woolhouse of Edinburgh University, whose work feeds into the Sage committee’s sub-group Spi-M, said the data showed there was no need for the government to be “ultra-cautious”.
“The government has said the country’s exit from lockdown should be data-driven. Well, the data is extremely good, far better than anyone, including me, anticipated two or three weeks ago,” said Woolhouse. “Hospitalisations, deaths, and case numbers have all plunged while vaccinations have already reached a quarter of the adult population.
- Church of England land should be used to help tackle housing crisis, says report
Date: 21 Feb 2021
Thousands of hectares of land owned by the Church of England could be used to build affordable homes in the next few years under proposals from a housing commission set up by the archbishop of Canterbury.
The church must lead by example in tackling the housing crisis facing the nation, says the commission. The government should adopt a 20-year strategy to provide truly affordable homes to its citizens, but the C of E can act immediately, its report, Coming Home, concludes.
The church owns about 81,000 hectares (200,000 acres) of land, held by the church commissioners, 42 dioceses and 12,500 parishes. Much of it is unsuitable for development, but a mapping exercise carried out by the commission has established that a significant proportion could be used to build affordable housing.
- Labour urges Rishi Sunak to extend Covid self-isolation payments
Date: 21 Feb 2021
The chancellor must expand support for people self-isolating or risk a fourth national lockdown, Labour has said, as new analysis from the party suggests the lockdown is costing the economy £1.6bn a week.
In one of her major pre-budget interventions, the shadow chancellor, Anneliese Dodds, urged Rishi Sunak to radically extend eligibility for the £500 support payment to anyone without access to workplace sick pay.
At the moment only about one in eight workers are automatically able to access the payment. About 70% of people who apply for financial support are rejected, according to data from half of England’s councils.
- Fears of English local elections chaos due to lack of staff and venues
Date: 20 Feb 2021
Staff shortages and a lack of available polling stations risk bringing chaos to May’s local elections in England, officials have warned, with concerns that some counts could take so long they contravene the law.
The dearth of staff is so acute that some councils are appealing for pandemic volunteers, who have delivered food parcels or helped at vaccination centres, to assist at polling stations on 6 May.
The Cabinet Office has confirmed it will push ahead with two sets of council elections – including one postponed from last May – as well as ballots for the London mayor and assembly, for a series of other mayors, and for police and crime commissioners (PCCs).
- Burnt-out NHS staff to be boosted by military medics as they brace for wave of non-coronavirus patients
Date: 20 Feb 2021
Burnt-out NHS staff will be offered more support from military medics as they prepare to cope with a new wave of non-COVID patients, the defence secretary has told Sky News.
Ben Wallace said "exhausted" staff would be given help as they start to come out of the worst of COVID-19 but are forced to confront the growing list of people waiting for routine treatment.
Speaking on a visit to The James Cook hospital in Middlesbrough where military staff worked hand in hand with the NHS to bolster the response to the coronavirus, he said giving people a break will be essential in the next phase of the pandemic.
- Ambulance delays led to 'secondary Covid victims'
Date: 20 Feb 2021
Ambulances waiting outside busy hospitals over Christmas led to "secondary Covid victims", the Royal College of Emergency Medicine has said.
Information requests show that the number of hours ambulances spent waiting to offload patients rose by 63% in London and 48% in the West Midlands.
BBC News has spoken to the widow of a man who died of a stroke, having waited three hours for an ambulance. The NHS said capacity had been freed up despite increasing Covid-19 infections.
- Housing department confirms second headquarters in Wolverhampton
Date: 20 Feb 2021
A second headquarters for the housing department is to be set up in the Midlands, amid wider plans by the Government for more representation outside of London.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) will become the first department to have ministers regularly working outside of Whitehall at the new site in Wolverhampton.
The move supports Boris Johnson’s so-called “levelling-up” agenda, in which the Prime Minister has vowed to do more to create opportunities outside the capital.
- UK government under growing pressure over Covid procurement
Date: 20 Feb 2021
The UK government faces growing calls to release details of a VIP fast lane for emergency procurement contracts related to its pandemic response after the health secretary, Matt Hancock, was found to have acted unlawfully.
A high court judge ruled on Friday that the failure to publish multibillion-pound Covid-19 government contracts within the 30-day period required by law breached the “vital public function” of transparency over how “vast quantities” of taxpayers’ money was spent.
Last year, ministers and officials refused to admit which companies were awarded multimillion-pound Covid-19 contracts after being processed in a high-priority channel for firms with political connections.
- 10,000 children in care were sent to potentially unsafe places to live - including caravans, tents and barges
Date: 19 Feb 2021
At least 10,000 children in care were placed in potentially unsafe accommodation including caravans, tents and barges, a Sky News investigation has found.
Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that local councils used unregulated accommodation to house vulnerable children - even though these settings were not subject to inspection or regulation by Ofsted.
Between January 2019 and December 2020, at least 9,990 children were placed into unregulated accommodation by 86 local authorities. At least 20 children were sent to live in tents or caravans, 17 were placed into hostels, and seven were housed in barges on canals.
- Some children won't return to school until April under phased reopening plans
Date: 19 Feb 2021
Some pupils may not return to the classroom until mid-April under plans for a phased reopening of secondary schools, an academy chief has warned....
- 'Large number' of contact tracers to be sacked - as PM prepares to announce loosening of lockdown
Date: 19 Feb 2021
The number of coronavirus contact tracers in England is set to be slashed - just as the prime minister prepares to announce a loosening of lockdown, according to leaked messages obtained by Sky News.
Test and Trace staff have been told that the workforce would be reduced "as a result of the decreasing levels of prevalence" of COVID-19 across the country, even though internal messages admit that cases are likely to increase after lockdown is lifted.
It is not known how many coronavirus contact tracers will be let go, but the message said the move would affect "a large number" of so-called Tier 3 contact tracers.
- One in six new universal credit claimants forced to skip meals
Date: 19 Feb 2021
Many people claiming universal credit for the first time during the pandemic were unable to put aside enough cash to save £10 a month, eat healthily or regularly, or pay bills because the benefit payment was inadequate to meet basic living costs, a study has found.
A survey of the experiences of thousands of people who signed on after losing their job under lockdown concludes that even with the temporary £20 a week Covid-19 uplift many struggled to bridge the gap between benefits and living costs without borrowing from family, running up credit card debt, or using food banks.
Two-thirds of all claimants reported suffering financial strain, with one in six new claimants skipping a meal in the previous two weeks, and more than 60% reporting they would be unable to replace or repair electrical goods if they broke, or put aside enough cash to save £10 a month.
- Special needs pupils in England 'pushed to one side' in Covid crisis
Date: 19 Feb 2021
Children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) in England have had their education “pushed to one side” during the course of the pandemic “for the convenience of the majority,” according to a survey of parents.
The poll of more than 1,000 parents uncovered “widespread failure” to restore special educational needs provision when children returned to school in September 2020, with a “sizeable” number of Send children unable to return to school at all.
Although children with education, health and care plans (EHCPs) – legally binding documents that entitle them to additional vital support – are among those eligible to attend school during lockdown, fewer than two in five were in school last week.
- Boris Johnson pledges surplus to poorer countries at G7
Date: 19 Feb 2021
Boris Johnson is pledging to donate most of the UK's surplus vaccine supply to poorer countries in a speech to a virtual G7 meeting on Friday.
He urged rich countries to back a 100-day target for the developing new vaccines for future emerging diseases.
The UK has ordered more than 400 million doses of various vaccines, so many will be left over once all adults are vaccinated.
- Two Croydon directors resign as disciplinary process begins
Date: 19 Feb 2021
Two of the four senior managers at Croydon LBC recently suspended from their duties pending a report into how the council came to face bankruptcy have now resigned from their jobs, as disciplinary procedures against other senior figures get underway.
Director of finance Lisa Taylor, who as section 151 officer had to issue a section 114 notice in December, and executive director of health, wellbeing and adults Guy Van Dichele have both resigned after being suspended two weeks ago.
The two other senior officers to have been suspended are executive director of place Shifa Mustafa and executive director of localities Hazel Simmonds. The council confirmed to LGC that these two now face disciplinary procedures.
- Tories accuse Lib Dems over doorstep campaigning
Date: 19 Feb 2021
The chair of the Conservative party has accused the Liberal Democrat leader of putting his activists' lives at risk by ignoring the doorstep campaigning ban for the local elections during the current lockdown.
Amanda Milling has written to Ed Davey claiming that although she has asked volunteers to pause doorstep campaigning in light of government guidance and that the Labour party has followed suit, “it is disappointing that the Liberal Democrats are putting lives at risk in an attempt to win votes by breaking the rules”.
Ms Milling is accusing Lib Dem campaigners of breaking government guidance which prohibits people from leaving home “except where necessary” and which she claimed does not support door to door campaigning or leafleting by party political activists.
- Ban on placing under-16s in unregulated housing risks creating 'two-tier' system
Date: 19 Feb 2021
The government’s ban on the use of unregulated accommodation for under-16s risks creating a “two-tier” care system where older teenagers are shamefully neglected and unprotected, experts warn.
On Friday the education secretary, Gavin Williamson, said it would be illegal from September for councils to put children under the age of 16 in accommodation that was not regulated by Ofsted.
It comes after the Guardian revealed at the beginning of the year that thousands of young people have been sent to unregulated care homes during the pandemic at a cost of millions to the taxpayer.
- Whitty at odds with Johnson over 'big bang' reopening of schools in England
Date: 19 Feb 2021
A row has broken out over Boris Johnson’s hopes for a “big bang” reopening of schools, as sources claimed it had run into resistance from Prof Chris Whitty.
The chief medical officer for England was said to be reluctant to put his name to a public show of support for the policy this week. Education sources had told the Guardian that Whitty was “very unhappy” with the idea of all 10 million children and staff returning to schools in England on 8 March, although the government denied this and insisted that Whitty was not opposed to any of the options being discussed.
On Monday the prime minister is to announce the government’s roadmap for lifting national lockdown restrictions in place since the start of the year. While publicly ministers have committed to reopening schools “from” 8 March rather than all pupils returning on that date, No 10 is said to be planning for an across-the-board return for all year groups.
- Value of council's purchases plummet due to pandemic
Date: 19 Feb 2021
The value of two retail investment properties purchased by North Somerset Council has dropped by more than £26m in the three years since they were purchased due to Covid-19.
In a report discussed at a cabinet meeting last week, the council said that the North Worle District Centre and Sovereign Centre were purchased for a combined £62m in 2018.
However latest valuations state they are now worth £34.8m, a drop the council attributed to the economic impact caused by Covid-19.
- Resilience index shows drop in reserves
Date: 19 Feb 2021
Reserve levels at councils in England dropped during 2019-2020, prior to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to analysis from CIPFA.
The 2019-20 Financial Resilience Index published by CIPFA today, found that there was a real-terms reduction of £800m in the level of reserves in 2020 compared with the previous year.
At the end of March 2020 council reserves levels stood at £24.6bn, around 3% lower than £25.4bn recorded at the same period in 2019, according to CIPFA.
- Northern transport network scraps contactless payment plan
Date: 19 Feb 2021
Transport for the North has scrapped its proposed contactless payment scheme after a reduction in central government funding.
The closing down of the Integrated and Smart Travel programme was approved during a board meeting yesterday after a report said it was only viable course of action without further government funding. TfN had previously asked for £33m to continue rolling out contactless payment software.
However, the government froze the networks funding during the Spending Review leaving the organisation with a funding hole.
- Study launched to assess council Covid-19 procurement
Date: 19 Feb 2021
The University of Stirling is launching a major new research project examining how local authorities procured goods, works and services during Covid-19.
The study will look at how procurement can deliver benefit for residents, whether for public health, social care, or as a key economic lever to restart the local economy.
Researchers behind the report said that more £100bn is spent annually on procurement by councils, and are keen to see how this money was spent to support the response to Covid-19.
- Review of business rates delayed until autumn
Date: 19 Feb 2021
The final report on the review of business rates will be pushed back until autumn, the Government has confirmed today.
The Government said the report would be delayed until there was greater ‘economic certainty’ and more clarity on the long-term state of public finances.
The chancellor is expected to extend the business rates holiday for the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors for another year in next month’s Budget. It has also been reported he will extend the furlough scheme and the £20 uplift to Universal Credit.
- pposition to national audit body risks more MHCLG regulation
Date: 19 Feb 2021
The experiences of the devolved nations strengthens the case for the proposed Office of Local Audit Regulation, writes the chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy.
It’s been six months since the Redmond Review issued its recommendations and two months since the government published its response. In that time, the sector has been abuzz with various parties sharing their thoughts on the proposal for an independent body to manage, oversee and regulate local audit in the form of the Office of Local Audit Regulation (OLAR).
The LGC reported on a Local Government Association meeting in September in which OLAR was branded by certain political actors as “arse covering from finance directors.”
- Parents to test children for Covid twice a week
Date: 18 Feb 2021
Parents will be asked to test their children twice a week under plans for a phased return to the classroom, The Telegraph can disclose.
Families of secondary school pupils will be asked to administer lateral flow tests at home during term time under plans being drawn up by the Government.
It is understood that schools will only oversee the mass testing of secondary students once, at the start of term, after education unions struck a deal with ministers.
All schools in England are expected to open on March 8, but secondary schools will be allowed to stagger the return of some year groups so every pupil can be tested on arrival.
- Chancellor urged to use budget to tackle rent debt crisis
Date: 18 Feb 2021
The chancellor must take action to tackle the rent debt crisis in the forthcoming budget, housing charities and groups representing landlords and renters have said.
In a joint statement released by organisations including the Big Issue, Crisis, Shelter, Citizens Advice, Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Nationwide Building Society, Rishi Sunak was called upon to act now to avoid renters “being scarred by debts they have no hope of clearing and a wave of people having to leave their homes in the weeks and months to come”.
The statement, which they said was from “organisations with the aim of sustaining tenancies wherever possible” said at least half a million private renters are in arrears due to the economic impact of Covid-19. “The UK government’s own research shows that ‘private renters report being hardest hit by the pandemic’. Renters and landlords whose finances have been affected since lockdown cannot keep tenancies going without additional financial support.”
- Covid shows need for bigger government role, says Starmer
Date: 18 Feb 2021
The Covid-19 crisis has shown the government needs to play a bigger role in the economy permanently, Labour's leader will argue on Thursday.
In a speech online, Sir Keir Starmer will say the pandemic has "shifted the axis" on the size of the state in a similar way to World War Two.
And he will add there cannot be a "return to business as usual" in the wake of the virus.
He will also call for business support to be extended at next month's Budget.
- Cash-strapped youth services 'at crisis point' in coronavirus crisis, warns YMCA
Date: 18 Feb 2021
Youth services are “stranded at crisis point” after nearly £28million was cut from budgets last year, a charity warns today.
Analysis by YMCA shows town hall spending on youth services in 2019/20 in England was £372.12m – a 6% fall from £397.9m just 12 months earlier.
The organisation said that since 2010/11 – the first year of the Tory-led coalition – funding for youth services has been slashed by 73%.
- Councils predict £2bn black hole due to business rate appeals
Date: 18 Feb 2021
Councils in England face setting aside an additional £2bn to help cover business rates appeals over the next two financial years due to Covid-19, unless central government support is forthcoming.
Statistics compiled by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, reveal that councils are forecasting net additions to appeal provisions totalling £927m this financial year, and £1.2bn next year.
The reason behind the forecast increase is that, due to the impact of the pandemic, businesses are likely to seek reductions based on a decrease in rental prices on which rateable values are based.
- NAO to probe local authority audit deadlines
Date: 18 Feb 2021
The National Audit Office has launched an inquiry into the timeliness of local authority audit in England last year, as sector audits continue to miss deadlines.
In an update, the spendingwatchdog said it will review local audits of 2019-2020 accounts, after the government pushed back the deadline from July to November so councils could deal with Covid-19.
In December, audit administration body Public Sector Audit Appointments said that more than half of audit opinions for 2019-20 were not published on time, mainly due to the pandemic disruption.
- Public sector fraud ‘should be treated as national security issue'
Date: 18 Feb 2021
In a report, the Royal United Services Institute said that, although progress has been made since 2018, between 0.5% and 5% of public spending is lost to fraud – around £48bn annually.
RUSI said that whilst individual incidents of fraud cannot be a national security threat, the scale of the problem is a ‘heist on public services’, given that funds lost cannot be spent on frontline services.
The report said; “Protecting – and growing – the government’s nascent counter-fraud profession should be viewed not just as good practice in and of itself, but also as a key means of protecting the UK’s economic security, securing public faith in government and by extension protecting UK national security.”
- Sunak to extend rates relief and furlough
Date: 18 Feb 2021
Rishi Sunak is set to extend two crucial lifelines to companies battered by ongoing Covid restrictions by keeping the furlough scheme going until the summer and prolonging the business rates holiday for the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors....
- Doubling up: Somerset better off with two unitaries
Date: 18 Feb 2021
Sedgemoor District Council leader Duncan McGinty makes the case for a two-unitary solution to Somerset’s upcoming reorganisation of local government structures.
I want to sweep away two-tier local government in Somerset – the current system of four district councils and one county council is not working. Our county is lagging behind in many respects.
One in four children in Somerset live in poverty. Our education system does not do enough to create social mobility. On leaving school, too many people move away for better prospects or take up poorly paid jobs.
- Councils walk away from business rates pools amid income fears
Date: 18 Feb 2021
Four business rates pools have walked away from the opportunity amid major uncertainty about the future income hit.
Faced with having to bail out their neighbours by covering safety net payments, business rates pools covering Greater Manchester and Cheshire, London, Norfolk and West Sussex have all decided to pull out in 2021-22.
One finance director said: ‘There’s too much uncertainty about whether there will be any benefit to pooling next year. There’s just too much uncertainty around the impact of COVID.
- Pressure mounts over SEND grant deficit
Date: 18 Feb 2021
Councils are facing renewed pressure from the Department for Education (DfE) to make cuts to bring their massive special educational needs deficits into line.
It comes after at least 89 local authorities recorded an overall deficit balance on their dedicated schools grant (DSG) accounts at the end of March 2020, with the total deficit balance across England a staggering £480m.
The department is understood to be recruiting a team of former local government finance officers to carry out a deep dive into the councils facing the greatest difficulties, which are not routinely informed they could face intervention.
- Councils predict £2bn black hole due to business rate appeals
Date: 18 Feb 2021
Councils in England face setting aside an additional £2bn to help cover business rates appeals over the next two financial years due to Covid-19, unless central government support is forthcoming.
Statistics compiled by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, reveal that councils are forecasting net additions to appeal provisions totalling £927m this financial year, and £1.2bn next year.
The reason behind the forecast increase is that, due to the impact of the pandemic, businesses are likely to seek
- Covid: Boris Johnson to focus on 'data, not dates' for lockdown easing
Date: 17 Feb 2021
Boris Johnson says it is "absolutely right" to take a "data not dates" approach to leaving lockdown, stressing England will ease measures "cautiously".
The prime minister said he would set out "what we can" in a road map for easing restrictions on Monday.
"We want to be going one way from now on, based on the incredible vaccination rollout," he said.
- Scottish Government to extend rates relief
Date: 17 Feb 2021
The Scottish Government has will extend the 100% business rates holiday for the whole of the next financial year, following further UK government funding.
In budget proposals published last month, Scotland outlined a three-month extension to rates relief for retail, hospitality, leisure and aviation businesses to help manage pandemic pressures.
However, after receiving £1.1bn in additional funding from the Treasury earlier this week, this proposed relief will be extended to cover the whole of 2021-22.
- Remove parking spaces to drive greener travel, study says
Date: 15 Feb 2021
Reducing the number of town centre parking spaces and significantly increasing prices should be considered to get people to use their cars less, government-backed research has recommended.
A study commissioned by the Department for Transport said that restricting parking and access to town centres could reduce reliance on motor vehicles. Researchers said that the measures would work best when accompanied by good public transport and more segregated bike lanes to give people an alternative to the car.
The study’s findings will be used to inform the government’s transport decarbonisation plan, to be published this year. It will outline proposals to cut emissions from road, rail, aviation and shipping.
- Funding to fix equivalent of 10 million potholes allocated to local authorities
Date: 15 Feb 2021
Councils across England have been allocated their share of £500 million for highways maintenance, with the funding expected to fix the equivalent of 10 million potholes across the country.
It is the second of 5 equal instalments from the £2.5 billion Potholes Fund, providing £500 million a year between 2020/21 and 2024/25, announced by the Chancellor in the 2020 Budget – and is part of wider funding the DfT provides for road maintenance, totalling over £1.1 billion across England in 2021/22.
With the average pothole costing around £50 to fill in, the funding will ensure that the equivalent of 10 million potholes can be rectified, making thousands of local roads both safer and easier to drive and cycle on.
- Johnson should repay north of England voters with private investment
Date: 15 Feb 2021
The prime minister should repay voters in the north of England who lent the Conservatives their vote at the last election by unleashing billions of pounds of private investment, according to a report.
It argues that ministers should aim to harness the “restless radicalism” from those who voted for Brexit in 2016 and the Conservatives in 2019 by creating an economic “big bang”, along the lines of the Thatcherite deregulation of the City in the 1980s which reinforced London’s position as a global financial centre.
The report from the influential rightwing Centre for Policy Studies thinktank is produced with the Northern Research group, a group of Conservative MPs who represent northern England, the Scottish borders and north Wales.
- Social businesses shut out of government support
Date: 15 Feb 2021
Hundreds of community-run businesses have been forced to close because they could not access government support, lobby group Social Enterprise UK says.
It said the structure of businesses run for a social good and their choice of bank meant they missed out on help.
It is calling for easier access to support schemes in the future. There are an estimated 100,000 social enterprises in the UK, employing over 2 million people. Many help those who have been hit hard by the pandemic.
- MPs urge government to spell out economic and health impacts of easing lockdown
Date: 15 Feb 2021
An influential group of MPs has urged the government to spell out the impact its lockdown-easing measures would have on economic growth and the number of coronavirus infections.
Calling for evidence to be published alongside the government’s reopening road map to be announced on 22 February, the Treasury select committee said it would help the public to better understand the implications of restrictions and the costs and benefits of making changes.
The UK has given more than 15m people their first doses of Covid-19 vaccines, raising hopes that movement restrictions will be eased within weeks as the number of new infections and hospital admissions gradually fall.
- Hotel quarantine comes into force in UK
Date: 15 Feb 2021
All British and Irish citizens and UK residents who arrive in England after being in a high-risk Covid country now have to quarantine in hotels. The "red list" of 33 countries includes Portugal, Brazil and South Africa.
The new regulations, which aim to stop Covid variants entering the country, apply to arrivals who have been in one of those places in the past 10 days. They will have to pre-book and pay £1,750 to spend 10 days quarantining in government-sanctioned hotels.
- New phase begins after first vaccine target hit in England
Date: 15 Feb 2021
The Covid-19 vaccine rollout in England has entered its next phase, after the health secretary told the BBC a jab has been offered to everyone in the UK's top four priority groups. In total, more than 15 million people in the UK have had their first dose.
The rollout in England has now been officially expanded to the over-65s and younger people in at-risk groups. But Matt Hancock said there was still "some way to go" before leaving lockdown.
- Eviction ban in England extended until March
Date: 14 Feb 2021
The ban on evictions in England is to be extended until the end of March, the government has announced.
It means eviction notices - which could have started again on 22 February - cannot be served for another six weeks.
Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said it would ensure renters remained protected "during this difficult time".
- ONS gears up for once-in-a-decade challenge with 2021 census
Date: 14 Feb 2021
Amid endless flyers from food delivery companies dropping through the letterbox, households in England and Wales will soon receive a postcard from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) giving notice of the 2021 census.
It will be followed by a letter advising that every household must complete a detailed questionnaire about themselves and their co-residents on 21 March. The letter will contain a unique code enabling recipients to complete the census forms online, although paper forms will be available on request.
In the weeks following census day, 30,000 field officers will knock on the doors of those households that have failed to return a completed questionnaire. The officials will begin with explanations and encouragement, but the process can end with a court appearance and a £1,000 fine.
- Call for 'summer of play' to help English pupils recover from Covid-19 stress
Date: 13 Feb 2021
Experts in child development are calling on the government to support a “summer of play” to help pupils in England recover from the stress of lockdown and a year of Covid upheaval.
Instead of extra lessons, catch-up summer schools and longer school days, they said children should be encouraged to spend the coming months outdoors, being physically active and having fun with their friends.
Psychologists have reported behavioural changes in some children following the first lockdown last year. After months of isolation from friends, some struggled to share and play together, teachers reported more fights and fallings-out, and Ofsted observed a worrying drop in physical fitness.
- UK economy suffered record annual slump in 2020
Date: 12 Feb 2021
The UK economy shrank by a record 9.9% last year as coronavirus restrictions hit output, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) says.
The contraction in 2020 "was more than twice as much as the previous largest annual fall on record," said ONS deputy national statistician Jonathan Athow.
In December, the economy grew by 1.2%, after shrinking by 2.3% in November, as some restrictions eased.
Hospitality, car sales and hairdressers recovered some lost ground.
- Environmental issue - the UK's new green bond
Date: 12 Feb 2021
The UK Treasury’s change of heart on issuing a sterling green bond provides it with an opportunity to drive the transition towards a green economy
In November, UK chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak announced his intention to issue a green bond in 2021.
The gilt will join the 16 sovereign green bonds already in the global market, with a total outstanding value of $74bn.
- UK economy shrinks by double previous record in 2020
Date: 12 Feb 2021
UK GDP fell by 9.9% in 2020, the largest yearly drop in more than 300 years, following the impact of Covid-19.
The contraction in 2020 was more than twice as much as the previous largest annual fall on record, according to statistics released by the Office for National Statistics today.
The economy rebounded, in the final quarter of the year however, up 1% between October and December, compared with the previous three months, meaning the UK avoided a ‘double-dip’ recession.
- Government ‘lacks knowledge of environmental tax impacts’
Date: 12 Feb 2021
The government does not know enough about the overall impact of environmental taxes on its carbon neutrality goals, according to the National Audit Office.
In a report, the spending watchdog said there is some evidence of the positive impact that taxes can have on the environment, but departments are more focused on their ability to raise revenue.
It added that some taxes and tax reliefs impact on government’s wider environmental objectives but are not recognised as environmental in nature.
- Treasury climbdown over public sector exit cap
Date: 12 Feb 2021
The Treasury has revoked regulations restricting public sector exit payments in England – on the eve of a deadline for it to submit its response to a legal challenge on the issue.
In a guidance document published by the Treasury today, the department said that the £95,000 cap which went live in November has been revoked due to “unintended consequences”.
The Treasury had been due to submit the grounds of its case to the High Court on Monday in a judicial review of the regulations brought by Lawyers in Local Government and the Association of Local Authority Chief Executives.
- Exit pay cap revoked
Date: 12 Feb 2021
The Government has dropped its controversial cap on public sector exit payments after admitting it had ‘unintended consequences’.
A limit of £95,000 on payments to council staff leaving their jobs came into force in November in the face of fierce opposition from unions.
The High Court was due to hear a joint legal challenge by Lawyers in Local Government (LLG) and the Association of Local Authority Chief Executives (ALACE) and a second case brought by Unison next month.
- Is local government funding “broken”?
Date: 12 Feb 2021
Andrew Hardingham looks at the underlying issues that caused more than a third of respondents in the Room151/CCLA treasury survey to say that the funding system for local govenrment is “broken”.
In Room151’s recent Treasury Investment and Current Affairs Survey, only 3% of 143 respondents believe that the current system for funding local government finance was fit for purpose. More than 38% believe it to be broken. The remainder sat on the fence. In danger of falling off, they believed it to be in a bad state but not broken.
Respondents were from across the local government landscape: Counties (10% of respondents), unitary and city councils (24%), districts (27%), metropolitan and London boroughs (23%). Police and fire authorities had their say too.
- Four English councils get emergency government funding
Date: 11 Feb 2021
Four councils in England are being given emergency funding by the government because they are unable to balance their books.
Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said the pandemic was responsible in some cases, but in others "very poor management" was to blame.
The councils involved are Eastbourne, Bexley, Luton and Peterborough.
It comes as the government announces an extra £2.3bn of funding for councils' core spending by next year.
- School catch-up in England could take 5 years, says education recovery tsar
Date: 11 Feb 2021
Schools could be working to help children catch up on education for at least five years, according to the educator appointed to help young people in England recoup learning lost during the pandemic.
Sir Kevan Collins, who was announced as the government’s education recovery tsar last week, said children’s learning had suffered a “profound shock” and would require “a number of years”, as well as extensive further funding and “creative” new approaches to the curriculum, to recover.
The timescale demonstrates the scale of the setback for a generation of young people, who the government hopes will begin to return to school after March 8 following more than a year of disruption.
- £27bn roads plan in doubt after Shapps overrode official advice
Date: 11 Feb 2021
A £27bn expansion of England’s road network has been thrown into doubt after documents showed the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, overrode official advice to review the policy on environmental grounds, the Guardian can reveal.
It has been a legal requirement to take into account the environmental impact of such projects since 2014. Shapps appears to have pressed ahead despite the advice of civil servants in his own department.
The details are set out in court papers that form part of a legal challenge to the policy, which was described by the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, last March as the country’s “largest ever” roadbuilding programme.
- Teachers and police set to be given Covid vaccine priority after over-50s
Date: 11 Feb 2021
Teachers and police are expected to be given priority for vaccines once the over-50s have been offered Covid jabs, The Telegraph can disclose.
Britain is on course to hit targets to offer all those in the top four priority groups – including everyone over the age of 70 – their first dose of the vaccine by Monday.
But research suggests that hospital pressures will not ease significantly until the end of March, once all over 60s and younger people with health problems have had their first jab.
- Jenrick confirms £3.5bn plan to replace unsafe cladding
Date: 11 Feb 2021
Housing secretary Robert Jenrick has confirmed that the Government will fully fund the cost of replacing unsafe cladding for all leaseholders in residential buildings six storeys and over in England.
The announcement is the first step in a five-point plan which Mr Jenrick describes as ‘a comprehensive plan to remove unsafe cladding, support leaseholders, restore confidence to this part of the housing market’.
The second step in the plan, which will be funded by £3.5bn from the Government, is a finance scheme for leaseholders in buildings between 11 and 18 metres (four to six storeys). This will ensure they never pay more than £50 a month for cladding removal.
- ‘Exceptional support’ councils promised £96m by 2022
Date: 11 Feb 2021
The four councils announced as receiving “exceptional” government support have been promised a total of almost £100m by the end of 2021-22, LGC has learned.
Luton BC, Bexley LBC, Peterborough City Council and Eastbourne DC have together been granted permission to borrow up to £50m to spend on day to day services for this financial year, through capitalisation directions.
The move is a break with normal rules governing council borrowing, which stipulate councils can only take on debt to fund capital spending.
- Anger at cladding 'betrayal': Government pledges £3.5bn to help fix crisis - but innocent victims STILL face massive bills to make their fire-risk homes safe
Date: 10 Feb 2021
Politicians and campaigners angrily rejected long-awaited Government plans to end the cladding scandal yesterday as a betrayal of innocent leaseholders.
Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick pledged a further £3.5billion to help end the safety crisis following the 72 deaths in the Grenfell disaster.
More than a million leaseholders face bills of up to £115,000 to fix unsafe homes. Mr Jenrick told the Commons that those in blocks over 18 metres (60ft) high would no longer have to pay to replace flammable cladding. But MPs and leaseholders reacted with fury at the news that loans costing up to £600 a year will be forced on hundreds of thousands of homeowners in low and medium rise blocks – potentially blighting resale values.
- Poor parents sending their kids to relatives during Covid so they can get food
Date: 09 Feb 2021
Hard-up parents who cannot afford to feed their children during the coronavirus crisis are sending kids to relatives for meals, MPs were told tonight.
Food Foundation executive director Anna Taylor said youngsters were being moved around families just so they could eat.
A study of children aged between eight and 17 found one in five “had experience of some form of food insecurity” over Christmas, Ms Taylor told the Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee.
- Putting councils 'in the driving seat' would save £1.6bn, says report
Date: 09 Feb 2021
Putting England's councils "in the driving seat" to fix social care would save £1.6bn, a County Councils Network-commissioned report has said.
The report argues social care should continue to be delivered by local councils, rather than giving more power to NHS and central government.
It comes amid reports the government is planning to give ministers more control over health bodies in England.
- Government set to announce billions in funding to help homeowners with cladding removal
Date: 09 Feb 2021
Ministers are poised to announce billions of pounds of extra money to help homeowners tackle the cladding crisis, it was reported on Tuesday night
Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick is due make a Commons statement at lunchtime Wednesday where he is expected to say a deal has been struck with the Treasury to help homeowners to remove potentially flammable panels from tower blocks.
The issue, which was identified in the aftermath of the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in which 72 people were killed, is estimated to affect about 11 million people.
- Councils warn of budget shortfall for May elections
Date: 09 Feb 2021
Councils in England don't have "anywhere near enough" money to organise elections this May, according to the Local Government Association.
LGA chairman James Jamieson told MPs cash-strapped councils faced "substantially higher" costs to make polls Covid-secure.
Ministers have announced an extra £31m for things like plastic screens and hand sanitiser.
The government says "democracy should not be cancelled because of Covid".
- Just 11% back May elections date amid Covid concern
Date: 09 Feb 2021
Just one in nine people in local government believe the local elections should proceed as planned in May amid coronavirus, an LGC survey has revealed.
A majority of the 246 senior officers and councillors who responded to an LGC poll felt the elections should proceed in autumn or next year, rather than in spring or summer.
Fourteen percent of respondents felt the elections should be all-postal in May in comparison to the 11% who felt they should proceed then under the usual format.
- Poll venues in short supply as Williamson urged to unblock schools use
Date: 09 Feb 2021
The job of booking local polling stations and count venues is “getting harder and harder” amid reluctance from schools and the number of premises already being used as vaccination and testing centres, the country’s most senior electoral administrator has warned.
Peter Stanyon, chief executive of the Association of Electoral Administrators, warned senior Cabinet Office officials at the organisation’s annual conference yesterday that “returning officers need assistance to run elections and not barriers being put in their way”.
Mr Stanyon explained that returning officers attempting to book polling stations and count venues for 6 May were told by schools they “will not be used [for local elections] unless there is a real need to use them”.
- Duncan McGinty: Stronger Somerset devo model recognises county’s diversity
Date: 09 Feb 2021
The proposal for two unitary councils provides better – not bigger – government for Somerset, writes the leader of Sedgemoor DC.
In the once-in-a-generation debate that local government reorganisation brings, we, the district councils of Somerset have set out a proposal, Stronger Somerset, that aims to address the real challenges that our county faces head on, and to create a brighter future for all our residents. We owe it to the public during these times to demonstrate the highest standards of leadership: respect, honesty, vision and clarity to enable the right choices to be made.
Recently the leader of Somerset CC, David Fothergill (Con), set out his case for a single unitary council in Somerset. However, his article describing the vaccination centre at Taunton racecourse ignores inconvenient truths.
- Croydon senior management team suspended
Date: 09 Feb 2021
Four senior officers at troubled Croydon LBC have been suspended following a report into “management actions”, LGC has learned.
Director of finance Lisa Taylor, executive director of place Shifa Mustafa, executive director of localities Hazel Simmonds and executive director of health, wellbeing and adults Guy Van Dichele are all understood to have been suspended from their duties today. LGC understands executive director of resources and monitoring officer Jacqueline Harris-Baker, the other permanent member of the senior management team, went on sick leave in recent days.
Interim chief executive Katherine Kerswell and interim director of children, families and education Debbie Jones, whom Ms Kerswell appointed after joining in September, remain in post.
- DfE tells returning officers to use businesses for polling stations
Date: 09 Feb 2021
The Department for Education is urging returning officers to avoid using schools as polling stations and count venues for May's local elections, despite mounting concerns about the difficulty returning officers are experiencing of finding available venues for the polls.
DfE told LGC that it endorses the Cabinet Office’s position that “schools should not be used where alternative venues are available” and that “we particularly discourage the use of schools where it would result in closure”.
Councils are to be handed an additional £15m to make the elections Covid secure and DfE told LGC it was asking returning officers be creative about finding alternative venues, adding that this was a “good opportunity to support local businesses who, with the additional funding we have provided, local authorities could support by using them as polling stations”.
- UK care workers use up leave to avoid losing pay while sick with Covid
Date: 08 Feb 2021
Some UK care workers are having to take holiday when they are off sick with Covid or see already low wages fall to £96 per week, raising fears they may not self-isolate.
Staff on the minimum wage claim to have been offered only statutory sick pay when ill with Covid or self-isolating. This contravenes government policy that they should be paid in full to limit infection spread.
One care worker involved in an ongoing outbreak at a nursing home involving several fatalities told the Guardian the employer does not provide sick pay, so the worker and other infected colleagues had to take holiday to prevent their earnings falling. One colleague took holiday pay to maintain earnings while very ill with Covid in intensive care, the care worker said.
- Reform business rates or risk a high street collapse, say firms
Date: 08 Feb 2021
The leaders of household names including Tesco, B&Q and Waterstones have warned the chancellor that the business rates burden on shops is putting thousands of high street jobs at risk, and called for online retailers to pay their “fair share” of tax.
In a letter to Rishi Sunak before next month’s budget, the chief executives of 18 retail and property organisations, representing more than a million employees and tens of thousands of shops, say failing to overhaul the commercial equivalent of council tax will hamper the ability of high streets and town centres to recover from the pandemic.
The letter, which is also signed by the bosses of Asda and Morrisons as well as major shopping centre operator Hammerson, says the current system is “not sustainable in the long term and without reform, shops at the heart of communities will be at risk”.
- Covid hits exam-taking and poorer pupils worst, study finds
Date: 08 Feb 2021
Children studying for exams and those from disadvantaged families are the most likely to have suffered severe disruption to their learning and motivation during the pandemic, according to the largest published study of its impact on pupils in England.
The surveys and interviews of more than 60,000 students aged from six to 18 reveal huge disparities in the impact of lockdown and school closures, with very different profiles for learning loss and wellbeing among children spread across different households.
Children taking GCSE courses appeared most at risk of disruption, with nearly one in four pupils in years 10 and 11 saying they could not get help from family members with questions about their schoolwork, while 40% said they lacked a routine to help them study from home.
- Boris Johnson’s golden chance to fix social care
Date: 08 Feb 2021
When prime ministers from Tony Blair to Theresa May were uncertain what to do, they would often ask “What does Jeremy think?” That is the title of a new biography of Jeremy Heywood, the legendary former cabinet secretary who died from cancer in 2018, written by his widow, Suzanne. Unfortunately, during the coalition years, David Cameron failed to take enough notice of what Jeremy thought about the NHS. The book reveals that Heywood repeatedly warned his political masters against Andrew Lansley’s sweeping reforms. “Sometimes you get to a point where you have to stop raising objections,” he told his wife. “If a minister prioritises a policy and has the prime minister’s backing then it’s the civil service’s job to make the best of it.”..
- COVID-19: Boris Johnson doesn't rule out extending school summer term to help pupils catch up
Date: 08 Feb 2021
Boris Johnson has not ruled out a shake-up of the school calendar as part of a "flat out" bid to help pupils catch up from missed classroom time.
The prime minister on Monday said the government's "single biggest priority" now was to overcome the loss of learning suffered by children during the coronavirus pandemic.
In the week of 22 February, Mr Johnson is due to unveil his roadmap for lifting England's current lockdown restrictions.
- At least 12 English councils in rescue talks as Covid shatters local finances
Date: 08 Feb 2021
At least 12 English councils have been in rescue talks with the government, in what could be the “tip of the iceberg”, according to experts, as the Covid-19 pandemic lays waste to local authority finances.
Croydon council in November became only the second local authority in 20 years to issue a “section 114 notice” — equivalent to bankruptcy for a local authority — following its use by Northamptonshire county council in 2018.
But Rob Whiteman, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, on Monday said 12 authorities are in talks with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government “in or around a section 114 position”.
- Labour would oversee radical insourcing of public services
Date: 07 Feb 2021
A Labour government would launch a radical programme of “insourcing” to bring public services back under democratic control, the frontbencher Rachel Reeves will say as she accuses Boris Johnson of handing £2bn of Covid contracts to Conservative “cronies”.
The shadow cabinet office minister and close ally of the party leader, Keir Starmer, has repeatedly highlighted the failings of private sector contractors, most recently by urging the government to “sack Serco” from its role in tracing the contacts of Covid cases.
Reeves will use a speech at Labour’s London headquarters on Monday to attack the government for spending lavishly on contractors throughout the pandemic, without adequate oversight.
- Executive who sold cladding for Grenfell to appear before inquiry
Date: 07 Feb 2021
The executive who sold combustible cladding for use on Grenfell Tower will face questioning for the first time this week when the public inquiry into the disaster resumes after a two-month suspension caused by the rising number of Covid cases.
Deborah French, then UK sales manager at Arconic, is to be asked what she knew of the danger posed by the plastic-filled panels that the first phase of the inquiry found were the main cause of the spread of the 14 June 2017 fire, which claimed 72 lives.
The hearings have seen emails from an internal discussion she had about a spate of major fires involving similar panels in the United Arab Emirates in 2013, after which she told customers her company would continue to sell both its fire-retardant and non-fire-retardant panels.
- Budget 2021: Council tax centralisation could hurt local democracy
Date: 05 Feb 2021
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 deputy chief executive at think tank New Local.
As speculation grows as to the contents of next month’s Budget, one idea that has been mooted by the Treasury is scrapping council tax and combining it with stamp duty into a new national property tax.
On first glance, there might appear to be a logic to this – both taxes have failed to keep pace with the distortions of growing and increasingly geographically polarised property values.
There is an apparent 'levelling up' electoral gain to be had by shaking up who wins and who loses from the current distribution.
But the consequences of swallowing up the one remaining form of local taxation into the Treasury black hole would have dire consequences for local democracy and local services, and risks replacing one form of unfairness with another.
- £15m ‘uplift’ for Covid-19 elections
Date: 05 Feb 2021
In a delivery plan published today, constitution minister Chloe Smith confirmed the additional funding, which comes on top of £16m for the police and crime commissioner elections which the government had previously committed to cover.
The government added that any additional election costs should be a “priority” for the £1.55bn Covid-19 funding allocated to councils for the next financial year.
Smith said: “This package of funding will support returning officers to secure venues and staffing and run Covid-19 secure elections.
- Spending power ‘two percentage points lower’ than government's claim
Date: 05 Feb 2021
Local government spending power will be around two percentage points lower than the 4.6% trailed by the government in the final funding settlement announced yesterday, according to a local government finance consultant.
The final local government settlement published late on Thursday, said that authorities will receive around £2.3bn in additional core spending powers in 2021-22 - a 4.6% real terms increase.
However, around 85% of the proposed rise is down to increases in council tax, including a one percentage point increase to the social care precept.
However, many authorities are choosing not to increase council tax by the maximum amount available.
- Six month delay to government’s new health protection agency
Date: 04 Feb 2021
England’s new health protection agency will not be “fully staffed and up and running” until October, the executive chair of NHS Test & Trace has revealed, despite the government’s plan for it to be “established and fully operational by spring 2021”.
Baroness Dido Harding told MPs on the Commons science and technology committee yesterday that the National Institute for Health Protection “will formally be constituted at the beginning of the new financial year” but will not be fully operational until the autumn, the Health Service Journal reports.
The NIHP will be formed out of the health protection functions of Public Health England, and out of NHS Test & Trace, as well as the Joint Biosecurity Centre, which was set up in May last year to provide data analysis and insight into the status of the pandemic.
- PM names head of school pandemic catch-up plan
Date: 03 Feb 2021
The prime minister has announced an "education recovery commissioner" to oversee how England's schools can catch up from the disruption of the pandemic.
This will be Sir Kevan Collins, until recently head of the Education Endowment Foundation, which examines evidence for what works in education.
He will have to develop a "a long-term plan" for helping pupils make up for lost learning.
- PM says 8 March 'prudent' for English schools' return as scientists issue warning
Date: 03 Feb 2021
Scientists have cautioned against bringing forward the reopening of schools in England, saying it would be “a recipe for disaster” while the prevalence of the virus remains high.
Boris Johnson is facing pressure from his own MPs to follow Scotland’s lead after the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, announced a phased return to the classroom from 22 February.
Scotland’s youngest children, including nursery and primary pupils in years one, two and three, are expected to be back in the classroom full-time from 22 February, along with small numbers of secondary pupils who need to complete practical work in class for national qualifications.
- Coronavirus: Care home bans on visits 'breach' human rights
Date: 03 Feb 2021
New laws are needed to allow face to face visits in England's care homes, according to a cross-party group of MPs and peers.
The Joint Committee on Human Rights has written to the health secretary warning people are being "denied meaningful visits" contrary to their right to family life.
Chair of the committee, Harriet Harman says people need reassurance "they are still loved as part of the family."
Ministers say safe visits can go ahead.
- Government faces more pressure to extend £20-a-week Covid top-up
Date: 01 Feb 2021
The government has come under renewed pressure from Tory backbenchers to extend the £20-a-week Covid top-up to universal credit as part of a range of measures to increase the level of pandemic welfare support.
A report published on Monday by the all-party parliamentary group on poverty – co-chaired by Conservative MP Kevin Hollinrake – asks for the top up, worth £1,050 a year, to be retained beyond April and for the benefit cap to be suspended.
It also urges ministers to widen the £20-a-week boost to about 2 million people on so-called legacy benefits, including hundreds of thousands of disabled claimants who have received no extra social security support during the pandemic. It warns that failure to do so will create a two-tier benefits system.
- Firms call for details of post lockdown reopening so they can plan
Date: 01 Feb 2021
Business leaders have called on the government to work with them on a roadmap out of lockdown to unlock investment for a post-Covid recovery.
In a letter to Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, the Confederation of British Industry says the time to plan for re-opening the economy in England is now.
Firms are "in the dark" about planning for the months ahead, the employers' group said.
- Care home vaccine 'milestone' reached in England
Date: 01 Feb 2021
A Covid vaccine has been offered to all older residents at eligible care homes in England, the NHS has announced.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson described the achievement, expected to be confirmed by official figures on Monday, as a "crucial milestone".
A target of 15 February has been set for the UK to vaccinate care home residents and carers, people over 70 and frontline care workers.
- 9.3 million people have received first vaccine dose as UK records another 406 deaths
Date: 01 Feb 2021
Over half of people in their 70s have now received a coronavirus jab, as UK vaccinations hit nearly 9.3 million.
It comes as the UK recorded a further 406 coronavirus-related deaths, the lowest daily rise since 28 December, and another 18,607 confirmed cases, the lowest number of daily cases since 15 December.
The figures bring the total number of UK deaths to 106,564 and total number of cases to 3,835,783.
- England might not return to regional restrictions as lockdown is eased, Boris Johnson suggests
Date: 01 Feb 2021
England may not return to regional coronavirus restrictions when the current lockdown is eased, the prime minister has suggested.
"It may be that a national approach, going down the tiers in a national way, might be better this time round, given that the disease is behaving much more nationally," Boris Johnson said.
The PM said he was "keeping an open mind" on the subject, adding: "If you look at the way the new variant has taken off across the country, it's a pretty national phenomenon.
- Boris Johnson pushes to reopen schools as Covid cases fall
Date: 01 Feb 2021
Boris Johnson has ordered ministers to ramp up preparations for reopening schools after being told the UK is now past the peak of the current wave of coronavirus....
- Care homes 'could soon reopen to visitors' before residents have second shot of Covid vaccine
Date: 01 Feb 2021
Visits to care homes could restart before older residents receive their second Covid jabs, a health minister has hinted amid pressure on the Government to lay out how vaccines will return freedoms....
- Half of care home staff at UK's largest provider have not had Covid vaccine
Date: 01 Feb 2021
About half of staff at the UK’s largest care home provider have not yet received a Covid vaccine, as attention turns to jabs for care workers after ministers claimed to have offered first doses to almost all of England’s care home residents.
HC-One, which operates 20,000 beds, is among several care operators reporting much lower vaccine coverage among workers. Some independent homes reported last week that as many as 80% of their staff had not received a jab amid continuing concerns about cultural objections and the influence of anti-vaccination sentiment.
MHA, the largest operator of not-for-profit care homes, said 40% of its staff had not yet been vaccinated.
- Fix failing poverty-fighting schemes run by local councils after huge cuts, Tory MPs say
Date: 01 Feb 2021
Poverty-fighting schemes run by local councils are failing after funds were slashed and some were axed altogether, a group of Conservative MPs is warning.
An urgent review of Local Welfare Assistance Schemes (LWAS) is needed, the MPs say – in a move threatening to further embarrass Rishi Sunak, amid the ongoing row over Universal Credit cuts.
The funds are meant to help people with no spare money to pay for emergencies, such as a broken washing machine or to cope with flood damage, through grants or loans.
- The devastating toll of the pandemic on children
Date: 31 Jan 2021
They are not likely to get seriously ill with Covid and there have been very few deaths. But children are still the victims of the virus - and our response to it - in many other ways.
From increasing rates of mental health problems to concerns about rising levels of abuse and neglect and the potential harm being done to the development of babies, the pandemic is threatening to have a devastating legacy on the nation's young.
- Tory rebellion looms over flat-owners’ cladding bills
Date: 31 Jan 2021
Ministers are struggling to contain a growing Conservative backbench rebellion over the plight of residents in blocks of flats who face crippling bills to remove flammable cladding.
An amendment that would make it illegal for developers to pass on remediation costs to leaseholders is nearing the 44 Tory signatures needed to defeat the government’s working majority.
Backbenchers have described ministers’ response to the scandal so far as “regrettable” and “embarrassing”. On Monday Labour will force a Commons debate in which numerous Tory MPs are expected to demand greater support from the government.
- Jobs first as ministers plan for life after Covid-19
Date: 31 Jan 2021
Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have agreed an “endemic recovery plan” to put Britain back on its feet after the immediate coronavirus crisis, as a poll reveals today that the public feels more frightened than at any time before.
A year after the first case of the coronavirus in Britain, 56 per cent of voters feel “personally threatened” by Covid, with women and the over-55s worst affected.
In an attempt to show that Johnson — who has been accused of moving too slowly on the health response — is ahead of the game in planning the economic recovery, the chancellor will use the budget on March 3 to provide a long-term blueprint that is likely to mean high state spending for a decade.
- Starmer demands help for ‘hostages’ in unsellable flats
Date: 31 Jan 2021
Sir Keir Starmer will throw his weight behind a Sunday Times campaign on unsafe housing tomorrow when he uses a parliamentary debate to demand help for those who face huge bills for unsaleable properties.
The Labour leader is to force a vote calling on the government to end the plight of 700,000 people trapped in dangerous homes and three million who cannot sell flats because of decades of shoddy construction exposed by the 2017 Grenfell fire.
- Binmen lift the lid on mountains of beer bottles and garden waste
Date: 31 Jan 2021
The bins have been “a lot heavier” since the first lockdown began last March, says Chris Carroll, 36, who drives a rubbish truck in Rochdale. “Everyone’s inside with nothing to do apart from drink and buy stuff on the internet. So it has a knock-on effect.”
While we have been celebrating frontline workers, such as doctors and nurses, another silent army has been keeping the country going — binmen and women.
What they find in our bins tells the story of our lockdown lives: a lot of empty bottles of alcohol, more tins because we’re cooking at home and a mountain of green waste because people have been gardening.
- Covid infections remain high but stable
Date: 30 Jan 2021
The number of Covid infections remained virtually unchanged in the week to 23 January, Office for National Statistics figures suggest. Its survey suggests the epidemic is levelling off or perhaps very slightly falling - but not at the rate hoped.
The R number for the UK is estimated to be between 0.7 and 1.1. A figure below one means the epidemic is shrinking.
Infections remain high in England, with London continuing to have the worst epidemic, the ONS said.
- Boris Johnson wants all schools open when Covid lockdown is relaxed
Date: 30 Jan 2021
Boris Johnson wants all schools to open at the same time when lockdown is eased and is drawing up plans to relax restrictions on exercise.
The prime minister said this week that schools will reopen from March 8 at the earliest and he would detail a plan for easing restrictions towards the end of next month.
Mr Johnson is considering abandoning the previous tiered approach in which areas with lower infection rates had lockdown measures eased first. Instead, he is considering a nationwide, sector-by-sector approach, similar to the easing of the first lockdown.
- Social distancing may have to remain in place all year
Date: 30 Jan 2021
Britain may not be able to abandon social distancing rules this year unless a vaccine proves to be 85 per cent effective at stopping transmission of coronavirus as well as severe illness, ministers have been warned.
Modelling commissioned by SPI-M, a subgroup of Sage, and passed to Downing Street suggests the UK will suffer a third huge spike in deaths unless inoculation cuts transmission significantly.
Currently, most experts think efficacy against transmission will be around 60 per cent but there is huge uncertainty.
- Older age groups in UK ‘will die’ if Covid vaccine priority goes to younger key workers
Date: 30 Jan 2021
Prioritising vaccinations for key workers such as teachers and police over the next few weeks would inevitably lead to more deaths among older people, government vaccination advisers have warned.
There have been various demands for certain groups to be given greater priority in the vaccine programme. Labour has called for key workers such as teachers and police to be vaccinated alongside older groups when extra capacity becomes available and after the over 70s have received a jab, while some doctors have called for healthcare workers to be given their second dose sooner than planned.
However, figures from the expert committee warned that lives would be lost unnecessarily if current plans to prioritise people by age and underlying health conditions were altered.
- Plea for children's play to be designated 'essential exercise' during lockdown
Date: 30 Jan 2021
Children's play must be urgently designated as a permitted lockdown activity for the sake of their physical and mental well being and personal development, campaigners have urged....
- Councils flag concerns about 'excessive profits' at children's homes
Date: 29 Jan 2021
Councils have called for financial oversight of England’s privately-run children’s care homes after research showed some of the biggest private equity-owned providers were collectively making hundreds of millions a year in profits.
The Local Government Association (LGA) also warned that the increasing indebtedness of some of the largest private providers risked triggering a Southern Cross-style financial collapse, potentially leaving vulnerable children without a home.
“Providers should … not be making excessive profit from providing placements for children,” said Judith Blake, chair of the LGA’s Children and Young People board.
- Covid-hit pupils 'should be allowed to repeat a year'
Date: 29 Jan 2021
Pupils in England who have lost out on significant learning time due to the pandemic should be allowed to repeat a year, say education policy experts.
Certain pupils should get the right to repeat a year of school, if their parents or carers agree, suggests the Education Policy Institute (EPI).
Head teachers expressed interest in the idea but said it could only be open to "small numbers" to avoid a "logjam".
- Right to repeat a year should be considered by ministers, headteachers say
Date: 29 Jan 2021
The right to repeat a year should be considered by ministers, the biggest secondary school headteacher union has said, but they warned that numbers should be limited....
- Covid: 'Virus going in right direction but not fast enough'
Date: 28 Jan 2021
Scientists behind a study tracking coronavirus in England say there are signs of a "shallow decline" in infection levels but they remain high.
And with not all regions seeing the same downward trend, pressure on health services is likely to continue.
Just under one in 60 people had the virus between 6 and 22 January according to researchers, with the trends "going in the right direction".
- LGA fears over government threats to slash grant
Date: 28 Jan 2021
Local Government Association (LGA) staff have been warned to cut costs after the Government threatened to slash its top-slice grant.
Ministers want to cut the grant for sector led improvement – currently £19.2m – by £5m and to open up the improvement process to competition from the private sector.
Local Government minister Luke Hall was poised to sign off the new funding before he was persuaded to hold fire. According to local government sources, ministers have questioned why the LGA has a monopoly, and why the bill for sector led improvement has not gone down during the pandemic as travel and hotel costs were cut out.
- Pandemic could impact children's mental health for years, report warns
Date: 28 Jan 2021
Damage to children's mental health caused by lockdown and school closures could last for years, the Children’s Commissioner has warned today.
A new report accuses the Government of a lack of 'ambition' for improving children's mental health services and calls for a 'wholesale change' in the way services are provided.
This includes providing an NHS-funded counsellor in every school, boosting funding for children's mental health, expanding services, and eliminating the postcode lottery.
However, the report did find that some local areas are delivering vastly improved services for children.
- Children's mental health services in England 'unable to meet demand'
Date: 28 Jan 2021
Mental health services in England do not have the capacity to cope with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on children, Anne Longfield, the children’s commissioner for England, has warned.
Despite an expansion in the four years before the pandemic, the supply of treatment for child mental health problems was already falling well short of demand, with referrals rising 35%, but treatments only increasing by 4%, the watchdog said as she called for a “rocket boost” in funding.
Longfield cited an NHS study before the latest national lockdown, which found one in six children had a probable mental health condition and said it is highly likely that the level of underlying mental health problems will remain significantly higher as a result of the pandemic, with an increase in referrals to NHS services already observed last autumn.
- Covid: Social workers 'braced for tsunami of needs' after lockdown
Date: 28 Jan 2021
Social workers say they are braced for a "tsunami of needs" as the UK recovers from the pandemic.
The British Association of Social Workers (BASW) expects workloads to increase as restrictions are lifted.
One worker described a "big surge" in referrals after the first lockdown and the fears of missing something wrong.
Officials in all four nations praised the efforts of social workers and highlighted schemes to help vulnerable children set up in the pandemic.
- Council proposes 3.5% council tax rise despite deficit
Date: 28 Jan 2021
North Yorkshire County Council is proposing a 3.5% council tax rise – below the allowed maximum – for next year, despite a forecast medium term funding gap of £18m.
In its budget proposals for 2021-22, approved at an executive meeting yesterday, the council said it will not implement the full 4.99% council tax increase allowed.
The council’s medium-term financial strategy said the council will have to make further efficiencies, strengthen revenue streams or use reserves to meet the forecast shortfall in medium-term budgets.
Gareth Dadd, the authority’s executive member for finance, told the committee: “There will be very many people in the county over the next 12 months that will lose their jobs as a result of the pandemic and the downturn in the economy.
- Council Tax Tracker uncovers reluctance to make maximum rise
Date: 28 Jan 2021
A significant proportion of councils are likely to opt against imposing the maximum possible council tax rise on residents this year, LGC research suggests, despite the government’s expectations they should do so.
The first results of LGC’s 2021 Council Tax Tracker found almost half (47%) were not currently proposing a maximum increase. While the majority of these were stopping just short of the maximum increases allowed without holding a referendum – 4.99% for upper tier councils and whichever is the greater of 1.99% or £5 for districts – three councils in LGC’s sample, Hartlepool, Basildon and Spelthorne BCs, were planning to completely freeze council tax for 2021-22.
- Northampton dealings with football club ‘unlawful’
Date: 28 Jan 2021
‘Significant failures of corporate governance’ at Northampton BC may have been unlawful, an auditor has found in a public interest report.
The council agreed in 2013 to provide a loan to Northampton Town FC to overhaul its stadium at Sixfields and to buy nearby land in a joint venture with a third party to develop the site.
However, loan payments ceased in 2015, with £10.2m outstanding, after the club failed to pay building contractors, with administration or liquidation looming.
- County lines gangsters face longer jail terms under tough new sentencing rules
Date: 27 Jan 2021
County lines gangsters face longer jail terms under new sentencing rules that will punish them for exploiting children to deal drugs....
- 'Poor decisions' to blame for UK death toll, scientists say
Date: 27 Jan 2021
"A legacy of poor decisions" by the UK before and during the pandemic led to one of the worst death rates in the world, scientists have said.
Labour also criticised "monumental mistakes" by the prime minister in delaying acting on scientific advice over lockdowns three times.
After UK deaths passed 100,000, Boris Johnson said he took "full responsibility" for the actions taken.
- Schools in low Covid infection areas may open sooner, parents told
Date: 27 Jan 2021
Boris Johnson said schools would reopen only “cautiously” as parents were promised news within days about the chance of children going back after the half-term holiday.
The prime minister suggested that schools could reopen first in English regions with a lower infection rate. Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 pupils in primary schools, and those sitting GSCEs and A-levels are expected to be the first to return under plans being drawn up by Gavin Williamson, mirroring the first national lockdown last year.
The education secretary has rejected a rota system because it will not help parents back to work or reduce transmission.
- Schools in England need post-Covid fund to tackle mental health decline, says report
Date: 27 Jan 2021
The government has been urged to set up a post-pandemic wellbeing fund for schools in England to match its £650m academic catch-up funding, after a major study highlighted worsening mental health among young people, with teenage girls particularly severely affected.
The research tracked the experiences of young people in England, at the ages of 11, 14 and 17, and found that while wellbeing declined for all groups as they got older, girls experienced far lower levels of wellbeing and self-esteem than boys and were more likely to feel unhappy about their physical appearance.
The study by the Education Policy Institute and the Prince’s Trust, conducted over two years and based on data from the Millennium Cohort Study, found the proportion of girls that felt unhappy about their appearance rose sharply between the ages of 11 and 14, from one in seven (15%) to about one in three (29%).
- £1 million wasted on cycle-friendly road zones that councils abandoned
Date: 27 Jan 2021
More than £1 million of public money has been wasted on cycle-friendly road schemes that were subsequently ripped out because of local opposition, an investigation has found.
Research showed that almost one in ten “low-traffic neighbourhoods” has been abandoned as little as a month after being introduced after complaints from residents and businesses.
In one case, Westminster council spent almost £138,000 on design, engineering and consultation fees only to scrap a scheme before it was launched.
- UK mayors urge Boris Johnson to commit to tougher air pollution targets
Date: 27 Jan 2021
City mayors representing more than 17 million people across the UK are urging Boris Johnson to commit to tougher air pollution targets after the inquest into the death of nine-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah.
The cross-party group, including the Labour mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and the Conservative mayor of the West of England combined authority, Tim Bowles, have signed a joint letter along with city leaders from Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield and the North of Tyne to urge Boris Johnson to enshrine in law a commitment to achieve World Health Organization air pollution guidelines by 2030.
Ella’s mother, Rosamund Kissi-Debrah, signed the letter after a coroner ruled that illegal levels of air pollution had caused the death of her daughter in 2013. She called on the prime minister to act immediately to protect the lives and wellbeing of other young people across the country.
- Quarantine hotel plans set to be announced
Date: 26 Jan 2021
Some travellers coming to England will have to quarantine in hotels amid concerns about new Covid variants, the government is expected to announce.
Boris Johnson will discuss proposals with ministers later, but a decision may not be announced until Wednesday.
Most foreign nationals from high-risk countries are already denied UK entry, so the new rules will mainly affect returning UK citizens and residents.
- Depression among children is at frightening levels, doctors warn
Date: 26 Jan 2021
Schools must fully reopen with vaccinations for staff to avoid a “calamitous” impact on children’s mental health, some of the country’s top paediatricians have warned.
In a letter to The Times today, ten of the UK’s top experts in child health say that anxiety, self-harm and suicidal thoughts are at “frightening levels” among children and many parents are on the brink of breakdown.
A group of experts including Claire Hogg, a consultant in paediatric respiratory medicine, Andrew Bush, a professor of paediatric respirology, and Ian Balfour Lynn, a specialist in child respiratory medicine, warn that the lockdown is inflicting serious damage on children’s development and wellbeing.
- High air pollution linked to irreversible sight loss
Date: 26 Jan 2021
People living in areas with higher levels of air pollution are more likely to develop a progressive and irreversible type of sight loss, a study has shown.
Researchers from University College London found higher rates of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) among people in more polluted areas, even when pollution levels were within World Health Organisation guidelines.
AMD is the leading cause of irreversible blindness among over-50s in high income countries. In the UK about 600,000 people are affected.
- Local authorities' Covid-19 pressures 'set to deepen'
Date: 26 Jan 2021
Covid-19 financial pressures for local authorities in England totalled £10.8bn during 2020, as forecast pressures for 2020-21 rose to £12.5bn, according to latest returns submitted to government.
Figures released by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government show that councils' forecast pressures for 2020-21 at £12.5bn, around £600m more than the £11.9bn predicted at the end of October.
The majority of the predicted pressures are a result of additional Covid-19 spending at £6.8bn, with a further £5.7bn from income losses.
- ‘Significant Brexit challenges’ weaken UK economy
Date: 26 Jan 2021
The UK’s economy has been weakened by significant challenges relating to Brexit, with exit from the single market set to impact medium-term growth, according to ratings agency Moody’s.
In a rating’s opinion that affirmed a “Aa3 stable” rating, the agency said that the Brexit trade agreement lacks substance on services trade, which is vital to the UK economy, prolonging Brexit-related uncertainty.
Moody’s added that weakening longer-term growth, a higher-than-expected deficit or higher funding costs could lead to a future ratings downgrade.
- UK unemployment reaches four-year high in Covid-19 lockdown
Date: 26 Jan 2021
Unemployment in the UK has reached the highest level for more than four years as the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic and tougher lockdown measures place more pressure on businesses and workers.
The Office for National Statistics said the unemployment rate rose to 5% in the three months to the end of November – representing more than 1.7 million people – from 4.9% in the three months to the end of October, reaching the highest level since August 2016. Unemployment was 4% in February before the pandemic struck.
In a snapshot of the jobs market during the second English lockdown and as tough restrictions were imposed in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to limit the spread of Covid-19, the ONS said redundancies hit a record high during the quarter. Job losses were most heavily concentrated among younger workers, and in the retail and hospitality sectors.
- Government plans to turn England homes green 'in chaos' with debt and job losses
Date: 26 Jan 2021
England’s much-hyped £2bn green homes grant is in chaos, renewable energy installers say, with some owed tens of thousands of pounds and struggling to stay in business.
Members of the public have been left waiting nearly four months, in some cases, to take advantage of the scheme to fit low carbon heating systems. Some installers say customers are pulling out after losing faith in the green grants.
Boris Johnson touted the grants as one of the key programmes in his ten 10-point plan for a green industrial revolution. It aims to help 600,000 households switch their energy to low carbon and help the UK meet its commitment to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
- Fury as long-awaited UK environment bill is delayed for third time
Date: 26 Jan 2021
The government has delayed the long-awaited environment bill, which redraws rules after the UK’s departure from the EU, provoking fury from campaigners who said it would harm action on air pollution and water quality, as well as other key issues. The proposed legislation would be the biggest shake-up of green regulation in decades.
Ministers said the delay, which means the flagship bill is unlikely to pass before the autumn, was necessary because dealing with the Covid-19 crisis left too little parliamentary time for debate.
Trying to continue with the original timetable would have risked the bill falling and having to return to square one of the parliamentary process.
- Scottish Government funding for councils falls short
Date: 26 Jan 2021
Funding from the Scottish Government will only meet between 60% and 70% of overall financial pressures identified by councils, according to the country’s local government spending watchdog.
A report from the Scottish Accounts Commission said that the financial impact of Covid-19 on councils in 2020-21 is estimated at £767m, with just over half of the amount due to lost income.
The watchdog estimates that councils have been allocated £936m in Covid-19 funding for 2020-21 up to November.
- Pandemic is 'levelling down' the South, report warns
Date: 25 Jan 2021
The economic damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic will make it four times harder to level up the North and Midlands, a new study has revealed.
Cities Outlook 2021, published by Centre for Cities, warns the pandemic also risks levelling down prosperous places in southern England. It highlights that 634,000 people outside the Greater South East now need to find secure, well-paid jobs to level up the country, compared to 170,000 last March.
The report found Birmingham, Hull and Blackpool face the biggest levelling up challenge, while London, Crawley and Slough are among the prosperous places of concern due COVID-19’s potential long-term impact.
- Councils back postponement of May local elections
Date: 25 Jan 2021
Senior council figures have urged the Government to postpone the local elections planned for May, according to a new poll.
The survey by the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU) reveals that councils are overwhelmingly concerned about their ability to deliver a May poll. Instead, 69% of council officials believe an autumn timetable is more achievable.
Those responding to the poll call on the Government to provide additional ring-fenced funding to make elections safe, and greater expansion of postal voting.
- Government must use 2021 to get levelling up back on track
Date: 25 Jan 2021
Urgent action is needed to level up Northern cities and towns – and prevent parts of the South being levelled down, writes the chief executive of Centre for Cities.
After many difficult months there is reason to hope that the end of the pandemic is in sight and our lives could soon return to some form of normality. A speedy vaccination programme could mean that by summer restaurants, shops and pubs can re-open and, despite what some commentators have said, the benefits of face-to-face interaction mean many people will return to their offices.
But the scaling down of the public health crisis will mean a scaling-up of economic crisis – primarily repairing the damage Covid-19 has done to the national economy and the economies of our cities and towns.
- councils to get £23m to encourage high-risk groups to have jab
Date: 25 Jan 2021
The government will provide £23m in funding to dozens of councils in England to help fight misinformation around coronavirus vaccines and to encourage uptake of the jab among more high-risk communities.
Councils with plans to contact people from minority ethnic backgrounds, older people and disabled people have been chosen for the financial support, as these groups have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic and are more likely to be dealing with its long-term effects.
A number of experts and politicians recently called for people in high-risk minority ethnic groups to be prioritised for immunisation, and for them to be targeted by publicity campaigns aimed at tackling vaccine scepticism.
- Most job roles for youths not yet filled
Date: 25 Jan 2021
Fewer than 2,000 young people have so far started new roles under the government's £2bn Kickstart jobs scheme, data shows.
The programme, which launched in September, has created 120,000 temporary jobs to date.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak told the BBC coronavirus restrictions were making it harder for more young people to get started.
- Councils report nearly 5% dip in parking profits
Date: 25 Jan 2021
Local authorities in England have reported a slight dip in parking profits, which they warn could impact their ability to fix potholes and tackle congestion.
An analysis by the RAC Foundation of the standardised financial returns made by 338 English councils to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) found that they made a combined profit of £891m from parking in 2019-20. This was 4.6% lower than the £934m surplus made in the previous year.
Responding to the RAC’s findings, the Local Government Association (LGA) emphasised that any money made from parking management is reinvested in ‘essential transport projects’.
- ‘Pressure cooker’ lockdown set to drive rising costs
Date: 25 Jan 2021
Councils were facing a Covid-driven funding gap of more than £2bn in 2020-21 even before the latest lockdown led to a further soaring service demand, LGC has learned, as expectation mounts that the gap between government funding and the cost pressures authorities are facing is widening again.
Analysis of the sector’s latest financial returns to the government by the Local Government Association found total in-year Covid pressure projected by councils was around £9.7bn, made up of £6.9bn of cost pressures and £2.8bn of non-tax income losses.
After taking account of additional funding provided by ministers, including via clinical commissioning groups for social care and an estimated £1bn from the sales, fees and charges compensation scheme, the LGA estimated the gap this year is almost £2.3bn.
- Almost four in five of over-80s have received first dose of coronavirus vaccine but supply is 'tight', says Matt Hancock
Date: 25 Jan 2021
Almost four in five of those aged over 80 have received a first dose of a COVID vaccine, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said.
Speaking at a Downing Street news conference, Mr Hancock said the government was "on track" to meet its deadline of offering a first dose of a coronavirus jab to 15 million of the most vulnerable by 15 February.
He said more than one in nine of the UK's adult population had now received a jab, including 78.7% of all over-80s.
- UK records lowest daily rise in coronavirus cases so far this year
Date: 25 Jan 2021
The UK has recorded its lowest daily rise in coronavirus cases so far this year, with 22,195.
The last time the number of cases by date reported was lower than that was 15 December, according to the government's coronavirus data dashboard.
While there is usually a reporting lag over and immediately after the weekend, resulting in lower increases, it's also well down on yesterday's figure of 30,004 and the 37,535 posted last Monday.
- Schools will be told of reopening plans 'as soon as we can'
Date: 25 Jan 2021
The government will tell teachers and parents when schools in England can reopen "as soon as we can", the prime minister has said.
MPs have called on the government to set out a "route map" for reopening amid concerns for children's education.
Boris Johnson said he understood why people wanted a timetable but he did not want to lift restrictions while the infection rate was "still very high".
- English council chiefs back postponement of May local elections
Date: 24 Jan 2021
A further postponement to this year’s local elections, in the wake of the continuing difficulties caused by the Covid pandemic, is backed by the vast majority of senior council figures across England, the Observer can reveal.
Only 11% of the senior officials dealing with the forthcoming elections believe they should go ahead in May as planned, despite the government’s determination to press ahead. More than two-thirds (69%) believe the huge set of elections should now take place in the autumn, according to the most comprehensive survey of council chief executives, leaders and officers in charge of organising elections to be conducted on the issue.
A further 14% called for a shorter delay to the summer and 6% backed a postponement beyond this autumn, according to the analysis by the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU). Of the more than 350 officials who responded, two-thirds said they were “very concerned” about holding elections in May.
- Swathes of England's vital flood defences ‘almost useless’
Date: 24 Jan 2021
Thousands of England’s vital flood defences were in such a state of ruin last year they would fail to protect communities from extreme weather, an investigation has found.
More than 3,400 of England’s “high consequence” flood assets, defined as those where there is a high risk to life and property if they fail, were judged by the Environment Agency to be in such a bad condition they were almost useless.
This means that more than one in 20 of the country’s crucial flood defences were in disrepair in 2019-20, the highest proportion in years. This rose to nearly one in 10 in the regions battered by Storm Christoph last week.
- Fears grow over hidden child abuse since start of pandemic
Date: 24 Jan 2021
Vulnerable children are facing an increasing wave of hidden abuse since the start of the pandemic, according to ongoing evidence of a slump in the numbers being identified by social services.
The impact of the pandemic since March has intensified issues such as domestic violence, parental mental health and alcohol and substance abuse – all factors that put children at greater risk.
However, there has been a significant fall in referrals to council children’s services of 10% between the end of April and November, according to research by the Office for the Children’s Commissioner in England.
- UK variant 'may be more deadly'
Date: 23 Jan 2021
Early evidence suggests the variant of coronavirus that emerged in the UK may be more deadly, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.
However, there remains huge uncertainty around the numbers - and vaccines are still expected to work.
The data comes from mathematicians comparing death rates in people infected with either the new or the old versions of the virus.
- Ministers to discuss £500 Covid payment to boost self-isolation rates
Date: 22 Jan 2021
Ministers are to discuss proposals to pay anyone in England who tests positive for Covid-19 £500 to self-isolate.
It is among the suggestions in a leaked document from the Department of Health. There are fears the current financial support is not working because low paid workers cannot afford to self-isolate.
But a senior government source cast doubt on the idea, saying it had been drawn up by officials and had not been considered by the prime minister.
- Government finances at 'significant risk' from debt-laden councils due to Covid
Date: 22 Jan 2021
Local authorities who are taking on risky levels of debt to shore up dwindling resources during the pandemic present a “significant risk” to the government’s finances, MPs have warned.
The Commons’ public accounts committee urged the Treasury on Friday to detail how it will manage the risk to the nation’s finances as the extra pressures of dealing with coronavirus adds to the pressure on councils.
Meg Hillier, the committee’s chair, criticised the department as having a “worryingly laissez-faire attitude” to the issue as the MPs predicted more authorities will soon be unable to balance their books.
- Councils face legal challenges against pop-up cycle lanes and road closures introduced during Covid-19 pandemic
Date: 22 Jan 2021
Town halls are facing at least ten legal challenges against road schemes brought in during the pandemic.
Residents' groups are applying for judicial reviews into measures such as road closures and pop-up cycle lanes at a High Court hearing next month.
The cases include schemes introduced in the London boroughs of Hackney, Ealing, Hounslow, Lambeth, Croydon and Camden which the campaigners want scrapped.
- UK borrowing hits highest December level on record
Date: 22 Jan 2021
UK government borrowing hit £34.1bn last month, the highest December figure on record, as the cost of pandemic support weighed on the economy.
It was also the third-highest borrowing figure in any month since records began in 1993, the Office for National Statistics said.
The figures underline Chancellor Rishi Sunak's problems as he prepares his March Budget. Borrowing for this financial year has now reached £270.8bn. That is £212.7bn more than a year ago, the ONS said.
- Council finances a ‘significant risk' to the Treasury
Date: 22 Jan 2021
MPs have warned that the financial sustainability of some local authorities presents a “significant risk” to the government's finances, and urged the swift implementation of the Redmond review into council audit.
In a report on the Whole of Government Accounts, the Public Accounts Committee said that, due to the Covid-19 and investment pressures, it expects more local authorities to issue section 114 notices to stop essential spending.
The PAC expressed concerns about the level of oversight and control that the Treasury is exercising and whether it has a sufficient handle on local government finance, given it would be responsible for bailing out any struggling organisations.
- Councils ‘in driving seat’ over shared prosperity fund, Jenrick insists
Date: 22 Jan 2021
The communities secretary has said the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) and the £4bn levelling up fund - both intended to replace current EU funding - will have “localism and local government at their heart”.
Robert Jenrick's comments at a meeting of the Local Government Association councillors' forum this afternoon should go some way to diminishing fears local enterprise partnerships (leps) would be given the primary local role in their delivery, rather than local government.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government will publish prospectuses for the levelling up fund and £220m to pilot projects in preparation for the UKSPF “within weeks”, he said.
- County’s leaders present legal solution to let remote meetings continue
Date: 22 Jan 2021
Council leaders from across Essex have written to Robert Jenrick urging him to extend provisions to hold virtual meetings after obtaining legal advice that it would be in his power to do so.
The letter to the communities secretary, seen by LGC, warns that without the ability to hold remote meetings councils will not be able to comply with their duty under the Local Government Act 1999 to secure continuous improvement in services.
It says that as it is “inevitable that social distancing advice will be in place in May 2021 and for many months thereafter”, come May Essex CC will “have the least transparent arrangements it has ever had”. This is because under social distancing requirements it will only be able to fit 49 of its 75 members into the council chamber and no members of the public or press.
- Cambridgeshire’s £24m education boost may not be enough for SEND pupils
Date: 22 Jan 2021
Cambridgeshire County Council has announced that £24m will be added onto schooling budgets in the upcoming year, owing to extra demand placed on schools during coronavirus, because of added infrastructure despite schools being closed for most pupils for most of the year.
However, although extra funding is welcomed within the education sector, critics warn that £24m may not be enough to meet the deficit that they’re facing, particularly in relation to SEND pupils.
With rising costs, the deficit for provisions for SEND mean that the Council could be facing a £27m deficit, rising the year after to £38m.
- High Court deals blow to expansion of cycle lanes and wider pavements
Date: 21 Jan 2021
Road closures designed to boost walking and cycling could face legal challenges after a judge declared that a big expansion of the plans was “unlawful”.
The High Court in London ruled that the introduction of road closures in the capital was based on guidance that was “seriously flawed”.
Mrs Justice Lang found in favour of black cab drivers who opposed the schemes that were introduced during the pandemic to promote social distancing and exercise. She said it was “possible to widen pavements to allow for social distancing” without seeking to transform parts of central London into “predominantly car-free zones”.
- Johnson raises fears of lockdown in England continuing into summertime
Date: 21 Jan 2021
Boris Johnson raised fears that tough Covid restrictions could continue well into the spring and beyond on Thursday as ministers refused to be drawn on plans for any potential easing of lockdown.
While the vast majority of Tory MPs have toed the line since the new variant of the virus sent cases soaring, Downing Street’s reticence is already causing anxiety among a few backbenchers, who are urging an easing of the restrictions if vaccination rates stay on target.
Downing Street is committed to reviewing the current England-wide lockdown in mid-February, by which point all people in the four top target groups for vaccinations should have been offered at least their first injection.
- Auditors raise questions over council transparency
Date: 21 Jan 2021
Bristol City Council’s auditors have raised concerns over transparency relating to the council’s failed energy company Bristol Energy.
In a review of the governance arrangements of the council's subsidiaries, published ahead of an audit committee meeting, Grant Thornton said that information on key decisions made by the deputy mayor in relation to the company were not routinely published.
This meant the audit committee was not always sufficiently updated on developments and information relating to the governance and risks at Bristol Energy, Grant Thornton said.
- Council shifts £11m of land to housing account
Date: 21 Jan 2021
Reading Borough Council has approved plans to move £11m of land assets to its housing revenue account as part of a major regeneration project.
The move was agreed in a council meeting earlier this week, and will see the transfer four banks of land earmarked for a £44m affordable housing project from the general fund to the HRA.
The council made the move using powers under section 122 of the Local Government Act 1972, as the land is surplus to the general funds requirements and no longer required for its previous purposes.
- Jenrick ‘made arguments within government’ to delay local elections
Date: 21 Jan 2021
The communities secretary has told the country’s most senior councillors that he sees a “very strong argument” for delaying the local elections, putting him on collision course with the prime minister who has made it clear he wants to see the polls go ahead.
Robert Jenrick told councillors during this afternoon’s councillors forum that he understands “it isn’t just about campaigning” but the “delivery of the elections” but that “for those people not involved in local government it’s easy to miss that, and that delivery begins now”.
“Your officers will be beginning to think about [polling] and those efforts will ramp up in the month of February and into March which is a time when they need to be thinking about many other things as well. So I can see a strong argument [for delaying] and I have made those arguments within government.”
- £148m to target county lines drug gangs and treat addiction
Date: 20 Jan 2021
Police have shut down more than 550 county lines and arrested nearly 3,500 people connected with the drug dealing gangs in just over a year.
The Home Office revealed the crackdown as it announced a £148 million package to cut crime and tackle issues around illegal drugs. It also gives more resources to police to tackle organised urban criminal gangs, which take over provincial drug markets, often exploiting young and vulnerable people. The county line is the mobile phone line used to take drugs orders.
- Fears over coronavirus vaccine supplies as rate drops
Date: 20 Jan 2021
Ministers are increasingly concerned about the pace of the coronavirus vaccine rollout after a reduction in the supply of Pfizer-Biontech jabs.
The number of people receiving their first dose on Monday fell for the third day in a row to 204,076 from a high of 324,000 on Friday.
Pfizer said supplies of vaccine would be lower this month and next as it was upgrading its factory in Belgium before increasing production in March.
- Cost of living up despite Covid Christmas curbs
Date: 20 Jan 2021
Prices rose at a faster rate in the UK in December, despite Covid curbs that forced non-essential shops to shut.
Consumer Prices Index inflation jumped to 0.6%, from 0.3% in November, pushed higher by rising transport and clothes prices, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
Many people rushed to travel and beat Christmas restrictions, forcing up prices.
- London chief takes on national vaccines role
Date: 20 Jan 2021
The chief executive of Southwark LBC Eleanor Kelly has taken up a key role in the national Covid vaccine rollout.
Ms Kelly, who has been Southwark chief for the last eight years, is joining the government and NHS’s national vaccinations team, helping to coordinate the local government response.
In the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire, Ms Kelly was praised by then-communities secretary Sajid Javid for her role as a key member of a specialist task force publicly fronting the gold command operation in Kensington & Chelsea RBC. She also held one of the senior roles on London's strategic coordinating group when it was convened at the start of the pandemic.
- Croydon ordered to hold May mayoral referendum
Date: 20 Jan 2021
Croydon LBC has been told to hold a referendum this May on introducing an elected mayor after the government legislated to make it possible.
A petition that campaigners claim was signed by more than 17,000 borough voters was presented to the council in September, exceeding the required 5% of electors needed to compel Croydon to hold a referendum. However, the council’s then leadership declined to schedule a referendum alongside local elections in May, citing emergency coronavirus legislation that deemed such petitions invalid before 6 May 2021.
The council, which is under new political and officer leadership following a damning public interest report into its commercial and investment decisions and effectively declaring itself bankrupt, has since committed to hold a referendum in October 2021.
- Government greenlights councils’ ambitious zero carbon housing plans
Date: 20 Jan 2021
New government measures to improve energy performance of new homes have been welcomed for allowing councils to retain powers to set local energy efficiency standards, but some campaigners have been left disappointed by the failure to adopt a more rapid timetable.
The government yesterday published its response to the Future Home Standard consultation carried out last year, in which it has confirmed that new homes will need to be 'zero carbon ready' from 2025.
The government had previously indicated it would remove councils’ powers to go higher than government thresholds when it comes to housing efficiency standards, which could have potentially watered down more ambitious plans for low carbon homes in areas including Stroud and the Oxford-Cambridge arc.
- UK cities and towns hardest hit by COVID-19 likely to recover fastest, report finds
Date: 20 Jan 2021
The cities worst hit by the coronavirus pandemic are likely to make the fastest economic recovery, new analysis has revealed today.
The Good Growth for Cities report by PwC and Demos shows that towns and cities such as Bradford, Liverpool and Southend have seen their economies decrease by more than 12.5% in 2020. However, these cities are predicted to recover faster than others in 2021, with projected GVA growth rates of 5.3% and higher.
However the report warns these places will also be left with smaller economies in 2021 than they were in 2019.
- Inquiry launched into role of local authority pension funds in fighting climate change
Date: 20 Jan 2021
A parliamentary group has launched an inquiry into how institutional investors such as local authority pension funds can help drive a ‘just transition’ to a net zero economy.
The Government is committed in law to transition the UK to net zero carbon emissions by 2050 as part of the struggle against climate change.
The All Party Parliamentary Group for Local Authority Pension Funds today announced the launch of its inquiry to investigate what local authority pension funds and other investors can do to ensure that no one is left out during the transition.
- New homes will need to reduce emissions by at least 75% by 2025
Date: 20 Jan 2021
All new buildings will have to meet tough new energy efficiency standards under plans published by the Government.
The Government said all new homes will be expected to produce 75-80% lower carbon emissions compared to current levels by 2025. An interim target of 31% lower carbon emissions has been set from 2021.
Existing homes will also be subject to higher standards with a requirement for replacement, repairs and parts to be more energy efficient.
- Councils urged to update their Local Plans
Date: 20 Jan 2021
A small number of councils are failing to keep their Local Plans up-to-date, the housing minister has warned.
Christopher Pincher urged all councils to ensure they have an up-to-date Local Plan in place by the government deadline of December 2023 in order to ensure they can deliver the homes needed.
Mr Pincher said: ‘Despite the significant challenges caused by the pandemic, I know the majority of councils are doing all they can to build much-needed homes across England. I would like to thank them for the important work they do to deliver the homes, jobs and supporting infrastructure that make such a difference to their local communities.
- Rollout of daily testing of close contacts paused in English schools
Date: 20 Jan 2021
The government has paused plans to roll out rapid daily coronavirus testing of close contacts, in all but a small number of secondary schools and colleges.
Testing close contacts of a positive case as an alternative to isolation showed some benefits in trials.
But the emergence of a new variant means the risk of missing infections has risen, health officials say.
- Oxford scientists preparing new vaccine versions to combat emerging Covid strains
Date: 20 Jan 2021
Oxford scientists are preparing to rapidly produce new versions of their vaccine to combat emerging Covid-19 variants from the UK, South Africa and Brazil.
The university has confirmed that the team behind the AstraZeneca jab is undertaking feasibility studies to reconfigure the technology at 48 hours notice.
The news emerged as new research suggested that the current generation of Covid vaccines may not work against the new South African strain.
A laboratory study found that the 501Y.V2 variant achieved "complete escape" from monoclonal antibodies, the man-made proteins that act like the antibodies produced by jabs.
- Record 343,000 people in UK receive Covid vaccine in one day
Date: 20 Jan 2021
A record 343,000 people in the UK received a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday as the NHS scaled up its push to vaccinate 15 million people by mid-February – but Tony Blair called on ministers to hit 600,000 jabs a day.
Downing Street said it was increasingly confident that it would hit the target as long as the supply was maintained, although with 25 days to go it will require about 400,000 immunisations a day to remain on track.
Blair, the former prime minister who was among the first to advocate prioritisation of single doses before the approach was adopted by the UK, today calls on ministers to increase the pace of vaccinations to 600,000 a day, arguing this could allow a return to normality by mid-May.
- Majority of discretionary self-isolation support applications rejected, Labour say
Date: 20 Jan 2021
Three quarters of applications for a £500 discretionary grant, which aims to help those on low incomes self-isolate, have been rejected, figures suggest.
Employed or self-employed people in England who do not qualify for the Test and Trace Support Payment because they do not receive benefits can apply.
Data obtained by Labour and shared with BBC Newsnight suggests just 12,069 of 49,877 applications were successful.
- Covid jabs diverted to over-80s in vaccination blackspots
Date: 19 Jan 2021
Coronavirus jabs will be diverted to areas falling behind on vaccinating the over-80s amid concerns about regional disparities in the programme.
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said that stocks would be prioritised for areas with a large number of unprotected over-80s, despite a promise yesterday to let GPs begin vaccinating younger patients.
More than four million people across Britain have received a first dose of the vaccine after 1.8 million were reached in the seven days to Sunday.
- One in four UK young people have felt 'unable to cope' in pandemic
Date: 19 Jan 2021
Young people are in danger of giving up on their futures and on themselves, with a quarter saying they feel unable to cope with life, one of the UK’s leading charities has said.
The Prince’s Trust long-running annual survey of young people’s happiness and confidence returned the worst findings in its 12-year history.
“The pandemic has taken a devastating toll on young people’s mental health and wellbeing,” said Jonathan Townsend, the trust’s UK chief executive. “Many believe they are missing out on being young, and sadly we know that the impact of the pandemic on their employment prospects and overall wellbeing could continue far into their futures.”
- MPs call for Universal Credit cut to be scrapped - but majority of Tory MPs abstain
Date: 19 Jan 2021
MPs have backed a motion calling for the upcoming cut in Universal Credit to be scrapped, with nearly all Conservative MPs abstaining.
There were 278 votes in favour of the motion, with no votes against recorded. Boris Johnson ordered his MPs to abstain, which means not voting for or against the motion.
A £20-a-week increase in Universal Credit was introduced last year to help families cope during the COVID-19 pandemic, equating to an extra £1,000 a year for six million families.
- Babies’ needs overlooked in COVID response
Date: 19 Jan 2021
The ‘hidden harms’ of the spring lockdown on 0-2s were broad and significant, and experienced unevenly depending on family circumstances and background, according to the report commissioned by the First 1001 Days Movement.
It reveals evidence that ‘historically inadequate or insecure funding and a rising tide of need has inhibited the ability of some services and areas to respond to the coronavirus crisis’.
For some families with babies, spring lockdown brought some broad benefits, for example around increases in quality family time. But babies in families already experiencing disadvantage ‘appear less likely to have seen many of these benefits’ says the report.
- Return of free school meals voucher scheme
Date: 19 Jan 2021
The Government has relaunched the free school meal vouchers following the scandal surrounding 'disgusting' food parcels.
The Government had promised to investigate after pictures appeared on social media of inadequate food parcels.
The voucher scheme will allow schools to order supermarket gift cards for eligible pupils, worth £15 a week per child.
- Casey accuses government of ‘systemic failure’ over no recourse to public funds
Date: 19 Jan 2021
Whitehall’s former chief adviser on homelessness and the architect of its ‘Everyone In’ policy has delivered a stinging rebuke of the government’s failure to deal with those with no recourse to public funds.
Giving evidence to the Commons' housing, communities and local government committee yesterday, Dame Louise Casey branded it a “mismanaged policy” and warned that the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government’s rough sleeping team are having to deal with “systemic failure” elsewhere in government with councils left to pick up the tab.
Dame Louise, who has advised both Labour and Conservative governments on their homeless strategies and was tasked with getting all rough sleepers off the streets during the first wave of Coronavirus, told the committee that “one of the causes of rough sleeping is an inability to manage immigration properly”.
- Councils told to visit every supermarket as Covid enforcement ramps up
Date: 19 Jan 2021
The communities secretary has told councils to step up their enforcement efforts by paying a visit to every supermarket and corner shop in their area to ensure they are complying with Covid rules, and to have a “stern conversation” with those found to be remiss.
LGC has learned Robert Jenrick told councils on a ministerial webinar last Wednesday to mobilise their enforcement officers over the course of the following two weeks and “make an effort” to visit all essential retailers in their area to “have that conversation” about their Covid procedures.
“Clearly there is an advantage to doing it unannounced,” he added.
- Brexit deal ‘could impact UK credit rating’
Date: 19 Jan 2021
The UK’s credit rating could decrease if the Brexit free trade agreement with the European Union undermines economic performance, according to ratings agency Fitch.
In a rating action commentary affirming the UK’s AA- rating with a negative outlook, Fitch said the free trade agreement will cause less disruption than a no-deal scenario would have.
However, the agency warned that the agreement will still entail significant new non-tariff barriers, which could negatively impact the UK.
- Treasury minister warns against tax rises
Date: 19 Jan 2021
Jesse Norman, financial secretary to the Treasury, has warned against immediate tax rises in the upcoming budget which could “impede” economic growth.
Speaking to the Treasury Select Committee yesterday, Norman said his department is focused on stabilising Britain’s economy before any thoughts on wider fiscal policies.
He added that a rapid economic recovery could be caused by a “pronounced bounce” in consumer spending and could mitigate the need for tax rises.
- Spelthorne commercial income allows council tax freeze
Date: 19 Jan 2021
Spelthorne Borough Council’s controversial commercial investment strategy has allowed it to propose council tax freezes next year despite Covid-19 disruption, according to its finance chief.
The council has been the most high-profile council using cheap government borrowing to buy property – taking ownership of £1bn in properties offices and shopping centres in recent years.
However, Terry Collier, deputy chief executive and chief finance officer at the council, told PF that it has allowed them to propose the freeze in its budget proposals to be published next week.
- Schools might not all reopen at the same time across England, suggests Dr Jenny Harries
Date: 19 Jan 2021
Schools might not all reopen at the same time across England as lockdown restrictions are eased, MPs have been told.
Dr Jenny Harries, one of England's deputy chief medical officers, said there was "likely" to be regional differences in COVID measures once the national shutdown ends.
Appearing before the House of Commons' education committee on Tuesday, Dr Harries was asked if there could be a regional or phased approach to reopening schools.
- Covid-related deaths in care homes in England jump by 46%
Date: 19 Jan 2021
Deaths in care homes in England have hit the highest level since mid-May, according to the latest official figures, which revealed a 46% jump in coronavirus-related deaths in the last week as the more transmissible variant of Covid-19 breaches care homes’ defences.
In the week to last Friday, 1,260 deaths in care homes involving Covid-19 were reported to the Care Quality Commission, a sharp jump from 824 and 661 in the previous two weeks. The weekly death toll in care homes had fallen to well below 100 in early October.
The rising numbers came after the vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi, described the inoculation programme as “a race against deaths” and GPs scrambled to deliver vaccines to the half of care home residents yet to receive jabs.
- Nottingham plans £100m asset sale
Date: 19 Jan 2021
Nottingham City Council has identified £100m of assets for sale as part of a plan to bring its finances under control.
The recovery and improvement plan, ordered by the Government following a rapid review last year, also proposed closing up to three companies, a complete rewriting of the council's constitution, a management restructure and efficiency savings.
Nottingham's plan will be overseen by an external improvement and assurance board chaired by Sir Tony Redmond, with members appointed by the Government, including council leader Cllr David Mellen.
- Vaccination rollout begins for over-70s in England
Date: 18 Jan 2021
People in England aged 70 and over, as well as those listed as clinically extremely vulnerable, will begin receiving offers of a coronavirus vaccine this week.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the move was a "significant milestone" in the nation's vaccination programme.
More than five million people - from priority groups three and four - will be invited to have the jab from Monday.
- 24-hour vaccination sites to be piloted in London before end of January
Date: 18 Jan 2021
Twenty-four hour vaccination sites will be piloted in London before the end of January, the vaccines minister has said.
Speaking to Sky News, Nadhim Zahawi said the NHS will be "targeting forensically who we want to protect" to ensure the most vulnerable people can be vaccinated first.
He said that as there is "limited supply" of the vaccine, "it needs to get into the arms of the most vulnerable" such as those who are elderly or clinically extremely vulnerable.
- Free fast broadband offered in UK to support home schooling
Date: 18 Jan 2021
Thousands of families struggling with home learning are being offered free high-speed broadband following a partnership between internet provider Hyperoptic and dozens of local authorities across the UK.
Families in 37 local authority areas, from Tower Hamlets in London to Newcastle and Leeds that are struggling with remote learning due to poor or no internet will be offered the chance to have a high speed connection installed with no usage charges until the end of the summer term.
At that point there is no obligation to stick with the service. Telecoms regulator Ofcom has estimated that more than 880,000 children live in a household with internet access only via mobile phone.
- Green belt at risk from ‘wrong ideas about cities’
Date: 18 Jan 2021
Thousands of acres of green space around towns and cities could be built on because of “implausible” population forecasts, campaigners claim.
The Office for National Statistics predicted that Coventry’s population would rise by 32 per cent between 2011 and 2031. That figure has led the city council to plan for more than 40,000 new homes on green belt land that once formed the Forest of Arden.
However, Keep Our Green Belt Green said that the city’s “vital signs” did not reflect the population growth projected. Its research, which four professors have reviewed, found that jobs had grown by 18 per cent in recent years but this was half that of some nearby towns.
- Universal credit: Labour presses PM for action ahead of benefit vote
Date: 18 Jan 2021
Boris Johnson has been urged to give millions of families a "helping hand" ahead of a Commons vote on extending benefit increases worth £20 a week.
Labour will use a debate on Monday to ramp up the pressure on the government to keep the universal credit uplift, worth £1,000 a year, beyond 31 March.
Sir Keir Starmer said families "needed certainty" incomes would be protected. Tory MPs will abstain, meaning the non-binding motion will pass but ministers have not committed to implementing it.
- Jenrick accused of starting ‘culture war’ with new statues law
Date: 18 Jan 2021
New laws being drawn up to protect statues by ensuring they can only be removed with permission from the communities secretary have been slammed by the Labour party's most senior local government representative as "profoundly disturbing".
Under proposals announced this weekend, the removal of any of England’s 20,000 historic statues or monuments, whether they are listed or not, will in future require listed building consent or planning permission . Under the new regulations, if a council intends to grant permission for removal of a particular statue and Historic England objects, the communities secretary will be notified so he can make the final decision about the application in question.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government says the new rules will mean historic statues can be “retained and explained” for future generations and only be removed in “the most exceptional circumstances”.
- £120m care staff funding branded ‘gesture politics’
Date: 18 Jan 2021
Questions have been raised over how much impact the £120m announced over the weekend for care staffing can have in a sector already facing a workforce crisis.
The cash will be handed to councils to be distributed to care homes to spend on boosting staffing levels by funding extra care staff or administrative support to free up existing staff to focus on providing care. The Department for Health & Social Care said it could also be used to help existing staff to take on additional hours by covering overtime payments or childcare costs.
However, it falls well short of the £480m the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services called for last week to avert an immediate workforce crisis in the sector. It said that Covid infection, self-isolation and “sheer fatigue” were reducing the number of staff able to work in social care teams – on top of the 112,000 vacancies reported in the sector before the start of the pandemic.
- London chief to leave after 17 years
Date: 18 Jan 2021
Merton LBC is seeking to appoint a new chief executive to succeed Ged Curran after 17 years in the post.
Mr Curran was appointed in March 2004 after holding senior positions at Newham, Waltham Forest, Lambeth and Merton LBCs. He had previously practiced as a solicitor.
Merton’s appointments committee will discuss the process to appoint his successor on Thursday, with a report outlining a timeline that would see applications close in the week commencing 26 March, and full council confirm the appointment of the new chief executive on 19 May.
- As many as six in 10 care home residents in England still awaiting Covid jab
Date: 18 Jan 2021
Wide disparities have emerged in the campaign to protect care home residents from Covid-19, with 100% getting their first jab in Slough, while nearly six in 10 are still awaiting vaccinations in one of the UK’s largest care home chains.
In what the vaccines minister described as a “race against deaths”, care bosses reported struggles to protect the oldest and most vulnerable members of society.
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, told a Downing Street press conference that the government is “prioritising the supply of the vaccine into those parts of the country that need to complete [vaccination of] the over-80s”.
- Call to prioritise minority ethnic groups for Covid vaccines
Date: 18 Jan 2021
People in high-risk minority ethnic groups must be prioritised for Covid immunisations, alongside a targeted publicity campaign, experts and politicians have said amid growing concerns over vaccine scepticism.
With figures on Monday recording more than 4m Covid vaccine doses now administered across the UK, and the rollout being expanded to all over-70s, public health experts and MPs called for black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities to be better protected.
The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) has also raised concerns after research showed up to 72% of black people said they were unlikely or very unlikely to have the jab.
- Fewer UK children 'school ready' after Covid nursery closures
Date: 18 Jan 2021
The number of children starting school without basic skills such as being able to go to the toilet unaided, put on a coat or respond to questions is at record levels because of nursery closures, according to research.
Experts say further closures could widen gaps in school readiness between children from rich and poor backgrounds.
Research commissioned by Kindred2, a charitable foundation working to improve early education and child development, found that a record proportion of children were starting school without basic skills.
- Councils raked in £7.3m from rubbish-tip 'tax' last year amid fly-tipping fears
Date: 18 Jan 2021
Councils who charge residents to dump non household waste at rubbish tips raked in £7.3m last year from toilet seats, fences and sheds, the Telegraph can reveal...
- Treasury in property tax rethink
Date: 18 Jan 2021
Chancellor Rishi Sunak is believed to be rethinking property taxes – including council tax and business rates – in a bid to balance the books post-COVID.
The move comes amid rising calls for change, including a report from think tank Onwards on changing the finance system and 10-minute rule Bill on scrapping business rates, launched by Conservative backbencher Kevin Hollinrake.
The 3 March Budget is expected to continue to fund existing support during the latest COVID lockdown, but any return to normality would also see the Chancellor starting to claw back his financial position through tax rises.
- £269m given to local authorities for social care
Date: 18 Jan 2021
The Government has announced that £269m will be given to local authorities for social care purposes as the coronavirus pandemic drags on.
£120m of the funding is designed to help staffing levels, including the hiring of more staff, reskilling existing DBS checked staff and also being able to provide overtime pay for existing staff to meet current demands.
The Government says that some of the money can be used for administrative costs for care homes so that higher skilled staff can focus on caring for patients rather than dealing with paperwork.
- Call for inquiry into COVID’s 'devastating' impact on children
Date: 18 Jan 2021
A coalition of child health experts has called for a wide-ranging independent commission to examine the ‘devastating impact’ of the pandemic on children.
In a letter to The Observer newspaper, they warn that many families are being ‘swept into poverty’ by the pandemic, which is set to significantly add to the four million children living in deprivation before the COVID crisis started.
According to the letter, whose signatories include the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the National Children’s Bureau and leading child health academics, ‘children’s welfare has become a national emergency’.
- £120m care staff funding branded ‘gesture politics’
Date: 18 Jan 2021
Questions have been raised over how much impact the £120m announced over the weekend for care staffing can have in a sector already facing a workforce crisis.
The cash will be handed to councils to be distributed to care homes to spend on boosting staffing levels by funding extra care staff or administrative support to free up existing staff to focus on providing care. The Department for Health & Social Care said it could also be used to help existing staff to take on additional hours by covering overtime payments or childcare costs.
However, it falls well short of the £480m the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services called for last week to avert an immediate workforce crisis in the sector. It said that Covid infection, self-isolation and “sheer fatigue” were reducing the number of staff able to work in social care teams – on top of the 112,000 vacancies reported in the sector before the start of the pandemic.
- Former housing association chair named new MHCLG minister
Date: 18 Jan 2021
A former housing association chair has been appointed housing and rough sleeping minister at the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government following the departure of Kelly Tolhurst.
Ms Tolhurst, who is the MP for Rochester and Strood announced over the weekend that she was stepping down from the government following “some very sad news to care for and spend time with my family”.
Ms Tolhurst joined MHCLG last September from the Department for Transport, where she had been maritime, aviation and security minister since February. Prior to that she was small business minister in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
- COVID-19 living standards hit ‘ahead, rather than behind us’, think tank warns
Date: 18 Jan 2021
The coming year is set to mark the peak of the pandemic-induced living standards downturn for households, especially those on lower incomes, think tank warns.
Published by the Resolution Foundation, the Living Standards Outlook offers forecasts for living standards growth across the income distribution, both over the next 12 months and the remainder of the parliament.
It notes that despite the UK experiencing a huge economic contraction in 2020, many households have been protected from its impact by the £63bn Job Retention Scheme and the £6bn uplift to Universal Credit (UC) and Working Tax Credit.
- Forget local government, the whole country needs a fair funding review
Date: 18 Jan 2021
With the future of business rates under review and council tax reform reportedly attracting the interest of the Treasury the government has some fundamental questions to answer, writes LGC deputy editor Sarah Calkin.
The case for reforming council tax is growing ever louder. That it is a regressive tax, hitting those in lower value homes proportionately harder than those in higher ones, is not disputed.
Meanwhile, as the property values that council tax bands are based on turn 30-years-old this year their relationship with the reality of local property markets grows ever weaker. As the only locally-set tax – albeit within the strict confines of centrally-determined referendum limits – the casual observer may assume councils are quite attached to it.
- School closures could wipe out a decade of progress for less privileged pupils
Date: 17 Jan 2021
Closing schools has been one of the most painful consequences of the pandemic - the action Boris Johnson described as his "last resort".
Charities have warned that it could wipe out a decade of progress closing the gap between less privileged pupils and their peers.
New research from the Social Mobility Foundation (SMF) has found that half of students from disadvantaged backgrounds believe they won't get the grades they deserve after this year's examinations were scrapped.
- Make May elections in England more Covid-safe, Labour urges
Date: 17 Jan 2021
Labour has urged ministers to make May’s elections in England more Covid-secure, after the emergence of a Cabinet Office document that warned the pandemic could severely hamper the process and put millions off voting.
The paper raises the possibility that even if coronavirus infection levels are relatively low, it could be difficult to attract enough election staff, and that safety fears may “disenfranchise large proportions of [the] community”.
Labour is calling for safeguards such as the possibility of spreading voting over several days, or having an all-postal vote, options that have been prepared for elections to the Scottish parliament, also due to take place on 6 May.
- ‘Far too many turned away’: Domestic abuse victims left with nowhere to go as services struggle in pandemic
Date: 17 Jan 2021
As Covid cases across the country surge, a shadow pandemic of domestic abuse has also grown, with many unable to escape an abusive partner as soaring demand makes it difficult for victims to get the help they need.
Boris Johnson used an address to the nation this week to emphasise those trapped at home with abusers were free to leave the house during lockdown, while home secretary Priti Patel appeared on ITV's This Morning to alert people to the fact pharmacies have launched a codeword scheme to provide a “lifeline” to victims.
But cash-strapped services have not been given any further funding, meaning they are forced to turn away victims fleeing abusive partners.
- All over 18s could have vaccine by 'end of June'
Date: 16 Jan 2021
Every adult in Britain will be vaccinated by the end of June, senior Government figures hope, as they grow increasingly optimistic they will be able to accelerate the rollout....
- Councils losing tens of millions of pounds supporting businesses through pandemic
Date: 16 Jan 2021
Local authorities are losing tens of millions of pounds supporting struggling business tenants through the pandemic which could have dire and long-lasting consequences for local services, Sky News has found.
Freedom of Information requests reveal English councils have already written off at least £19.7m associated with measures to support local businesses, including rent relief, rent renegotiations, payment holidays or business tenants going into administration.
A further £5.8m was lost as a result of Company Voluntary Arrangements (CVAs). These are arrangements where companies on the brink of insolvency negotiate debt repayments with their creditors in order to stay afloat - in this case, rent and rates paid to the council.
- Low-paid shun Covid tests because the cost of self-isolating is too high
Date: 16 Jan 2021
Families on low incomes are avoiding the Covid-19 testing system because they cannot afford to isolate if they get sick, while red tape is hampering access to the government’s £500 compensation payments.
People in some of the most deprived areas of England, including Middlesbrough, Liverpool and the London borough of Newham, are less likely to request a coronavirus test.
According to the CIPD, the association of HR professionals, when people on low incomes do self-isolate, they find it difficult to access the NHS Test and Trace support payment scheme. Freedom of information releases from 34 local authorities show that only a third of claims were granted.
- Councils making the most cash from parking fines named
Date: 16 Jan 2021
Greedy councils are raking in an average £850,000 a year from car parking fines. New figures show some town halls are issuing as many as 307 parking tickets every day.
Nine of the 10 local authorities making the most cash from fines are in London, with each one collecting more than £4million a year.
Newham is the biggest earner, at £10.6million. Second is Haringey, making £9.8million, followed by Ealing with £8.3million.
The biggest parking revenue outside the capital is Glasgow at £5.4million while Birmingham is next with £3.9million.
- Marcus Rashford and top chefs demand free school meals review
Date: 15 Jan 2021
Marcus Rashford and a group of celebrity chefs and campaigners have called on Boris Johnson to review the government's free school meals policy.
The group, including Jamie Oliver, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Tom Kerridge, have written to the PM asking him to "fix" the system long-term. They called for a strategy to help "end child food poverty" before the summer holidays.
No 10 said "no child will ever go hungry" because of the Covid pandemic. The call for a wide review comes after another row over free school meals during February half-term.
- Public could force councils to sell off vacant land and buildings under proposed 'right to regenerate' law
Date: 15 Jan 2021
The public will be able to force councils to sell off vacant land and buildings under a proposed new law.
Its aim will be to allow vacant plots of land and derelict buildings to be converted into homes or community spaces.
The ‘right to regenerate’ proposals, to be announced by Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick today, would make it easier to challenge councils and other public organisations to release land for redevelopment.
- UK shuts travel corridors and requires negative Covid tests to enter
Date: 15 Jan 2021
Boris Johnson has announced a dramatic tightening of the UK’s borders, with all international arrivals to be forced to quarantine as well as demonstrate they have had a negative Covid test.
After months of criticism of the government’s lax border policies, which Labour claimed were “costing lives”, the prime minister said he was tightening the rules to prevent new variants of the virus reaching the UK and safeguard the vaccination programme.
“It is vital to take these extra measures now when day by day, hour by hour, we are making such strides in protecting the population,” Johnson told a Downing Street press conference.
- UK to face delay in delivery of Pfizer Covid vaccine
Date: 15 Jan 2021
The UK is among several countries facing delays in delivery of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine due to upgrades in its production capacity, the company has said.
The US pharmaceutical firm is increasing production at its plant in Puurs, Belgium, in an effort to produce more doses than originally planned for 2021, temporarily reducing deliveries to all European countries.
Shipments of the vaccine, produced in partnership with Germany’s BioNTech, to the UK are set to be affected this month.
- Doctors told to throw away leftover Covid vaccines rather than giving second doses
Date: 15 Jan 2021
Local NHS leaders are forcing GPs to throw away vaccines rather than give second doses, medics have revealed....
- TfN’s budget cuts to ‘threaten levelling-up’
Date: 15 Jan 2021
Proposed cuts to government funding for public transport body Transport for the North would “undermine levelling-up” and put planned improvement works at risk, according to the group’s finance chief.
A report released ahead of a TfN board meeting this week said that core funding from the Department for Transport for 2021-22 would drop to £6m from £10m that was allocated last year.
The body’s annual budget to develop the Northern Powerhouse Rail scheme has also been frozen at £75m, 33% less than the amount requested by TfN during the Comprehensive Spending Review, the report said.
- Second Covid-19 lockdown hurts UK GDP
Date: 15 Jan 2021
The UK’s economy shrank by 2.6% in November, as a result of the second English lockdown, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The ONS said November’s contraction was the first month of decline in six months, since April’s record 20% contraction at the beginning of the first national lockdown.
GDP in November was 8.5% below pre-Covid-19 levels in February, and overall, the economy has fallen 8.9% in the 12 months to November, the ONS said.
- The mental health effects of Covid will last for a decade
Date: 14 Jan 2021
In the normal course of his work as a GP Gavin Francis would expect to spend about a third of his time dealing with the mental ill health of his patients. The pandemic has changed that. “Consultations about mental health vary from week to week, but are commonly at double what they were before the pandemic,” he says.
From his position at the grass roots of the response to Covid-19 Francis has witnessed the spread of the virus at a community level. Some days every call he has taken was about loneliness, self-harm and the contagion of mental health problems.
In a memoir of the past year he describes panic and anxiety as “the virus’s dark refrains, a second pandemic leaching into everyone’s lives”. When I ask how long he expects this to last he is unequivocal. “For years.”..
- 'High bar' for postponing local elections in England, MPs told
Date: 14 Jan 2021
There should be a "high bar" for postponing local elections in England this year, a minister has told MPs.
Cabinet Office minister Chloe Smith said the position would be kept "under review".
She said work was under way to ensure people could cast their ballots in a "COVID-secure" way - but Labour has raised concerns a "lack of preparation" could force people to "choose between their health and their right to vote".
- High Street chemists start vaccinations in England
Date: 14 Jan 2021
Some High Street pharmacies in England will start vaccinating people from priority groups on Thursday, with 200 providing jabs in the next two weeks.
Six chemists in Halifax, Macclesfield, Widnes, Guildford, Edgware and Telford are the first to offer appointments to those invited by letter.
But pharmacists say many more sites should be allowed to give the jab, not just the largest ones.
- Social care directors warn of 'exhausted' workforce
Date: 14 Jan 2021
Social care needs an immediate cash injection to support exhausted staff and ensure services don’t collapse, service directors have warned today.
The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) said ‘alarming’ gaps are appearing in services due to staff shortages caused by sickness absence, people self-isolating and sheer fatigue.
It also highlights the fact the sector had existing vacancies of 112,000 prior to the start of the pandemic.
- 'Shocking' care home Covid outbreaks at levels not seen since first peak
Date: 14 Jan 2021
Outbreaks of Covid-19 in care homes have more than trebled in a month, with levels of infections now similar to the peak of the first wave, figures show.
The latest surveillance data from Public Health England (PHE) reveals that, in the week to January 14, there was the second highest weekly total since records began in April.
On Thursday night, senior figures said the numbers were "shocking" and warned: "Care homes cannot be neglected again." It came as the Government closed Britain's borders to Portugal and South America amid fears over a new strain of the virus from Brazil.
- Regulator refuses to approve mass daily Covid testing at English schools
Date: 14 Jan 2021
Boris Johnson’s plans to test millions of schoolchildren for coronavirus every week appear to be in disarray after the UK regulator refused to formally approve the daily testing of pupils in England, the Guardian has learned.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) told the government on Tuesday it had not authorised the daily use of 30-minute tests due to concerns that they give people false reassurance if they test negative.
This could lead to pupils staying in school and potentially spreading the virus when they should be self-isolating.
- Almost 200,000 patients now waiting at least a year for routine NHS operations
Date: 14 Jan 2021
The coronavirus crisis overwhelming the NHS has caused waiting lists for routine treatment to surge to the highest levels ever recorded, figures released on Thursday showed.
More than 4.5 million people are currently on the health service waiting list, while almost 200,000 have been left waiting more than a year for treatment – a figure that stood at just 1,163 less than a year ago.
As hospitals are forced to free up intensive care beds for Covid-19 patients, hundreds of cancer operations have been cancelled across London with thousands waiting over the NHS target of 62 days for urgent treatment.
- UK population 'in biggest fall since Second World War'
Date: 14 Jan 2021
The UK population may have fallen by as much as 1.3m - the biggest decline since the Second World War - in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, academics have said....
- Hospital patients to be sent to hotels to free up beds for critical Covid-19 cases
Date: 13 Jan 2021
Thousands of hospital patients are to be discharged early to hotels or their own homes to free up beds for Covid-19 sufferers needing life-or-death care, the Guardian has learned.
Hospital chiefs in England intend to start discharging patients early on a scale never seen before, as an emergency measure to create “extra emergency contingency capacity” and stop parts of the NHS collapsing, senior sources said.
Documents seen by the Guardian also revealed that the NHS is asking care homes to start accepting Covid patients directly from hospitals and without a recent negative test, as long as they have been in isolation for 14 days and have shown no new symptoms.
- Retail giants clamp down in bid to halt coronavirus growth
Date: 13 Jan 2021
John Lewis became the first big retailer to suspend its click-and-collect service yesterday amid pressure on shops to do more to help to contain the virus.
The chain said that it was acting after a “change in tone” from government, adding that it wanted to help the national effort by removing reasons for non-essential travel.
Tesco, Asda, Aldi and Waitrose joined Morrisons and Sainsbury’s in banning shoppers without masks from stores unless they have a medical reason. Supermarkets in England will be spot-checked by council staff to ensure that they are Covid-secure.
- Laptops for all pupils at only one in ten schools
Date: 13 Jan 2021
Only one in ten teachers say that all their pupils have adequate access to laptops despite 700,000 being handed out by the government.
A leading social mobility charity says the situation has not improved since the first lockdown and that the gulf between rich and poor is as wide as ever.
It came as Ofsted backed down on conducting in-person inspections this term after inspectors voted overwhelmingly against going into schools.
- Free school meals: Minister demands 'urgent improvement'
Date: 13 Jan 2021
Caterers must "urgently" improve the quality of food parcels being provided to the poorest pupils in England while schools are closed during the national lockdown, a minister has said.
Children's minister Vicky Ford said this would ensure eligible children received "a healthy, nutritious lunch".
It comes after footballer Marcus Rashford shared images of some parcels online, calling them "not good enough".
- Enough children living in temporary housing to fill 450 primary schools
Date: 13 Jan 2021
The number of children living in temporary accommodation during the latest coronavirus lockdown is enough to fill 450 primary schools, town halls warn today.
Some 127,240 kids are in accommodation such as bed and breakfasts, according to the Local Government Association.
The average primary has about 281 pupils – meaning 450 schools would be needed to house all the youngsters with no home of their own.
- Council chiefs call for restoration of local welfare funding
Date: 13 Jan 2021
Local authority leaders have called on the Government to restore local welfare funding as a study warns of the impact the pandemic is having on people who were already struggling with poverty.
In their annual study on poverty, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that before the coronavirus pandemic began, around 14.5 million people in the UK lived in poverty. This equates to more than one-in-five people.
The report warns that those who were already struggling to stay afloat have been hit the hardest by the pandemic. These include part-time and low-paid workers, Black, Asian and minority ethnic households, single parents (mostly women), and private renters.
- Council chiefs call for mental health services funding
Date: 13 Jan 2021
Local authority leaders have urged the Government to ensure that councils’ mental health services receive the funding they require to meet ‘unmet demand’ in response to a landmark reform of mental health laws.
The Government today published the long-anticipated Reforming the Mental Health Act white paper, which builds on the recommendations made in 2018 by Sir Simon Wessely’s Independent Review of the Mental Health Act.
The white paper stressed the importance of empowering individuals to have more control over their mental health treatment. It also promises to deliver parity between mental and physical health services.
- ‘Dismay’ over continuing lack of detail on UKSPF
Date: 13 Jan 2021
Senior councillors have expressed growing alarm that almost a fortnight after UK completed its exit from the EU they are still in the dark on vital details of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund intended to replace EU funding for the regions.
A meeting of the Local Government Association’s people and places board yesterday also heard that the government had yet to set up a promised taskforce bringing central and local government to co-design the fund while there are concerns that rather than devolving more powers to councils, the fund could end up drawing existing responsibilities away from them as it covers a wider remit than current EU funds.
A paper prepared to Tuesday’s meeting warned of an “urgency” to the issue as current EU funding winds down, with all funding programmes completed by the end of 2023.
- Extra cash made available for self isolation support
Date: 13 Jan 2021
An extra £20.4m is to be provided by the government to extend the current self isolation support grants scheme to the end of this financial year after many councils reported running out of the discretionary funding provided so far.
Just over half of the funding is to go towards extending the national £500 scheme to support those on in-work benefits required to self-isolate while councils will also be handed an additional £10m of discretionary funding. This is paid to those on low-incomes required to self-isolate by NHS Test & Trace who could suffer financial hardship as a result of not being able to work but who do not meet the criteria for the separate £500 payment.
However, there are still understood to be concerns in the sector that the £500 national scheme is not capturing all those in need as the eligibility criteria too tight, and this is putting pressure on discretionary budgets.
- Mental Health Act reforms aim to tackle high rate of black people sectioned
Date: 13 Jan 2021
Reforms to the Mental Health Act will help tackle the disproportionate number of black people sectioned, the government has announced.
Black people are more than four times more likely to be detained under the act and more than 10 times more likely to be subject to a community treatment order.
The package of reforms includes piloting culturally appropriate advocates so patients from all minority ethnic backgrounds can be better supported to voice their individual needs and allow sectioned people to nominate family members to represent their best interests if they are unable to do so themselves.
- Schools in England may not reopen after February half-term, Boris Johnson suggests
Date: 13 Jan 2021
Schools in England may not reopen after the February half-term, the prime minister has suggested.
Boris Johnson said the government's priority was to get pupils back in the classroom "as soon as possible", but that whether this would happen after half-term in the middle of next month depended on a "number of things".
The PM told MPs on the Liaison Committee that the determining factors would be the success of the COVID-19 vaccination programme, the effect of new variants, any other possible changes in the virus, and the success of lockdown measures.
- Covid hospital patients can be discharged to care homes without a test, say guidelines sent to providers
Date: 13 Jan 2021
Coronavirus hospital patients can be discharged into care homes without being tested under draft Government guidelines leaked to the The Telegraph.
Care providers have said they are "deeply worried" about the latest proposed rules, which advise clinicians to release patients without requiring them to have a test 48 hours before discharge if they have no new virus symptoms and have isolated in hospital.
For the first time, the Government appears to acknowledge that people could test positive for Covid but not be infectious, suggesting "it will be appropriate for them to move directly to a care home from hospital... because we now know they do not pose an infection risk to other residents in a care home".
- NHS orders rapid acceleration of care home Covid vaccinations
Date: 13 Jan 2021
NHS England has ordered a rapid acceleration of care home vaccinations in response to rising Covid outbreaks in which deaths of residents have risen to levels not seen since May.
GPs have been instructed to complete all care home vaccinations by the end of this week “wherever possible” or by 24 January at the latest. The government’s original target was the end of the month.
The urgent move came as new figures showed 1,200 care residents died from Covid in England in the first week of January. Weekly death tolls in Scotland and Wales have also been rising.
- Care home bosses ‘jumping ahead of elderly’ for Covid vaccine
Date: 12 Jan 2021
Care home executives, NHS staff working from home and members of the public are jumping the queue for coronavirus vaccinations.
The joint committee on vaccination and immunisation (JCVI) prioritisation list begins with “residents in a care home for older adults and their carers”, followed by over-eighties and frontline health and social care workers.
Jonathan Ball, professor of molecular virology at the University of Nottingham, said one of his family members, an NHS administrator working from home, had been offered a vaccine at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.
- Local authorities to roll out asymptomatic testing
Date: 12 Jan 2021
The Government has announced that it will help local authorities to ramp up asymptomatic testing across communities in England.
The new scheme will include all 317 local authorities, with 131 already signed up and 107 already testing asymptomatic people for Covid-19.
The idea behind asymptomatic testing is that by discovering more cases, more people are able to isolate and therefore protect those working on the front line. Many of the councils that have started testing such as Essex and Milton Keynes are focusing on those not able to work from home.
- LGA steps up lobbying over council tax and £2.3bn Covid funding gap
Date: 12 Jan 2021
Councils are still facing a Covid-driven funding gap of nearly £2.3bn in 2020-21, the Local Government Association has warned, despite recent additional funding for being made available to places facing the highest tiers of restrictions.
During a session at the LGA’s annual finance conference this morning, deputy chief executive Sarah Pickup said councils’ latest returns on the financial impact of Covid 19 showed they were forecasting full-year pressures of £9.7bn. However, they will have received funding of £7.4bn from emergency Covid funding, money via clinical commissioning groups to support social care and an estimated £1bn to cover lost sales, fees and charges income.
- Labour’s constitution review would put local government on firm footing
Date: 12 Jan 2021
Shadow communities secretary has advocated putting the local government sector on a more secure long term footing by enshrining its existence into a new UK constitution, and has criticised the government for not working with councils on the Covid vaccine rollout.
Steve Reed, who believes his party is more supportive of devolution than at any time in its history, has revealed his hopes that the constitutional commission on devolution the party plans to hold imminently will explore the legal basis that national, regional and local government stands on and the resourcing it needs.
- Coronavirus (COVID-19): emergency funding for local government in 2020 to 2021 and additional support in 2021 to 2022
Date: 12 Jan 2021
Allocations of additional funding to local authorities in financial year 2020 to 2021 and additional support for local government in financial year 2021 to 2022.
- Khan proposes 9.5% rise in GLA precept
Date: 12 Jan 2021
Proposals from London mayor Sadiq Khan would see annual bills rise by more than £31 on average in 2021-22, with £15 to help fund the Metropolitan Police and £15 for Transport of London subsidies for children and over 60s.
The remaining £1.59 per-household would go towards helping the fire service respond to changes recommended by the Grenfell Tower inquiry.
However, in order to implement the proposed increases for TfL, the GLA requires approval from the government to amend its referendum limits as the increase would be greater than its current 2% limit before a referendum was required.
- Tax reforms 'would raise more than wealth tax'
Date: 12 Jan 2021
In a presentation to the Local Government Association’s annual finance conference, David Phillips, associate director at the IFS, warned that a wealth related levy could harm the UK’s economic recovery from the pandemic.
He said that trying to capture tax on people who have saved during the pandemic could have a dampening effect on the economy, as the recovery will be reliant on the public spending money.
Phillips said: “Rather than trying to introduce a new wealth tax for a long-term boost to government revenues, it actually makes sense to reform some of the existing taxes, including income tax, capital gains tax, council tax, inheritance tax, so they are actually more efficient, fairer, and raise more for the long-term.”
- High turnout leaves schools struggling in lockdown
Date: 11 Jan 2021
Demand for school places has forced almost half of head teachers in England to create priority lists for children of key workers, a survey suggests.
Schools remain open to vulnerable children and those of critical workers but a large number qualify, including some in food production, local government, communications and finance.
Matt Hancock yesterday urged key workers not to send their children to school if they could manage at home. The health secretary told Sky News: “If you’re a key worker and your partner doesn’t work then you shouldn’t be sending your children to school. That’s clear in the guidance. I understand that more people are sending their children to school than they did last time. But we really do need everybody who works in the NHS where at all possible to be able to make it to work.”
- Protect family incomes, Starmer urges ministers Published1 hour ago
Date: 11 Jan 2021
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is to urge the government to "protect family incomes" as it deals with the economic effects of coronavirus.
In his first speech of the year, he will demand that teachers, the armed forces and care workers are left out of the public sector pay freeze.
Sir Keir will also call on ministers not to end the temporary £20-a-week boost to Universal Credit.
The Conservatives said ministers were "already taking steps" to help people.
- Care homes at risk of being overwhelmed again as outbreaks triple
Date: 11 Jan 2021
Care homes risk being overwhelmed by the coronavirus once again, the government has been warned, with the number of outbreaks having tripled in the past month.
Public Health England figures reveal they went up by 60% in one week alone, as the UK as a whole battles a major surge in COVID cases and growing concerns about staffing levels.
- Test and trace needs radical overhaul to prevent further Covid surges in England – experts
Date: 11 Jan 2021
England’s test-and trace system will fail to prevent further surges of coronavirus without radical improvements by spring, experts have said, as concern increases about the use of inexperienced call-centre workers to carry out the role of clinically trained staff.
The government’s £22bn programme is under increasing strain as it attempts to contact nearly triple the number of infected people and more than double the number of close contacts compared with a month ago.
There is increasing concern among test-and-trace healthcare professionals about the use of outsourced call centre staff, often employed on minimum wage by telesales firms contracted by Serco, who have been drafted in to carry out detailed interviews with coronavirus patients.
- Vaccinations begin at seven mass jab centres which have opened today
Date: 11 Jan 2021
Elderly people and healthcare workers have begun to be immunised against COVID-19 at seven new mass vaccination sites across England.
The new centres in Bristol, Surrey (Epsom), London, Newcastle, Manchester, Stevenage and Birmingham will have the capacity to vaccinate four people a minute.
Moira Edwards, 88, was the first to receive a dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine at Epsom racecourse and said it was "extremely important" to get it.
- Government accused of side-lining millions in sugar tax revenue pledged for children’s health projects
Date: 11 Jan 2021
The Government has been accused of side-lining millions of pounds worth of sugar tax income that ministers had promised to spend on children’s health projects.
More than £760m of forecasted Treasury income generated by the tax on soft drinks has been failed to be accounted for by Government departments, despite an original promise that “every penny” of the spending raised would go towards improving children’s health.
Sustain, which campaigns for improved food and agricultural policies, said the Department for Education (DfE) has failed to specify where the money has been spent, despite repeated requests to do so.
- 2.6 million jabs given to 2.3 million people - but UK is warned vaccine 'not a free pass' to ignore rules
Date: 11 Jan 2021
More than 2.6 million coronavirus vaccine doses have been given to almost 2.3 million people, the health secretary has said, as an NHS boss warned the jab is "not a free pass" to ignore national guidance.
Matt Hancock told a Downing Street news conference that the government was on track to achieve its pledge of offering a vaccine to the top four priority groups by the middle of February, a total of nearly 15 million Britons.
Asked whether this was a possibility, Mr Hancock said people should be focusing on sticking to the current rules "as they are".
"The NHS, more than ever before, needs everybody to be doing something right now - and that something is to follow the rules," he said.
- New exercise restrictions in England 'under active consideration'
Date: 11 Jan 2021
A ban on people in England walking or exercising with anyone from outside their household is under “active consideration” sources have told the Guardian, although the health secretary, Matt Hancock, on Monday evening insisted that he did not want to have to tighten the rules.
Discussions have taken place in government about returning to the rules of March 2020, which limited people to one form of outside exercise a day – such as a run, walk, or cycle – either alone or only with people you live with.
However Hancock said he hoped that the current rules, which allow people to exercise with one other person, would remain. “We are seeing large groups and that is not acceptable,” he said. “This is one of those rules where if too many people keep breaking it then we are going to have to look at it. But I don’t want to do that because for many people being able to go for a walk with a friend, especially if they live alone, is their only social contact.
- Councils should have key role in getting jabs to the vulnerable, says public health chief
Date: 11 Jan 2021
Councils’ knowledge is crucial in order to ‘get the vaccine to people’ in homes and workplaces, rather than expecting the vulnerable to travel for their jabs, says Liverpool’s public health chief.
Writing for The MJ, Liverpool City Council’s director of public health Matthew Ashton said: ‘It is absolutely vital we get the vaccine to people, rather than bringing people to the vaccine.
‘This means getting it closer to their homes and workplaces, rather than expecting vulnerable people – many who are already on the breadline and struggling to make ends meet – to get a bus or taxi to have their jab. And this is where councils come in’, he said.
- Fears over resource implications of rapid community testing scale up
Date: 11 Jan 2021
Public health experts have warned that vaccination and contact tracing efforts could suffer as a result of the trade offs that councils will have to make as they answer the government’s call to scale up community testing in their areas.
The government yesterday reaffirmed its pledge to roll out community testing to all local authority areas and is encouraging councils to target testing at key workers who cannot work from home during the lockdown, so they can self-isolate if they are carrying the virus.
Directors of public health are being urged to carry out mass programmes of asymptomatic testing of key workers using lateral flow devices, which give results within half an hour but have been shown to be less accurate than the lab-based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests.
- Starmer demands halt to ‘absurd’ council tax rises
Date: 11 Jan 2021
Labour leader Keir Starmer has called for central government to increase funding for local authorities to prevent council tax hikes.
In a speech today, he claimed the Conservative Government had ‘sprayed money on private contracts that didn’t deliver, but won’t give councils the support they need’.
Mr Starmer said the Government should instead be ‘backing local councils to prevent council tax rises’.
In the latest Spending Review, local authorities were permitted to raise council tax without the need for a referendum by 2%, alongside a 3% precept for those that provide social care.
Writing in a national newspaper, Mr Starmer said increasing council tax during the pandemic was ‘absurd’ and laid the blame at the foot of the Government, claiming local authorities had in effect been ‘forced to raise taxes’.
- Council disputes MP allegations on Covid-19 grants
Date: 11 Jan 2021
Last week, Ian Liddell-Grainger MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset, used parliamentary privilege in the House of Commons to accuse the council of misusing Covid-19 grant funding.
Liddell-Grainger told Johnson that funding which was intended to support services and businesses in the county was used to meet budgetary pressures.
He said: “Somerset County Council has been given huge grants but has then diverted much of the money to balance its books, which is not what it was for.
“The prime minister is Somerset born and bred. I urge him to put a stop to this, so that the money goes to the people who need it most—the people of Somerset.”
In response, Johnson, said: “My honourable friend is absolutely right to highlight what is going on in Somerset."
- Cladding flat owners told not to talk to press
Date: 10 Jan 2021
Flat owners applying to a fund to help pay to remove flammable building cladding will be told not to talk to the press without government approval.
A draft agreement, uncovered by the Sunday Times, says that even where there is "overwhelming public interest" in speaking to journalists, the government must be told first.
The government said the wording was "standard".
- Record number of small firms 'set to close'
Date: 10 Jan 2021
A record number of small firms could close in the next 12 months, says the Federation of Small Businesses.
Without further government help to cope with the effects of the pandemic, more than a quarter of a million businesses could be lost, it said.
The FSB said it had put forward ideas to help some of those firms, which it hoped ministers would adopt.
- Covid crisis will force councils to make ‘deep cuts’ to services to plug funding shortfall of up to £2.2bn
Date: 10 Jan 2021
Councils across England are facing having to make unprecedented cuts to services in the coming years, after coronavirus left them with multimillion-pound black holes in their funding.
The cost to local authorities of the pandemic has been revealed as £1.1bn to £2.2bn, prompting leaders to describe their financial situations as the worst they have ever seen.
Early intervention and prevention projects for vulnerable families, as well as recycling schemes, are among the cutbacks most likely to be in the firing line as local authorities seek to claw back cash to avoid meltdown.
- More fines expected for lockdown breaches as home secretary warns of tighter enforcement
Date: 10 Jan 2021
"Strong enforcement" of coronavirus restrictions is needed to control the spread of the disease, the home secretary has warned.
Priti Patel said police forces should focus their resources on people who "are clearly breaking" lockdown rules to "safeguard our country's recovery from this deadly virus".
Government sources have told Sky News this will mean that "more fines will be issued, and quicker".
- Spending watchdog highlights 'litany of failures' on superfast broadband
Date: 08 Jan 2021
A 'litany’ of failures by the Government will leave rural homes and businesses without superfast broadband, MPs have warned today.
A new report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) argues the government’s pledge to deliver gigabit broadband to at least 85% of the nation by 2025 will be ‘challenging’ due to a catalogue of failures.
It said that the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) has failed to make meaningful progress in delivering the policy and legislative changes needed, amongst other problems.
- Sadiq Khan proposes 9.5% council tax increase
Date: 08 Jan 2021
The mayor of London has announced council tax will increase by 9.5% to help fund free travel for young people and the over 60s.
Sadiq Khan said the proposed increase includes £15 a year to pay for free public transport travel for under 18s and the over 60s, and £15 to go directly to the Metropolitan Police.
He said the increase was necessary to meet ‘draconian conditions’ set by the Government in return for funding during last year’s emergency TfL negotiations.
- Closure of leisure centres to cost £7.25m in missed health savings
Date: 08 Jan 2021
The continued closure of sport and leisure facilities during the latest lockdown will cost £7.25m in missed health savings, new analysis has revealed.
Research for ukactive also found the closure of more than 7,200 gyms, leisure centres and swimming pools is costing the sector around £90m in lost revenue every week in the UK.
The analysis of the first lockdown showed that an extra 3.4 million people were classed an inactive, with anxiety levels doubling compared to 2019.
- Eviction ban extended days before it was due to end
Date: 08 Jan 2021
The Government has announced that its eviction ban, which came into force in April 2020, will be extended just days before it was due to come to an end.
The ban has been extended to at least February 21st according to the Government.
Boris Johnson told MPs in the Commons on Wednesday that the eviction ban was under review, and with a third lockdown imposed upon the country, it was almost inevitable that the Government would choose to extend the ban which came into force during the first lockdown.
Although eviction notices will still be able to go through courts and be approved, bailiffs will not be able to enforce the evictions except in extreme cases such as anti-social behaviour.
- Covid: arrivals to UK will need to show a negative test before entry
Date: 08 Jan 2021
International travellers will need to show a negative Covid-19 test before being allowed into the UK, the government has announced, in a significant toughening of border controls to try to stem the spread of new coronavirus variants.
The new rules will take effect next week and apply to returning UK nationals as well as foreign citizens. Passengers will need to produce a test result taken less than 72 hours before boarding planes, boats or trains to the UK, and could be fined £500 in border spot checks without a negative result.
Arrivals will still need to quarantine for 10 days, even with a negative test, unless they are coming from one of the limited number of countries deemed low risk on the government’s travel corridor list.
- Councils asked to 'redouble efforts' on rough sleeping
Date: 08 Jan 2021
English councils have been asked to ‘redouble their efforts’ to help accommodate people sleeping rough, with the Government finding an additional £10m funding.
The £10m investment, which comes amid rising infection rates, builds on more than £700m government spending on homelessness and rough sleeping?this financial year.
Under the latest plan, local authorities will be asked to ‘reach out again’ to rough sleepers who have previously refused help.
- Council defies government by closing nurseries
Date: 08 Jan 2021
A council has closed all of its nurseries to prevent the spread of COVID-19 despite the Government insisting they are ‘safe’.
Brighton & Hove City Council yesterday announced all council-run nurseries were to be closed to all but vulnerable children and children of key workers.
Although the national lockdown rules in England do not require the closure of early years providers, the council said the move was consistent with the restrictions imposed on schools.
- High Court to hear four exit pay cap legal challenges
Date: 08 Jan 2021
Another trade union has been granted permission to challenge the public sector exit pay cap at the High Court.
Justice Smith gave the green light for the British Medical Association (BMA) to put its case for a judicial review alongside Unison, a joint submission by Unite and GMB, and another joint legal challenge by the Association of Local Authority Chief Executives and Lawyers in Local Government.
The judge said that the Government ‘accepted that the claim raises arguable issues’ and therefore the BMA would proceed to the High Court.
- People drank more alcohol, exercised less and ate less healthily during first lockdown
Date: 07 Jan 2021
Britons drank more alcohol, ate fewer fruit and vegetables and exercised less during the first national lockdown, a study has suggested.
Younger people, women and those who are overweight were more likely to have adopted unhealthy lifestyle choices last spring, the research by the University of East Anglia (UEA) shows.
The study of more than 1,000 people also indicates that women drank alcohol more frequently, but men consumed greater quantities of it in one sitting.
- County may be forced to limit school places during lockdown
Date: 07 Jan 2021
Norfolk County Council has warned it may be forced to prioritise who is given a school place during the new lockdown because of high demand.
The council said it may only be able to offer school places to children if both their parents work in emergency life-saving services due to the number of families requesting critical worker places.
It warned that many schools are facing unique factors during the new lockdown such as more staff off sick and self-isolating, and stricter bubble systems.
- Intervention threat over 'unwise' investments
Date: 07 Jan 2021
Councils have been warned the Government will intervene if they rely too much on commercial investments.
Communities secretary Robert Jenrick told councils they should ‘consider the future of their investments’ and ‘reduce their dependence’ during a finance webinar hosted by the Local Government Association this morning.
He warned the Government would ‘need to take a more active role’ if the sector failed to respond.
- Rishi Sunak’s business Covid support is a £4bn ‘sticking plaster’
Date: 06 Jan 2021
Businesses were told yesterday to wait until March for any further help despite increasing evidence that the UK is heading back into recession.
Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, sought to relieve pressure for more support with a stop-gap package to keep the worst affected businesses afloat through the latest lockdown.
Pubs, cafés and shops are to be given one-off cash grants worth up to £9,000 in a £4 billion injection into the high street, with a further £600 million for other businesses.
- Thousands of children sent to unregulated care homes amid Covid
Date: 06 Jan 2021
Thousands of the most vulnerable children have been sent to unregulated care homes during the pandemic at a cost of millions to the taxpayer, a Guardian investigation has found.
Council bosses say they have nowhere else to put those most at risk as there are not enough places for the number of children in need, which has soared during the Covid crisis. The result is young people are placed in supported living facilities not monitored by Ofsted and therefore deemed a safety risk. One council chief described these homes as the “wild west”.
Anne Longfield, the children’s commissioner for England, said the children’s care system had been “left to slip deeper into crisis” this year and that children were now being put at risk of “abuse or exploitation” after being let down by the authorities.
- Councils grapple with multi-million pound budget deficits
Date: 06 Jan 2021
Councils are mulling service cuts and council tax rises as they attempt to balance next year's budgets.
Cuts totalling £28m will be made at Lewisham LBC next year as it attempts to bridge a £40m budget gap.
A second round of cuts worth £13m has been announced on top of £15m already agreed by members, blamed on ‘a decade of Government cuts and underfunding’.
The council is also to review its adult social care service, and conduct service reviews into its libraries, street cleansing, housing needs and legal service under proposals to be considered at a meeting next week [commencing 11th].
- Call for ‘urgent clarity’ on elections
Date: 06 Jan 2021
Speculation over whether local elections will take place in May as scheduled has been labelled ‘unhelpful’ by councils.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson prompted doubts after he refused to rule out postponing the vote for a second time, following the cancellation of the elections last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has claimed there are currently no plans to postpone May's local elections.
- OECD says public will not accept austerity post-Covid-19
Date: 06 Jan 2021
Unprecedented stimulus measures taken by governments to fight the pandemic have changed the public perception of spending and debt, meaning sharp tax hikes or spending cuts would risk popular backlash, the OECD’s chief economist has said.
Laurence Boone told the Financial Times that public officials will struggle to argue for austerity during the recovery from Covid-19, and may not be in a position to pay for certain measures – such as those to combat climate change.
“People are going to ask where all this money has come from,” she said, referring to the programmes rolled out by governments to address the coronavirus pandemic.
She said countries should continue to use higher spending and low taxes to help their economies throughout the recovery period, taking a lesson from the last global financial crisis.
- Council rejects social care precept rise
Date: 06 Jan 2021
Councillors at Lincolnshire County Council have rejected the option of using the 3% increase to the adult social care precept next year which was announced during the local government settlement.
The move was approved in an executive committee meeting held yesterday, which outlined the draft budget proposal for 2021-22.
The council has opted for a 2% increase in council tax next year, which it said would raise £6.2m next year.
- The Brexit deal: financial implications for local government
Date: 06 Jan 2021
The list of current events that one would not have predicted a year ago is a long one.
But pretty high up would be that the Brexit deal and the end of the transition period should have had such fleeting prominence on the front pages and in the public consciousness.
Instead, our attention has been consumed once again by the Covid-19 pandemic...
- English schools struggle with demand for key worker places
Date: 06 Jan 2021
Schools have pleaded with parents to be “completely honest” about whether they are really key workers after some primaries received requests for hundreds of children to come to class in the latest lockdown.
Across England, schools reported struggling to cope with the demand for places in school while also offering remote teaching.
One primary headteacher in Greater Manchester said staff had spent all of Wednesday “interrogating” parents after they received 210 applications from key workers, some of whom they discovered were able to work from home.
- Worcestershire Council aim to plug £26m gap
Date: 06 Jan 2021
Worcestershire County Council are to discuss plans to increase their portion of Council Tax by 2.5% in the coming year to plug the £26.5m funding gap that awaits in 2021.
The increase will amount to approximately £5m extra for the Council to use towards its budget.
This would equate to a £33 increase for the average band d household in the area, providing that other parts of tax aren’t increased.
- Pupils without laptops can still go to school in England lockdown
Date: 05 Jan 2021
More than a million children in England who have no access to laptops have been designated as “vulnerable children” and can turn up at school for face-to-face learning, it emerged on Tuesday night.
The development raises questions about whether schools will be ready for the resultant influx of children, when they have been told to restrict teaching for at least six weeks as England begins its third national lockdown.
The new guidance came as a surprise to the children’s commissioner, Anne Longfield, who learned of it after she had called for pupils to be designated vulnerable if remote learning equipment could not be provided to them. Sources at Longfield’s office questioned when the advice had been updated and why the Department for Education (DfE) was making no effort to publicise it.
- Borrowing from PWLB jumps following rate cut
Date: 05 Jan 2021
In October 2019, the Treasury raised the PWLB rate by one percentage point, which led to monthly borrowing dropping as low as £40m in November.
However, the rate rise was reversed at the Comprehensive Spending Review and in December more than 40 PWLB loans, averaging £5.9m each, were agreed, according to figures from the Debt Management Office.
David Whelan, managing director of public sector treasury at Link Group told PF: “Local authorities sat on their hands, and had not borrowed much, since the rate increase was announced.
“Following the rate reduction, they have now gone in and borrowed quite a lot.”
- Covid has exacerbated inequalities
Date: 05 Jan 2021
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has released its first report of the year, titled Deaton Review of Inequalities: a New Year’s message.
The report outlines how Covid has not only highlighted inequalities in Britain, but how it has also made them worse.
The report focuses on key areas such as income, employment and education to objectively demonstrate that those from poorer backgrounds are worse off as a result of Covid, than those who are from privilege.
The report found that graduates were less likely to be out of work because of Covid, falling just 7% when compared to non-graduates who saw employment rates rise by 17% over the same period, showing that there is still a gap between those that go to university and those that don’t. Non-graduates are also more likely to have lost out on income due to an inability to do their job from home, having to choose between their health or their income.
- No third section 114 for Croydon this year
Date: 05 Jan 2021
In November, Croydon became only the second council in two decades to issue a section 114 notice, freezing all non-essential spending as it forecast a £66m funding gap this year.
A second notice was issued by the council in early December.
However, the council told PF that, following discussions with CIPFA, a third notice will not be necessary for 2020-21.
A council spokesperson said: “Following the extraordinary council meeting on 16 December, the council’s chief finance officer sought advice from CIPFA about whether to issue another section 114 notice, given that there had been no substantial change to the council’s financial position.
- Union calls for nurseries to be closed during lockdown
Date: 05 Jan 2021
Pre-schools including nurseries must be closed except to educate the children of key workers and those who are vulnerable, union says.
The Government has decided to keep nurseries open during the new lockdown with the Prime Minister promising that ‘everyone will still be able to access early years’ settings such as nurseries.’
However, Unison has urged the Government to close nurseries to everyone except the children of key workers and those who are vulnerable.
- Property searches face delays from underfunded councils
Date: 05 Jan 2021
The trade body representing property search organisations has written to the communities secretary urging him to provide councils with more funding to speed up the provision of searches to homebuyers.
According to data from the Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO), more than 35% of local authorities are taking more than 20 working days to process search requests and for many of these the delays are more than 30 working days.
CoPSO warned that these delays are impacting on the progress of property transactions, which they say is particularly problematic because of the imminent expiry of the stamp duty holiday.
- Park services ‘need £500m funding boost’
Date: 05 Jan 2021
The government has been warned that council park services require a £500m boost after a report revealed the financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. A Local Government Association study, co-funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, focused on six council case studies and found that...
- New Year Honours awarded to local government workers
Date: 04 Jan 2021
Figures across local government have been recognised for their response to the pandemic in the 2021 New Year Honours list.
Pat Richie, chief executive of Newcastle City Council, was awarded a CBE for her services to local government and public service reform.
Professor Graeme Betts, director of adult social care at Birmingham City Council, was awarded a CBE for services to adult social care.
A knighthood was also awarded to David Charles Pearson, the lately director of adult social care at Nottinghamshire Council for services to health and social care integration.
- Councils resist pressure to reopen schools
Date: 04 Jan 2021
Councils have raised concerns over the return of primary school pupils to classrooms amid soaring COVID-19 infection rates.
Secondary schools are due to remain closed this week but Prime Minister Boris Johnson has insisted that primary schools are 'safe’.
However, Essex CC said its primary schools would remain closed to all but vulnerable children and those of key workers, and Brighton & Hove City Counil has advised its schools to do the same.
Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle and Wolverhampton city councils said they would back schools that decide not to reopen.
- High streets across England secure cash boost for regeneration
Date: 04 Jan 2021
More than 70 towns and cities across England are to share up to £830m to help boost high streets, the government has said.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the funding plan, initially revealed before the Covid pandemic, would help areas to "bounce back" through regeneration.
Sunderland and Swindon will each get £25m to fund railway station and town centre improvements.
Some 15 areas share £255m, with 57 others provisionally granted £576m.
- Leader of England’s largest council calls for Government to “act now”
Date: 04 Jan 2021
The leader of Birmingham City Council has urged the Government to “act now” in order to avoid the catastrophic case numbers that are currently being seen in certain boroughs of London.
The leader, Ian Ward, cited the 36% increase in cases in Birmingham over the past week, with hospitals being at breaking point in the region
- Council backs calls for new national lockdown
Date: 04 Jan 2021
Liverpool City Council has called on the Government to introduce a new national lockdown to stop the rapid spread of the new strain of coronavirus.
The council warns that COVID cases have reached ‘alarming levels’ after they trebled in the past two weeks across the city.
Acting mayor, Cllr Wendy Simon, said a new national lockdown, coupled with mass testing, is the only way to slow the spread of the new strain of the virus.
- Exit pay cap judicial review granted
Date: 04 Jan 2021
A judicial review into the public sector exit pay cap will take place in March.
The joint application by the Association of Local Authority Chief Executives (ALACE) and Lawyers in Local Government (LLG) has been granted by the High Court today.
The two-day hearing will take place towards the middle of March.
LLG president Quentin Baker said: ‘In a year when local authority key workers have given their all, LLG has fought to preserve pension rights for those suffering redundancy at a late stage in their career, rights which were unjustifiably stripped away by the exit cap regulations.
‘The granting of permission to apply for judicial review gives us all a glimmer of hope that common sense and justice may prevail in 2021.’
- Major incidents over COVID declared
Date: 04 Jan 2021
Essex, Oxfordshire and Berkshire have declared major incidents amid fears the rapid rise in COVID-19 cases could overwhelm health services.
The declarations, which allow the areas to seek further support from the Government, came in response to growing demand on health and social care services due to coronavirus.
Leader of Buckinghamshire Council, Martin Tett, said: ‘Our rate in the over 60 years population is now putting our health and social care services under very severe pressure.
- Former CIPFA presidents receive New Year honours
Date: 04 Jan 2021
Gardner, who was auditor general of Audit Scotland from 2012-2020 and CIPFA president in 2006, was awarded a CBE for her services to the Scottish public sector.
She had worked at Audit Scotland since its inception in 2000 and was also chair of CIPFA in Scotland in 2001.
Roberts, who was CIPFA president in 2016, was awarded an OBE for his services to local government and public sector finance.
He was appointed as one of two finance commissioners to help advise at Northamptonshire County Council in 2018, after the council issued two section 114 notices.
- Prime Minister commits to uplift in public sector jobs
Date: 04 Jan 2021
The Prime Minister has committed to continuing to invest in public sector jobs as the country aims to “build back better” after the Covid-19 pandemic.
2020 saw record numbers of nurses recruited with 13,313 new nurses joining the NHS in England, taking the total figure up to 299,184.
41,000 trainee teachers were recruited last year, with every teacher in the country receiving an above-inflation pay rise.
Archived Headlines
- 2020
-
- Whitehall urged to cut council workload as pressures hit crisis point [22 Dec 2020]
- Schools in England 'will have less than a third of Covid costs met by government' [22 Dec 2020]
- Almost 40,000 retailers in UK in financial straits before tougher Covid rules [22 Dec 2020]
- Offices share £481m rebate after interim business rates ruling [22 Dec 2020]
- More than half of local authorities expect childcare providers to close when coronavirus support ends [22 Dec 2020]
- 840,000 private tenants in England and Wales could be behind on rent [22 Dec 2020]
- Schools in England 'will have less than a third of Covid costs met by government' [22 Dec 2020]
- 1,500 lorries stuck in Kent as UK and France aim to restart freight [22 Dec 2020]
- England set for New Year lockdown as coronavirus variant spreads across UK [22 Dec 2020]
- Jenrick announces £310m to tackle homelessness [21 Dec 2020]
- Councils’ core funding per resident set to drop below 2015-16 levels [21 Dec 2020]
- Babies ‘largely invisible’ in pandemic response [21 Dec 2020]
- January school closures considered as fears grow over new Covid strain's spread among children [21 Dec 2020]
- Questions over settlement boost [21 Dec 2020]
- Tory MPs pressure government to overhaul ‘regressive’ council tax [18 Dec 2020]
- Teachers won't have to play role in coronavirus testing in schools, minister confirms [18 Dec 2020]
- Government reduces New Homes Bonus [17 Dec 2020]
- Families face council tax rise next year after local authorities given green light for hike [17 Dec 2020]
- Redmond proposal for oversight body rejected [17 Dec 2020]
- Sunak extends furlough and loans schemes to bolster economy [17 Dec 2020]
- Calls to break down weekly vaccine figures by local authority [17 Dec 2020]
- Kent reopens doors to UASC [17 Dec 2020]
- Testing rolled out to areas at ‘significant risk’ of moving into Tier 3 [17 Dec 2020]
- Interim exit cap guidance allows relaxation on ‘compassionate’ grounds [16 Dec 2020]
- DfE had ‘no idea’ of latest Covid surge in London schools clash [16 Dec 2020]
- Revisions to algorithm and housing funding to shift focus away from south east [16 Dec 2020]
- Government caught out ‘reshuffling old money into new pots’ [16 Dec 2020]
- For the first time in its history UNICEF will help feed children in the UK [16 Dec 2020]
- Less than half of UK population could be vaccinated in 2021, spending watchdog says [16 Dec 2020]
- London councils defy government and offer schools option to close amid spiralling cases [16 Dec 2020]
- Relaxation of UK Christmas rules 'unlikely to change' [16 Dec 2020]
- Tory shires escape housebuilding bonanza after new U-turn from Robert Jenrick [16 Dec 2020]
- The year Covid-19 shook local government finances [15 Dec 2020]
- Leeds withdraws capitalisation application [15 Dec 2020]
- Spelthorne commercial income set to rise despite Covid-19 [15 Dec 2020]
- Concerns as £100m fund for ailing leisure providers opens [15 Dec 2020]
- Leaders wrestle with ‘cowardly’ 5% council tax expectation [15 Dec 2020]
- Ministry to improve funding delivery [15 Dec 2020]
- PSAA to consider 'whopping' 120% audit fee hike [15 Dec 2020]
- Vaccinating entire UK population could take a year, scientists warn [15 Dec 2020]
- Hospitality worst-hit as unemployment rises again [15 Dec 2020]
- 'New variant' of coronavirus identified in UK, health secretary says [15 Dec 2020]
- Councils face extra data burden on commercial property [14 Dec 2020]
- Council finance officers nip £1.5m fraud in the bud [14 Dec 2020]
- London to move into tier 3 as infections rise [14 Dec 2020]
- Deaths of homeless hit new record in England and Wales [14 Dec 2020]
- Government starts legal proceedings against council over school closures [14 Dec 2020]
- Promise of UK care home visits is not being kept to, warns charity [12 Dec 2020]
- EU-UK trade deal still 'significant possibility' but 'won't come at any price', says Oliver Dowden [11 Dec 2020]
- Test And Trace Private Sector Call Handlers Worked Just 1% Of Their Paid Time [11 Dec 2020]
- Border improvements costs rise by £173m [10 Dec 2020]
- UK economic growth continues to slow [10 Dec 2020]
- Government to shake up taxes on sharing economy [10 Dec 2020]
- CIPFA proposes sector-wide audit report [10 Dec 2020]
- Pupils face mass testing as tier 3 Covid measures loom in London [10 Dec 2020]
- Number of children adopted from care in England drops for fifth year running [10 Dec 2020]
- Backlash over government's overhaul of English planning system [10 Dec 2020]
- Stagecoach shares rise despite 90% drop in profits [10 Dec 2020]
- Councils can’t afford to pay £500 self-isolation grant [10 Dec 2020]
- One in ten councillors sign letter calling for rethink of planning reforms [10 Dec 2020]
- Remote communities left isolated as councils cut support for buses and journeys fall by almost 100m in a decade [10 Dec 2020]
- England’s councils face austerity by stealth [09 Dec 2020]
- Nearly 2m children in UK went short of food in 2020, report suggests [09 Dec 2020]
- Leaked report warns of future section 114 notice [08 Dec 2020]
- Up to 5% of councils risk ‘financial failure’ under hard Brexit [08 Dec 2020]
- Regional recovery needs support to be tailored, says Lloyds [08 Dec 2020]
- First person receives Pfizer jab in UK [08 Dec 2020]
- Liverpool mayor arrested in bribery probe [07 Dec 2020]
- Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine could be airlifted to UK if Brexit trade talks collapse [07 Dec 2020]
- Care home vaccinations to start 'within two weeks' [05 Dec 2020]
- Library spending drops by £20m [04 Dec 2020]
- Pandemic complications hit audit performance [04 Dec 2020]
- Doubts over ‘botched’ population data used to justify housebuilding [04 Dec 2020]
- Rishi Sunak's cuts 'risk plunging more than 3 million into poverty' [04 Dec 2020]
- Care home staff front of line as vaccine shelved for hospital workers [04 Dec 2020]
- Scrap rapid Covid tests in England's care homes, experts urge [03 Dec 2020]
- UK aims to cut emissions by 68% by end of 2030 [03 Dec 2020]
- Children missing from care ‘abandoned’ to county lines drug gangs [03 Dec 2020]
- Extra measures 'to ensure fair exams next summer' [03 Dec 2020]
- Croydon issues second section 114 notice [02 Dec 2020]
- Government accused of 'jumping gun' on England care home visits [02 Dec 2020]
- Shoppers return to stores under England's new tier system [02 Dec 2020]
- 'Serious disruption' risk at Channel post-transition period [02 Dec 2020]
- UK food bank trust says half of users repaying universal credit debts [01 Dec 2020]
- Sheffield City Council warns care home providers not to use government's rapid tests over doubts about accuracy [01 Dec 2020]
- Mass Covid testing to be rolled out to local authorities in tier 3 [01 Dec 2020]
- MPs to vote on tougher tiers for England [01 Dec 2020]
- Vulnerable children in lockdown 'national concern' [01 Dec 2020]
- Welsh pubs and restaurants banned from selling alcohol and face 6pm curfew [30 Nov 2020]
- Generation of poorer children may never recover from ‘cruel blow’ of pandemic, warns children’s commissioner [30 Nov 2020]
- NHS Covid-19 app to gain self-isolation payments [30 Nov 2020]
- People who refuse to get vaccine could be denied entry to venues, minister suggests [30 Nov 2020]
- Army cannot be drafted in for Covid testing across country, warns General [30 Nov 2020]
- Public sector urged to be open about role in decision-making [28 Nov 2020]
- Families condemn ‘imprisonment’ of care home residents [28 Nov 2020]
- Vitamin D to be sent to three million clinically vulnerable people to help protect against Covid-19 [28 Nov 2020]
- Mass testing a 'distraction' from vaccine rollout - health leaders [28 Nov 2020]
- Boris Johnson says measures will bring clarity [28 Nov 2020]
- [OPINION] Boris Johnson's 'mutant' planning algorithm could scar England for ever [27 Nov 2020]
- Inspectors moving between Covid-hit England care homes without tests [27 Nov 2020]
- UK's R number falls to lowest level since August as daily infections decline [27 Nov 2020]
- Hospitals in England told to prepare for Covid vaccine rollout in 10 days' time [27 Nov 2020]
- NHS to pilot 'game-changing' blood test that could detect 50 types of cancer [27 Nov 2020]
- UK regulator to assess Oxford coronavirus vaccine in 'first step' towards roll-out [27 Nov 2020]
- We must value and fund social care as much as the NHS [27 Nov 2020]
- Don’t hug granny, Chris Whitty warns in plea for a cautious Christmas [27 Nov 2020]
- Small traders across the UK set to lose more than £1bn without Christmas markets [26 Nov 2020]
- Council tax could rise by up to 5% next April as ministers give green light for hikes [26 Nov 2020]
- Social care funding falls 'alarmingly short' - council directors [26 Nov 2020]
- Unpaid carers have saved the UK £135bn during the pandemic [26 Nov 2020]
- Greater spending power is far from what’s needed to restore budgets [25 Nov 2020]
- DPHs ‘kicked in teeth’ by Sunak’s funding freeze [25 Nov 2020]
- Reform of inflation measure will hit LGPS investment returns [25 Nov 2020]
- Sunak recycles money for green transport [25 Nov 2020]
- NHS receives £3bn funding boost [25 Nov 2020]
- £2.9bn 'restart programme to help unemployed' [25 Nov 2020]
- Infrastructure gets pride of place [25 Nov 2020]
- UKSPF to reach £1.5bn a year [25 Nov 2020]
- Chancellor warns of 'lasting' damage to UK economy [25 Nov 2020]
- Caution urged over household mixing [25 Nov 2020]
- Unemployed predicted to rise to 2.6 million [25 Nov 2020]
- County to upgrade chief officer role to deal with post-pandemic challenges [25 Nov 2020]
- DfE urged to announce plans for January student return amid Covid spike fears [25 Nov 2020]
- Chancellor promises 4.5% spending power increase [25 Nov 2020]
- Special educational needs support 'offered after exclusion' [24 Nov 2020]
- [OPINION] By freezing pay and benefits, Sunak will be levelling down, not up [24 Nov 2020]
- PM sets out 'tougher' post-lockdown tiers for England [23 Nov 2020]
- Brexit ‘could hurt fraud prevention’ [23 Nov 2020]
- Covid-19 schemes' fraud risk 'considerable’ [23 Nov 2020]
- Number of unemployed people in UK over 50 rises by third, figures suggest [23 Nov 2020]
- End in sight for contact isolation as repeat testing trial gets under way [23 Nov 2020]
- Education of poorest pupils in England and Wales 'suffers most during Covid isolation' [23 Nov 2020]
- Covid fears prompt 38% rise in parents home educating [23 Nov 2020]
- Oxford vaccine is up to 90% effective in preventing coronavirus, tests show [23 Nov 2020]
- Christmas get-together plan backed by UK nations [23 Nov 2020]
- Boris Johnson to unveil post-English lockdown plans [23 Nov 2020]
- Rishi Sunak says Spending Review will not spell austerity [23 Nov 2020]
- Rough sleepers could be forced to stay out in the cold to avoid Covid, councils warn [23 Nov 2020]
- Thousands could be sent to their deaths because of ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ orders imposed by care homes [22 Nov 2020]
- Rishi Sunak to promise £150m extra spending on homelessness [22 Nov 2020]
- Call to expand £500 grant for Covid self-isolators [22 Nov 2020]
- Strengthened tier system for England after lockdown [22 Nov 2020]
- Rishi Sunak signals tax rises in spring [22 Nov 2020]
- Rishi Sunak to reform anti-Northern spending bias [22 Nov 2020]
- We’ll have to cut vital services without £4bn help, say England’s councils [21 Nov 2020]
- Lockdown working, insists Matt Hancock as cases start to flatten [21 Nov 2020]
- Mass testing aims to cut quarantine for Covid contacts [21 Nov 2020]
- UK setting up vaccine centres ready for rollout [21 Nov 2020]
- Negative press forces council into borrowing strategy switch [20 Nov 2020]
- The opportunities provided by the comprehensive spending review [20 Nov 2020]
- Government borrowing record accompanied by huge interest fall [20 Nov 2020]
- Backlash over chancellor's 'cruel' expected public sector pay freeze [20 Nov 2020]
- House building plummets by a third with developers blaming local authority planning delays more than the pandemic [20 Nov 2020]
- Thurrock forced to rethink MRP plan [20 Nov 2020]
- Thurrock defends ‘potentially risky’ investment strategy [20 Nov 2020]
- Outcry over public sector pay freeze rumours [20 Nov 2020]
- Councils overwhelmed by asylum seekers as Home Office moves hundreds into hotels [20 Nov 2020]
- NHS prepares dozens of Covid mass vaccination centres around England [20 Nov 2020]
- Flu jab push as Covid vaccine roll-out planned [20 Nov 2020]
- Sunak mulls public sector pay freeze for millions [20 Nov 2020]
- Priti Patel 'broke ministerial code with her behaviour towards staff' according to leaked bullying investigation and will get a written warning [19 Nov 2020]
- Apprentice redundancy numbers rise [19 Nov 2020]
- Local authorities ‘braced for second wave of homelessness’ [19 Nov 2020]
- Quarter of UK home care operators face going bust [19 Nov 2020]
- NAO: 'Lack of transparency' over Covid-19 procurement [18 Nov 2020]
- UK care home bosses seek extra £500m for Christmas Covid measures [18 Nov 2020]
- Majority of UK teachers have worked in schools with homeless pupils, finds survey [18 Nov 2020]
- Coronavirus deaths in England and Wales rise 40% in a week [18 Nov 2020]
- England's 'inadequate' tier system 'did not contain the spread of coronavirus', say doctors [18 Nov 2020]
- Ban on new petrol and diesel cars in UK from 2030 under PM's green plan [18 Nov 2020]
- Post-Grenfell social housing reforms unveiled [17 Nov 2020]
- Scottish council creates energy joint venture [17 Nov 2020]
- Government set to provide social care reform update [17 Nov 2020]
- Sir Tony Redmond on local authority audit [17 Nov 2020]
- Councils risk killing off the high street after hiking parking charges to bring in extra cash [17 Nov 2020]
- UK orders five million doses of new Moderna jab by spring next year [17 Nov 2020]
- Bosses urge ministers to protect nursing centres against the crippling cost of legal claims... just like the NHS [17 Nov 2020]
- Social housing landlords in England face checks on tenants' satisfaction [17 Nov 2020]
- Business rate retention for freeport councils [16 Nov 2020]
- Large drop in council office need predicted [16 Nov 2020]
- LGA launches Croydon disciplinary probe [16 Nov 2020]
- Asylum seekers forced to travel miles to sign on with Home Office during lockdown [16 Nov 2020]
- Liverpool mass-testing finds 700 cases with no symptoms [16 Nov 2020]
- England tier system may need strengthening - government adviser [16 Nov 2020]
- Family of care home residents to get regular Covid tests to allow visits [14 Nov 2020]
- R number for UK has fallen to between 1 and 1.2 [14 Nov 2020]
- Children more likely to be infected in second wave [14 Nov 2020]
- Local government must be able to lead shoulder-to-shoulder with NHS on COVID-19 vaccination drive [14 Nov 2020]
- ‘Mood music’ signals bleak prospects for tax loss compensation [13 Nov 2020]
- Waiting list for council homes in England ‘will double to 2 million’ [13 Nov 2020]
- Do the right thing: How I issued a section 114 notice [13 Nov 2020]
- UK emission targets won't be reached by 2050, think tank says [13 Nov 2020]
- Older people more likely to break lockdown rules than young, ONS finds [13 Nov 2020]
- Scientists warn of Christmas Covid surge if tier system returns [13 Nov 2020]
- Governments urged to go beyond net zero climate targets [13 Nov 2020]
- Local councils advised to push ahead with traffic reduction schemes [13 Nov 2020]
- North West sees job ads surge while London lags [13 Nov 2020]
- Retail footfall lowest since the spring [13 Nov 2020]
- Learning disability death rates 'six times higher' [13 Nov 2020]
- Hundreds of thousands of 'invisible' children falling through gaps, warn peers [13 Nov 2020]
- UK prepared for wrong sort of pandemic, says former chief medical officer [12 Nov 2020]
- Majority of county councils to make cuts next year [12 Nov 2020]
- Government urged to consider capital gains tax rise [12 Nov 2020]
- UK GDP increases by record 15.5% [12 Nov 2020]
- Tory council leaders warn of severe cuts in England [12 Nov 2020]
- Croydon Council bans new spending under Section 114 notice [12 Nov 2020]
- Kickstart jobs scheme creates 19,000 work placements [12 Nov 2020]
- Council investment strategy ‘deeply concerns’ opposition leader [11 Nov 2020]
- York, Salford, Durham and Swale appoint to top job [11 Nov 2020]
- LGA to push for devo ‘baseline’ without need for reorganisation [11 Nov 2020]
- Towns fund selection process ‘risks civil service reputation’ [11 Nov 2020]
- NHS urged to harness local government partners in vaccine rollout [11 Nov 2020]
- Tories slammed for lack of progress on environment promises made nine years ago [11 Nov 2020]
- £3.6bn struggling English towns fund 'not impartial', say MPs [11 Nov 2020]
- Tory MPs form group to oppose future lockdowns [11 Nov 2020]
- UK unemployment rate continues to surge [11 Nov 2020]
- Government ponders simplified regional lockdown system [11 Nov 2020]
- Northern England 'worst hit' by pandemic [11 Nov 2020]
- Universities to oversee student exodus for Christmas [11 Nov 2020]
- Children in care 'failed' while some providers 'make millions' [11 Nov 2020]
- Sunak's cash pledge to head off revolt [10 Nov 2020]
- Government to launch ‘green bond’ [10 Nov 2020]
- PSAA proposes 25% increase in audit variation rates [10 Nov 2020]
- Mass testing for 67 local areas in England [10 Nov 2020]
- NHS told to prepare for Covid mass vaccinations from December 1 [10 Nov 2020]
- Adult day care centres denied access to ‘vital’ coronavirus testing [10 Nov 2020]
- UK set to cut Covid self-isolation to 10 days after Cummings and Whitty row [10 Nov 2020]
- NHS ready for Pfizer roll-out, says Matt Hancock [10 Nov 2020]
- Thousands of rapid COVID-19 tests to be sent to local authorities this week [10 Nov 2020]
- Lockdown children forget how to use knife and fork [10 Nov 2020]
- TfL set to remain dependent on government support [09 Nov 2020]
- Local authority capital receipts fall by 30% [09 Nov 2020]
- Boris Johnson has “lost interest” in devolution of power in England, says Lord Heseltine [09 Nov 2020]
- UK vaccines chief Kate Bingham expected to leave post at end of year [09 Nov 2020]
- Boris Johnson gives cautious welcome to COVID-19 vaccine news [09 Nov 2020]
- EU and UK negotiators resume trade talks in London [09 Nov 2020]
- Lack of ventilator supplies 'hit' disabled people [09 Nov 2020]
- UK's nuclear future to be decided at key meeting [09 Nov 2020]
- NSPCC warns of lockdown's toll on children's mental health [09 Nov 2020]
- Tens of thousands made homeless despite UK ban on evictions during pandemic [08 Nov 2020]
- Number of people seeking help for suicidal thoughts has tripled since lockdown [08 Nov 2020]
- Liverpool testing trial sites doubled after queues on first day [08 Nov 2020]
- Rashford ‘proud’ after Government U-turn on free school meals at Christmas [08 Nov 2020]
- Nursing shortage warning as winter looms [07 Nov 2020]
- Lockdown 'opportunity' to fix England's roads [07 Nov 2020]
- Care home residents face postcode lottery over face-to-face visits [07 Nov 2020]
- Test and trace needs radical reform in England, health experts say [07 Nov 2020]
- Record weekly Covid cases in England but new infections 'stabilise' [06 Nov 2020]
- Brexit and Covid-19 set to hit HMRC balance sheet [06 Nov 2020]
- Council to ‘fundamentally’ review services [06 Nov 2020]
- LGPS records negative cashflow position [06 Nov 2020]
- Councils urged to appoint 'Food Champion' [05 Nov 2020]
- Councils call for clear lockdown exit strategy [04 Nov 2020]
- Holyrood announces £15m for young people with mental health issues [03 Nov 2020]
- Jenrick confirms rapid review into Nottingham City Council [03 Nov 2020]
- Liverpool to pilot mass coronavirus testing [03 Nov 2020]
- Who can go back on to furlough? [03 Nov 2020]
- Homelessness charities call for second Everyone In scheme in England [02 Nov 2020]
- Poorest pupils can enrol for catch-up tuition [02 Nov 2020]
- Government urged to address Covid-19 backlogs [02 Nov 2020]
- English lockdown may last beyond 2 Dec, says Gove [02 Nov 2020]
- Keeping schools open could lead to longer lockdown, scientist warns [01 Nov 2020]
- Sadiq Khan warns Londoners council tax could have to rise as TfL secures £1.8bn bailout [01 Nov 2020]
- Growing numbers of 'newly hungry' forced to use UK food banks [01 Nov 2020]
- Covid job losses lead MPs to call for trials of universal basic income [31 Oct 2020]
- Fears Covid could scupper EU trade deal talks [31 Oct 2020]
- Calls to invest £240m in early years provision [30 Oct 2020]
- Frustrated public health directors slam NHS Test & Trace [30 Oct 2020]
- IMF urges government to keep up pandemic spending [30 Oct 2020]
- Council tax support bill to exceed funding [30 Oct 2020]
- One in six childcare providers in England may close by Christmas [30 Oct 2020]
- Most public sector audits by Grant Thornton fall below standard, watchdog finds [30 Oct 2020]
- Record demand for council tax support [30 Oct 2020]
- Surrey looks to future with £20m LED conversion [29 Oct 2020]
- Cities issue stark finance warning [29 Oct 2020]
- ONS finds 2m people still on furlough days before scheme ends [29 Oct 2020]
- Increase public spending to tackle Covid second wave, IMF tells UK [29 Oct 2020]
- Government won't cut 300,000 housing target - Robert Jenrick [29 Oct 2020]
- Contacts reached by NHS test and trace system stays stuck at record low [29 Oct 2020]
- West Yorkshire to go into tier 3 from Monday [29 Oct 2020]
- Spelthorne councillors seize greater investment oversight [29 Oct 2020]
- Business rate appeals average ‘1,000 per day’ [29 Oct 2020]
- Government to review Croydon governance [29 Oct 2020]
- Minister attempts to clear up exit cap confusion [29 Oct 2020]
- Planners will be able to build estates of 50 homes without setting aside any for affordable housing, charities warn [29 Oct 2020]
- 10% of England's population could be tested for Covid-19 every week [29 Oct 2020]
- Nearly 100,000 catching virus every day - study [29 Oct 2020]
- Rural homelessness doubles in past two years, campaigners warn [28 Oct 2020]
- Reorganisation hopes renewed for counties [28 Oct 2020]
- Scottish GDP drops by 19.4% in second quarter [28 Oct 2020]
- Nearly half of councils in Great Britain use algorithms to help make claims decisions [28 Oct 2020]
- Marcus Rashford school meals petition passes 1m signatures [28 Oct 2020]
- UK only buying enough vaccines to protect the most vulnerable [28 Oct 2020]
- Covid is blamed for 5.5% slump in bus passenger journeys to 4.07billion across England over 12 months, DfT data shows [28 Oct 2020]
- Spelthorne councillors seize greater investment oversight [28 Oct 2020]
- PM under pressure to toughen restrictions after highest death toll since May [28 Oct 2020]
- Rishi Sunak says government has 'provided resources' [28 Oct 2020]
- Post-furlough unemployment 'hits young and ethnic minorities' [28 Oct 2020]
- Rural homelessness in England rises by 115% in past two years [28 Oct 2020]
- toddlers from UK's poorest families 'hit hardest by lockdown' [27 Oct 2020]
- Treasury faces legal warning on exit payments [27 Oct 2020]
- Inquiry launched into local government finance [27 Oct 2020]
- Council seeks approval on £12.5m housing scheme [27 Oct 2020]
- Council apologises following ‘serious’ issues with its financial situation [27 Oct 2020]
- The plight of the bus network outside London [27 Oct 2020]
- £63m hardship fund was not meant to pay for free school meals [27 Oct 2020]
- Unions pile on pressure over exit pay cap [27 Oct 2020]
- Seven areas across England set to receive nearly £180m investment [27 Oct 2020]
- High court condemns lack of provisions in UK for suicidal teenager [27 Oct 2020]
- Clean air could have saved 6,000 lives from Covid, experts claim [27 Oct 2020]
- Covid has thrived on racial discrimination, says Baroness Doreen Lawrence [27 Oct 2020]
- Northern Tory MPs demand 'roadmap out of lockdown' in letter to Boris Johnson [27 Oct 2020]
- Council accused of ‘corporate blindness' [26 Oct 2020]
- Councils urged to appoint chief foresight officers [26 Oct 2020]
- New guidance to prevent care leavers becoming homeless [26 Oct 2020]
- Councils forced to ‘prop up’ bus operators during pandemic [26 Oct 2020]
- 14-day quarantine for Covid contacts could be reduced [26 Oct 2020]
- Nottingham and surrounding areas to move into Tier 3 this week - council bosses [26 Oct 2020]
- Boris Johnson says councils can use money from fund which has already run out [26 Oct 2020]
- What Covid-19 means for the future of local government [26 Oct 2020]
- ‘If we don’t do something we’ll be blighted for years’ – one borough’s recovery plans [26 Oct 2020]
- Nothing left of £63m for free school meals [26 Oct 2020]
- Auditors issue public interest report over Croydon’s financial failures [26 Oct 2020]
- Only six in ten pupils are getting full education despite schools reopening, report finds [26 Oct 2020]
- 'Generation Covid' hit hard by the pandemic, research reveals [26 Oct 2020]
- NHS denies elderly people were refused care during early Covid [26 Oct 2020]
- UK records 19,790 more COVID-19 cases and 151 further deaths [26 Oct 2020]
- More cash for poorest as PM seeks end to school meals row [26 Oct 2020]
- Rishi Sunak’s new youth job scheme attacked as ‘sticking plaster’ that will fail to prevent mass unemployment [25 Oct 2020]
- Senior Conservative MP and Johnson ally calls for Dido Harding to be axed from Test and Trace role [25 Oct 2020]
- Cost of facemasks to rise as Treasury scraps VAT exemption on PPE [23 Oct 2020]
- Councils gain COVID enforcement powers [23 Oct 2020]
- Covid-19 schemes' fraud ‘risk considerable’ [23 Oct 2020]
- Brexit ‘could hurt fraud prevention’ [23 Oct 2020]
- Returns show £900m drop in council reserves last year [23 Oct 2020]
- New government Covid scheme to pay up to half of wages [23 Oct 2020]
- England and Wales begin tougher rules for millions [23 Oct 2020]
- People told to self-isolate stopped from claiming £500 grant by flaw in contact tracing app [23 Oct 2020]
- Furlough fraudsters 'may have stolen more than £3bn' [23 Oct 2020]
- Pandemic caused ‘incredible damage’ to social care [22 Oct 2020]
- Councils to receive £100m leisure centre fund [22 Oct 2020]
- One in six children aged 5-16 in England 'likely to have a mental disorder' [22 Oct 2020]
- Streamline local government under plans to save £30bn a year, think tank argues [21 Oct 2020]
- Spending Review to conclude late November [21 Oct 2020]
- London the worst city in Europe for health costs from air pollution [21 Oct 2020]
- Sadiq Khan condemns 'draconian' conditions of TfL rescue [21 Oct 2020]
- Hancock defends 'fair' tier 3 offer for Greater Manchester [21 Oct 2020]
- Investment needed in data analysis skills, conference hears [20 Oct 2020]
- Councils scoop £50m after VAT ruling [20 Oct 2020]
- UK borrowing jumps in September as Covid support continues [20 Oct 2020]
- Pupils sent home in half of England's secondary schools [20 Oct 2020]
- Carers 'on the brink' as they fear further Covid-19 restrictions during winter [20 Oct 2020]
- Failure to act on Covid 'circuit breaker' will cost billions – Labour [20 Oct 2020]
- UK posts highest daily COVID deaths since June and more than 21,000 new cases [20 Oct 2020]
- Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson at odds over spending after Covid hits public finances [20 Oct 2020]
- Household recycling 'soared' during pandemic [19 Oct 2020]
- Hull and East Riding set out on path to form mayoral combined authority [19 Oct 2020]
- Counties warn of test and trace ‘missed opportunity’ [19 Oct 2020]
- NHS urged not to waste Covid-19 investment [19 Oct 2020]
- Johnson’s no-deal Brexit claim is a "delusion", says Hammond [19 Oct 2020]
- Whiteman slams Plymouth's interest rate swap move [19 Oct 2020]
- Traffic jams caused by badly designed cycle lanes put funding at risk [19 Oct 2020]
- Fines for not isolating may stop people getting tested [19 Oct 2020]
- Teachers search for lost children of Covid [18 Oct 2020]
- Police granted access to details of people told to self-isolate by Test and Trace [18 Oct 2020]
- UK credit rating downgraded [18 Oct 2020]
- UK facing 'tough' Christmas, Sage scientist warns [18 Oct 2020]
- Labour backs Marcus Rashford campaign [17 Oct 2020]
- Coronavirus emergency has exposed huge gap between Westminster and local government before tier three fight [17 Oct 2020]
- Higher ethnic death risk 'not linked to health' [17 Oct 2020]
- Without a ‘generous’ settlement the risk of section 114s looms large [16 Oct 2020]
- Boris Johnson tells UK: prepare for a no-deal Brexit [16 Oct 2020]
- Lancashire Councils respond to Tier 3 restrictions [16 Oct 2020]
- SAGE expert says two-week lockdowns at breaks could disrupt coronavirus spread before vaccine is developed [16 Oct 2020]
- Plastic to be saved from landfill by revolutionary recycling plants [16 Oct 2020]
- England's 'fragile' care sector needs immediate reform, says regulator [16 Oct 2020]
- Marcus Rashford vows to keep up free meals fight after No 10 refusal [15 Oct 2020]
- Care home chain denies it will let staff work in multiple homes after furious families leaked letter hinting group would defy government rules [15 Oct 2020]
- Five-person team gets £25k a day to work on Test and Trace system [15 Oct 2020]
- London, Essex, York and other areas moving to Tier 2 [15 Oct 2020]
- Scottish Government allocates £52.6m for bus services [15 Oct 2020]
- Welsh care IT system ‘late and over budget’ [15 Oct 2020]
- City region launches £10m emergency Covid-19 fund [15 Oct 2020]
- Manchester funding gap for 2021-22 could hit £135m [14 Oct 2020]
- OECD says UK structural deficit ‘likely’ [14 Oct 2020]
- Two-week circuit breaker 'may halve deaths', report says [14 Oct 2020]
- New Covid lockdown would inflict terrible harm [14 Oct 2020]
- Child poverty increases in England across the north and Midlands [14 Oct 2020]
- Pressure grows on PM for half-term lockdown [14 Oct 2020]
- Councils must abandon narrow-mindedness over who can adopt children [14 Oct 2020]
- 'Gold' summit to discuss raising alert level for Greater Manchester and Lancashire [14 Oct 2020]
- What has gone wrong with England's Covid test-and-trace system? [13 Oct 2020]
- IMF warns of long road to recovery [13 Oct 2020]
- Care homes in England to name relatives as key workers to allow visits [13 Oct 2020]
- Welsh auditor issues Covid-19 fraud warning [13 Oct 2020]
- Tax rises needed to prevent ‘spiralling debt’ [13 Oct 2020]
- IFS urges delay to cuts and tax rises [13 Oct 2020]
- Jenrick open to reorg election delay requests as he advocates unitary alternatives [13 Oct 2020]
- Tax rises of more than £40bn a year 'all but inevitable' [13 Oct 2020]
- Police in parts of Britain are 80 times more likely to hand out coronavirus penalties than others [13 Oct 2020]
- Lockdown rules in high-risk areas may need to 'go even further', minister warns [13 Oct 2020]
- Regional leaders criticise 'disappointing' Tier 2 restrictions [13 Oct 2020]
- Sage scientists called for short lockdown weeks ago [13 Oct 2020]
- BoE writes to banks over negative rates readiness [12 Oct 2020]
- Dorset Council braces for £43m overspend [12 Oct 2020]
- Fears for Northants ‘managerial vacuum’ as officers seek early exit [12 Oct 2020]
- AA highlights local road spend disparity [12 Oct 2020]
- Tier-three Liverpool City Region to receive £8 per head funding [12 Oct 2020]
- MP refuses to resign after travelling hundreds of miles with coronavirus [12 Oct 2020]
- Ministers to have veto on statue removals [12 Oct 2020]
- Surge in number of UK children applying for free school meals [12 Oct 2020]
- Shoppers aid growth but slowdown ahead, says report [12 Oct 2020]
- Dire outlook as experts predict 1.5million people are set to lose their jobs before the end of the year [12 Oct 2020]
- New local lockdown restrictions in England to be unveiled [12 Oct 2020]
- Councils could spend £1.7bn over budget by March as costs rise [11 Oct 2020]
- Mayors set to be given more test and trace powers [11 Oct 2020]
- How council cuts to public conveniences is keeping thousands of Britons stuck at home out of fear of being caught short [10 Oct 2020]
- Doctors call for mandatory masks in offices and outdoors in new wish list [10 Oct 2020]
- Jenrick invites three counties to submit reorganisation proposals [09 Oct 2020]
- UK GDP growth slows in August [09 Oct 2020]
- Ratings agency issues warning over potential sector downgrade [09 Oct 2020]
- Council denies investment strategy is unlawful [09 Oct 2020]
- Aspects of welfare system ‘ripe for reform’ [09 Oct 2020]
- New spending package allows council receipts to meet cost pressures. [08 Oct 2020]
- Full lockdown 'left country more vulnerable to another wave' of COVID-19, study suggests [08 Oct 2020]
- New restrictions for parts of England likely next week [08 Oct 2020]
- Plymouth agrees interest rates swap [07 Oct 2020]
- UK youth unemployment 'set to triple to 80s levels' [07 Oct 2020]
- Minister moves to head off political rows [07 Oct 2020]
- Frustration grows over testing access [07 Oct 2020]
- Current and former Tory party chairs blamed for devolution turmoil [07 Oct 2020]
- Government 'likely' to miss full fibre broadband 2025 target [07 Oct 2020]
- Councils warning on plan to relax developer rules [07 Oct 2020]
- Top scientists call for herd immunity approach - as government's 'soft touch' criticised [07 Oct 2020]
- Boris Johnson hints at new 'magic of averages' social care system [06 Oct 2020]
- Renting 'torture' as charity calls social housing provision 'woefully inadequate' [06 Oct 2020]
- Commons rebellions expected at votes on curfew and rule of six [06 Oct 2020]
- Nearly 500,000 redundancies planned since crisis began [06 Oct 2020]
- NHS staff struggle with burnout as they warn hospital bosses about looming second wave [06 Oct 2020]
- Almost 8,000 missed COVID-19 cases still haven't had their contacts traced [06 Oct 2020]
- Welsh quarantine considered for UK coronavirus hotspots [05 Oct 2020]
- Lords defy government over refugee children's right to family reunion [05 Oct 2020]
- Tory MP accuses Housing Secretary of `shocking betrayal´ over cladding crisis [05 Oct 2020]
- Boris Johnson to unveil plan to power all UK homes with wind by 2030 [05 Oct 2020]
- Boris Johnson to unveil plan to power all UK homes with wind by 2030 [05 Oct 2020]
- New money for councils to help survivors [05 Oct 2020]
- Less than half of the UK population could get vaccinated [05 Oct 2020]
- Government launches £238m scheme for jobseekers [05 Oct 2020]
- Leak reveals possible harsher three-tier England Covid plan [05 Oct 2020]
- Care homes policies violated human rights, says Amnesty [04 Oct 2020]
- ‘Exhausted’ teachers warn they have no additional funding to handle Covid-19 [04 Oct 2020]
- 'Winter of discontent' faces North, warns Andy Burnham [04 Oct 2020]
- Things 'bumpy to Christmas and beyond' - PM [04 Oct 2020]
- Jenrick predicts November spending review date as ‘challenging period’ looms [02 Oct 2020]
- Local contact tracing roll out gathers pace despite lack of funding [02 Oct 2020]
- Legalise e-scooters in UK as alternative to short car trips, MPs say [02 Oct 2020]
- Confusion as exit cap voted through [01 Oct 2020]
- Restrictions for England to be standardised into three tiers [01 Oct 2020]
- Middlesbrough business mixing ban 'unacceptable' [01 Oct 2020]
- Six areas added to England's COVID-19 watchlist [01 Oct 2020]
- [Opinion] The government needs to invest £100bn in social infrastructure [01 Oct 2020]
- North East devo deal back on the table [01 Oct 2020]
- Call for more enforcement powers as Leese claims Covid restrictions ‘don’t work’ [01 Oct 2020]
- Housebuilding in Cotswolds and Cumbria will soar under reforms [01 Oct 2020]
- Fly-tipping 'became more acceptable in lockdown', MP says [01 Oct 2020]
- Comprehensive Spending Review 'should outline £10bn funding' for local authorities [01 Oct 2020]
- Coronavirus: Restrictions for England to be standardised into three tiers [01 Oct 2020]
- Up to 10 million Brits could need mental health support after the pandemic ends, charity says [01 Oct 2020]
- More than a third of UK employers planning to make staff redundant [01 Oct 2020]
- Growth in cases may be slowing in England [01 Oct 2020]
- Extra £10bn needed to plug funding gap, say councils [01 Oct 2020]
- Rise in pupils in England being home-schooled due to Covid fears, says Ofsted chief [30 Sep 2020]
- Covid-hit Merseyside economy 'may collapse without funding' [30 Sep 2020]
- Care home coronavirus outbreaks cast doubt on official PHE data [30 Sep 2020]
- Report calls for universal care service to transform UK economy [30 Sep 2020]
- Stockpile will see us through winter, says PPE tsar [29 Sep 2020]
- Testing in care homes getting 'worse not better' as delays leave elderly at risk [29 Sep 2020]
- The business rates backlash [opinion] [29 Sep 2020]
- Government urged to increase children's services funding [29 Sep 2020]
- Coronavirus: Biggest ever rise in new cases recorded in the UK as deaths jump [29 Sep 2020]
- Children 'must be the priority' in Covid-19 planning [29 Sep 2020]
- Under-25s ‘give up dream job hope’ in pandemic [29 Sep 2020]
- Public spending rise could last longer [29 Sep 2020]
- Five new COVID-19 laws and fines that government slipped out [29 Sep 2020]
- Additional financial statement could lead to extra costs [28 Sep 2020]
- Fund civic museums to help reawaken English city centres, bosses urge [28 Sep 2020]
- Covid second wave hits recovery in UK high streets, data suggests [28 Sep 2020]
- Scepticism mounts over devo white paper as ministers’ focus turns elsewhere [28 Sep 2020]
- CCN chair accuses districts of ‘self-preservation’ in leaked letter to PM [28 Sep 2020]
- County lines raids: 1,000 arrests and £1.2m drugs seized [25 Sep 2020]
- UK transport boss urges ministers to get people back on trains and buses [25 Sep 2020]
- Only one in five with symptoms self-isolates [25 Sep 2020]
- Sunak set to unveil emergency jobs scheme [24 Sep 2020]
- Male domestic abuse victims 'sleeping in cars and tents' [24 Sep 2020]
- Flu jabs limited due to high demand [24 Sep 2020]
- Hundreds of homeless lives saved due to lockdown measures, study suggests [24 Sep 2020]
- England and Wales get smartphone contact tracing for over-16s [24 Sep 2020]
- Sunak to announce new job protection plans [23 Sep 2020]
- Autumn Budget to be scrapped this year [23 Sep 2020]
- County ‘not financially viable’ without significant extra funding [23 Sep 2020]
- Ministry charts new course of bespoke support for hard hit councils [23 Sep 2020]
- New oversight body 'dead in the water' without legislation [23 Sep 2020]
- Ex Conservative local government minister attacks centre on COVID policy [23 Sep 2020]
- Spending Review will 'fail to offer long-term view' for sector [23 Sep 2020]
- County unitaries join growing network [23 Sep 2020]
- School bus drivers fearful of coronavirus infection risk [22 Sep 2020]
- Experts warn of winter deaths in thousands and curbs for months [22 Sep 2020]
- Pubs and restaurants in England to have 10pm closing times [22 Sep 2020]
- Covid-19 pressures prompt £8bn drop in HMRC tax collection [21 Sep 2020]
- School funding ‘unfair to poor white pupils’ [21 Sep 2020]
- UK cases hit four-month high for second day in a row [19 Sep 2020]
- Boris Johnson considering national restrictions on social lives to curb infections [18 Sep 2020]
- Bank of England to ‘explore’ negative interest rates [18 Sep 2020]
- Up to 30% of residents issued Court Summons over unpaid Council tax [18 Sep 2020]
- Coronavirus: Tighter rules for care homes over winter second spike fears [18 Sep 2020]
- Schools in poorer areas lack catch-up cash [18 Sep 2020]
- Sadiq Khan: London mayor calls for business rates holiday extension over fears of tens of thousands of job losses [18 Sep 2020]
- Coronavirus: Tighter national rules considered for England by government [18 Sep 2020]
- Councils report £8m of Covid-19 grant fraud [17 Sep 2020]
- Local authority calls on care home providers to accept COVID-positive hospital patients [17 Sep 2020]
- Social care winter plan must address care home resident isolation - charities [17 Sep 2020]
- Exclusive: Hospitals told to clear beds for coronavirus spike in two weeks [17 Sep 2020]
- Croydon to seek govt support as it battles to balance budget [17 Sep 2020]
- Fears devo white paper will be watered down and further delayed [17 Sep 2020]
- ADPH hits out at ‘moonshot’ ambitions while local resources fall ‘woefully short’ [17 Sep 2020]
- Councils will receive £91.5m to house vulnerable people [17 Sep 2020]
- Local government staff face ‘deep pension cuts’ if exit pay proposals are implemented [17 Sep 2020]
- Coronavirus: Care homes to get more than half a billion in extra funding to tackle COVID-19 during winter [17 Sep 2020]
- Coronavirus: Restrictions expected in north-east England [17 Sep 2020]
- Extending furlough could pay for itself [17 Sep 2020]
- Redmond review branded ‘a*** covering’ for finance directors [16 Sep 2020]
- It’s the ultimate cliché – another delay to social care reform [16 Sep 2020]
- Council confirms £60m loan for airport [16 Sep 2020]
- Up to 25,000 teachers in England self-isolating due to Covid fears [16 Sep 2020]
- Some care home staff in England not using PPE, find health inspectors [16 Sep 2020]
- Coronavirus: Marshals 'unlikely' in England, councils say [16 Sep 2020]
- Coronavirus: PM blames 'colossal spike' in demand for test problems [16 Sep 2020]
- Grenfell-style cladding: MPs tell government ‘fix this now’ [16 Sep 2020]
- Eat Out to Help Out drives UK inflation to five-year low [16 Sep 2020]
- School figures show 88% of pupils were back for start of term [15 Sep 2020]
- Government urged to extend eviction ban to avoid ‘cliff-edge’ for renters [15 Sep 2020]
- Covid marshals unlikely to be coming to a street near you: Councils refuse to adopt scheme without funding, analysis reveals [15 Sep 2020]
- Coronavirus: Testing problems to be solved in weeks, says Hancock [15 Sep 2020]
- Labour councillors press Boris Johnson to extend coronavirus furlough scheme [15 Sep 2020]
- Young people hit as unemployment rate rises [15 Sep 2020]
- Government urged to ‘adopt own state aid system’ [15 Sep 2020]
- Peterborough seeks financial rescue package [15 Sep 2020]
- Ban on evictions of commercial property tenants set to be extended [15 Sep 2020]
- Unison: Care workers who made £4 an hour awarded in £100,000 court case [15 Sep 2020]
- Care home bosses claim government is failing on coronavirus tests [15 Sep 2020]
- People in England's 10 worst-hit Covid-19 hotspots unable to get tests [15 Sep 2020]
- English addiction services on brink as number of higher-risk drinkers doubles [15 Sep 2020]
- Local authority peer borrowing continues to rise as rates drop [14 Sep 2020]
- Coronavirus: 'Rule of six' comes into effect [14 Sep 2020]
- Coronavirus: 86% of doctors in England expect second wave within six months [14 Sep 2020]
- At least a dozen schools have sent home hundreds of pupils in the last week after just one pupil tested positive for Covid [13 Sep 2020]
- Coronavirus: Concerns over increase in COVID-19 cases in care homes [13 Sep 2020]
- Government to prioritise care home testing in coronavirus risk areas [13 Sep 2020]
- Nationwide curfew 'obvious next step if new coronavirus restrictions fail' [13 Sep 2020]
- Coronavirus: Another 3,497 cases confirmed in the UK over 24 hours [13 Sep 2020]
- Leaked figures reveal scale of coronavirus test shortage [13 Sep 2020]
- Millions at greatest risk from coronavirus may be told to stay at home again [12 Sep 2020]
- Social care collapse warning as Cavendish review nears completion [11 Sep 2020]
- Catherine Staite: There has never been a worse time for reorganisation [11 Sep 2020]
- Cornwall, Devon and Dorset could get combined authority with extra powers under ‘regional partnership’ plan [11 Sep 2020]
- The road to madness: How eco-obsessed councils - under cover of Covid - have spent millions of YOUR money to shut roads across Britain [11 Sep 2020]
- Imposing tax increases too early could ‘stifle economy recovery’ [11 Sep 2020]
- UK GDP climbs by 6.6% in July [11 Sep 2020]
- Sunak gives himself option of postponing autumn Budget [11 Sep 2020]
- Furlough 'must be extended' to avoid mass unemployment, say MPs [11 Sep 2020]
- Councils warned of commercial property ‘disaster’ [11 Sep 2020]
- Thousands of people helped during pandemic but problem remains [11 Sep 2020]
- No funding for PM’s Covid marshals [10 Sep 2020]
- WHO: Local Restrictions should be Decided Locally [10 Sep 2020]
- Reprieve for renters facing eviction in England and Wales [10 Sep 2020]
- Councils say they have no idea how they can pay for Boris Johnson's "Covid Marshals" [10 Sep 2020]
- No rise in workers in UK city centres despite back-to-office plea [10 Sep 2020]
- police get tough with coronavirus rulebreakers [10 Sep 2020]
- District councils must not be swallowed by faceless monoliths [opinion] [10 Sep 2020]
- Sector responds to Redmond Review [09 Sep 2020]
- Government must ban councils placing vulnerable under-18s in unregulated homes [09 Sep 2020]
- local authorities in England demand more control [09 Sep 2020]
- Devo minister Simon Clarke quits [08 Sep 2020]
- 300,000 redundancies planned in June and July [08 Sep 2020]
- GPs recorded three times more suspected cases of COVID-19 than official figures [08 Sep 2020]
- UK chief negotiator calls for 'realism' from EU [08 Sep 2020]
- £11.5bn to help first-time buyers ‘will push out people who rent’ [08 Sep 2020]
- City appoints interim chief [07 Sep 2020]
- Thousands of EU-born 'heroes' could be deported without government action, MPs warn [06 Sep 2020]
- Urgent action needed to open up care homes for visits, ministers told [06 Sep 2020]
- 60% of population living with air pollution above legal limits [06 Sep 2020]
- Council-owned energy company to close [06 Sep 2020]
- Care-home plague of loneliness is breaching loved ones’ human rights [06 Sep 2020]
- Let councils get back to the business of building schools [06 Sep 2020]
- Boris Johnson's new homes scheme 'will harm Tory pledge to level up UK' [06 Sep 2020]
- Civil servants 'must get back to offices quickly' [05 Sep 2020]
- London could avoid parts of planning law [05 Sep 2020]
- Covid-19 ‘could be endemic in deprived parts of England’ [05 Sep 2020]
- Coronavirus tests run out in north-east England as cases surge [04 Sep 2020]
- More than 400 care home residents were dying a day at peak of pandemic, data shows [04 Sep 2020]
- 'Significant gaps' in UK's border plans [04 Sep 2020]
- Pupils with special needs 'forgotten' as English schools reopen [04 Sep 2020]
- Vulnerable children 'at risk' as councils cut services in Covid crisis [04 Sep 2020]
- PWLB borrowing dropped in August [03 Sep 2020]
- Councils welcome decision not to ease restrictions in Trafford and Bolton [03 Sep 2020]
- Burnham and Leese question new role for MPs in agreeing Covid restrictions [03 Sep 2020]
- Charity seeks judicial review on care home visit guidance [03 Sep 2020]
- Covid grants boost local authority balances [02 Sep 2020]
- Cabinet minister calls for tax cuts [02 Sep 2020]
- Health leaders warn Boris Johnson over axing of Public Health England [02 Sep 2020]
- Government urged not to merge English district councils [02 Sep 2020]
- Government late to involve councils in coronavirus testing, report finds [01 Sep 2020]
- The feel good factor [01 Sep 2020]
- Police put on a 'show of strength' against Extinction Rebellion as fortnight of disruption begins [01 Sep 2020]
- Met pauses recruitment after hitting target of 1,300 extra officers [01 Sep 2020]
- Struggling schools must find cash for £216million bill to keep our kids safe [01 Sep 2020]
- Gap between rich and poor pupils in England 'grows by 46% in a year' [01 Sep 2020]
- GB carbon emissions from electricity hit record low in lockdown – report [31 Aug 2020]
- Court ruling sets ‘major precedent’ for rights of foster care workers [31 Aug 2020]
- Recycling rates lower in England's poorest areas [31 Aug 2020]
- Homelessness among prison leavers ‘will rise as Covid support ends’ [30 Aug 2020]
- Robert Jenrick backs housing algorithm as Tory MPs fear threat to suburbs [30 Aug 2020]
- Matt Hancock warns of extensive lockdowns [29 Aug 2020]
- £500billion cost of ghost town Britain: Staggering hit to economy in next four years if workers stay away from office, study finds [29 Aug 2020]
- Single unitary authorities could save up to £3bn over five years [28 Aug 2020]
- Test and trace success rate at record low after mystery glitch [27 Aug 2020]
- LGPS funds to be given ability to review contribution rates [27 Aug 2020]
- Payment for people on low incomes who must self-isolate [27 Aug 2020]
- Tory critics force ministers to review planning formula [27 Aug 2020]
- Officials and ministers urged to trust local experts to tackle Covid-19 outbreaks [27 Aug 2020]
- Warnings of 'ghost towns' if staff do not return to the office [26 Aug 2020]
- Scrap fines for school non-attendance in England, say psychiatrists [26 Aug 2020]
- Ditch truancy fines, say doctors [26 Aug 2020]
- Primary pupils' learning gap widens for first time since 2007 [26 Aug 2020]
- English city mayors say Covid rules keeping homeless off streets must be extended [26 Aug 2020]
- Coronavirus: Birmingham council to get power to shut businesses [25 Aug 2020]
- Housebuilding algorithm unfair to towns and cities, Boris Johnson told [25 Aug 2020]
- Heads want to know if masks allowed in school [25 Aug 2020]
- Local government pay deal agreed [24 Aug 2020]
- Bailiffs return but are told not to shout [24 Aug 2020]
- Councils scrapping use of algorithms in benefit and welfare decisions [24 Aug 2020]
- Schools in England will have to provide remote learning if closed again [24 Aug 2020]
- Care homes ‘ordered not to resuscitate’ as coronavirus pandemic took hold [24 Aug 2020]
- Boris Johnson says it is ‘vitally important’ to get children back to school [24 Aug 2020]
- London councils take funds from developers to pay for planning guidelines [23 Aug 2020]
- We will see 'real problems' with COVID-19 this winter, chief medical officer says [23 Aug 2020]
- Schools let down by lack of 'plan B', says union [23 Aug 2020]
- Almost half of all mets consider hiring freeze this year [21 Aug 2020]
- Wakefield’s chief asks for early retirement ‘with heavy heart’ [21 Aug 2020]
- Row erupts over county’s plans for Greater Essex combined authority [21 Aug 2020]
- Extension on eviction ban to be announced today, LBC understands [21 Aug 2020]
- UK government debt hits £2tn for first time [20 Aug 2020]
- Homeless children hit 14-year high as 130,000 stuck in B&Bs and temporary shelter [20 Aug 2020]
- Casey leaves rough sleeping advisory role [19 Aug 2020]
- Northumberland council faces '£5.5m claim' over virus-halted work [19 Aug 2020]
- BTEC results delayed over 'unfairness' concerns less than 24 hours before grades due out [19 Aug 2020]
- English councils face £2bn black hole from coroanvrius [19 Aug 2020]
- Coronavirus: UK to ramp up coronavirus monitoring programme [19 Aug 2020]
- Council tax changes are ‘needed now’ as payment debts reach £3.6billion [19 Aug 2020]
- IFS warns of financial pressure on councils as a result of Covid crisis [19 Aug 2020]
- IFS warns of financial pressure on councils as a result of Covid crisis [19 Aug 2020]
- UK inflation rises to 1% in July as lockdown eases [19 Aug 2020]
- Councils advised to avoid term ‘lockdown’ [18 Aug 2020]
- GMB votes to accept 2.75% pay offer [18 Aug 2020]
- Heated row between district and county leaders casts doubt on devo work [18 Aug 2020]
- Child migrants to be sent away from Kent as council reaches capacity [18 Aug 2020]
- Labour calls for evictions ban to be extended [18 Aug 2020]
- Link between polluted air and COVID-19 deaths revealed [18 Aug 2020]
- Home Office uses 4,000 hotel rooms to cope with migrants [18 Aug 2020]
- Thousands of migrants denied help in the pandemic [18 Aug 2020]
- Calls to extend free school meals to children from migrant families [17 Aug 2020]
- Kent unable to take in more unaccompanied child refugees, council says [17 Aug 2020]
- Dido Harding to run agency replacing Public Health England [17 Aug 2020]
- Recycling rage sparks a 40% rise in attacks on bin workers [17 Aug 2020]
- Unite members reject 'insulting' council pay offer [17 Aug 2020]
- Lockdown ‘will mean fewer healthy years for many’ [17 Aug 2020]
- UK's £37bn July house-buying boom sees busiest month of sales in a decade [17 Aug 2020]
- MPs warn of 'wave of homelessness' when eviction ban ends [17 Aug 2020]
- Boris Johnson accused of ‘cynical broken promise’ as some foreign NHS and care staff still pay surcharge [16 Aug 2020]
- Ministers have just seven days to prevent a ‘wave of evictions’, MPs and charities warn [16 Aug 2020]
- Theatres, casinos and bowling alleys reopen as more beauty treatments resume [15 Aug 2020]
- Firms 'fall through cracks' of Covid support scheme [15 Aug 2020]
- Birmingham 'can't drop guard' as infections double [15 Aug 2020]
- NHS chiefs’ plea: we need more cash for ‘winter risk’ [15 Aug 2020]
- Hancock axes ‘failing’ Public Health England [15 Aug 2020]
- Migrant children face hunger over free school meal restrictions [14 Aug 2020]
- COVID-19 test reveals 6% of population infected by mid-July [13 Aug 2020]
- Ombudsman criticises council for lack of transport for SEN pupils [13 Aug 2020]
- Plans to end homelessness will ‘fail’ without funding [13 Aug 2020]
- Unauthorised camping and littering in Britain's beauty spots increase as holidaymakers seek 'staycations' [13 Aug 2020]
- UK firms face up to threat of domestic abuse as more staff work from home [13 Aug 2020]
- Almost a third of buildings with Grenfell-style cladding yet to undergo removal work [13 Aug 2020]
- Children made up just 1% of COVID-19 cases in England in first peak - study [13 Aug 2020]
- Majority of office-based staff ‘will still be working from home at Christmas’ [12 Aug 2020]
- England's contact-tracing app gets green light for trial [12 Aug 2020]
- Undercover team finds pubs and bars ignoring COVID-19 guidance in area where cases are rising [12 Aug 2020]
- UK officially in recession for first time in 11 years [12 Aug 2020]
- Research reveals which cities hit hardest by unemployment levels [11 Aug 2020]
- 6,000 contact tracers will be cut in England in the next two weeks [11 Aug 2020]
- Government reaffirms support for LEPs [10 Aug 2020]
- Council test and trace teams to be rolled out [10 Aug 2020]
- People with learning disabilities left stuck in lockdown because of cuts to social care [10 Aug 2020]
- Eat out to help out: More than 10.5m meals claimed in first week [10 Aug 2020]
- Boroughs warn lost income scheme will only cover half of impact [10 Aug 2020]
- Income guarantee scheme details awaited [10 Aug 2020]
- Government extends emergency bus and tram funding [10 Aug 2020]
- Coronavirus: Little evidence of Covid transmission in schools, says Williamson [10 Aug 2020]
- One in three UK firms 'expect to make redundancies' [10 Aug 2020]
- UK enters recession [09 Aug 2020]
- Where to now? End of eviction ban leaves tenants fearing for future [09 Aug 2020]
- Social care at breaking point in England after 'lost decade' – report [09 Aug 2020]
- Union plans for schools to teach pupils on 'week on-week off' basis [09 Aug 2020]
- At least 151 migrants land on Kent beaches [08 Aug 2020]
- Over half of workforce in county areas 'at risk' due to pandemic [08 Aug 2020]
- Multi-million-pound funding package for school transport [08 Aug 2020]
- Councils ask for coronavirus licensing powers [07 Aug 2020]
- Coronavirus: Millions for small business 'sitting in council accounts' [07 Aug 2020]
- ‘Disastrous’ planning reforms slammed for ignoring build out issues [07 Aug 2020]
- Cornwall first to pass on COVID-19 funding to local councils [07 Aug 2020]
- School funding plan 'benefits wealthier pupils most' [07 Aug 2020]
- Air pollution warning as road traffic rises above pre-lockdown levels [07 Aug 2020]
- Help people self-isolate with jury-style payments, say mayors [07 Aug 2020]
- Boris Johnson defends 'long overdue' planning overhaul in England [06 Aug 2020]
- Race to the bottom: reform to planning system in England could be catastrophic [06 Aug 2020]
- Planning laws sped up and red tape cut in 'once in a generation' shake-up [06 Aug 2020]
- Bank of England: Downturn less severe than feared [06 Aug 2020]
- Coronavirus: Second COVID-19 wave twice as big as the first without effective test, trace, isolating strategy, says new modelling study [05 Aug 2020]
- Jenny Coles: Children’s services need funding ahead of autumn wave of referrals [05 Aug 2020]
- Fast-tracked funding to improve school buildings [05 Aug 2020]
- One in eight childcare workers in England earn less than £5 an hour [05 Aug 2020]
- Redundancy advice calls triple as furlough scheme winds down [05 Aug 2020]
- Call to scrap two-tier local government system in rural areas [04 Aug 2020]
- Winners of £900m for shovel ready schemes are announced [04 Aug 2020]
- ‘Repetitive’ local gov tendering is undermining NHS covid response [04 Aug 2020]
- Former SpAd predicts between five and eight new devo deals [04 Aug 2020]
- Schools 'must come before pubs and restaurants in future' [04 Aug 2020]
- English councils with highest Covid rates launch own test-and-trace systems [04 Aug 2020]
- Rishi Sunak could hike business rates for 'most valuable properties' [04 Aug 2020]
- Ministers: Don't rely on more funding [04 Aug 2020]
- County leaders in call for metro mayor powers [04 Aug 2020]
- The case for more unitaries operating at the county level [04 Aug 2020]
- Jenrick to lobby Treasury ‘very strongly’ over council funding [04 Aug 2020]
- Over half of workforce in county areas 'at risk' due to pandemic [04 Aug 2020]
- Winners of £900m for shovel ready schemes are announced [04 Aug 2020]
- Call to scrap two-tier local government system in rural areas [04 Aug 2020]
- Testing and tracing 'key to schools returning', scientists say [04 Aug 2020]
- Cities face blockades to contain a second wave of coronavirus [04 Aug 2020]
- English pubs likely to be spared new Covid-19 restrictions, No 10 says [03 Aug 2020]
- Coronavirus: track and trace fails in 50% of ‘easiest’ cases [03 Aug 2020]
- Coronavirus: Greater Manchester to 'maximise resources' as it tries to 'reverse the spike' in infections [03 Aug 2020]
- Local businesses face missing out on £1bn coronavirus help as money not given quick enough [03 Aug 2020]
- Coronavirus scheme offering UK diners 50% off begins [03 Aug 2020]
- Greater Manchester to 'maximise resources' as it tries to 'reverse the spike' in infections [03 Aug 2020]
- Coronavirus 90-minute tests to be provided in care homes and hospitals [03 Aug 2020]
- Government says schools are safe and children will be back in September [02 Aug 2020]
- Local businesses face missing out on £1bn coronavirus help as money not given quick enough [01 Aug 2020]
- Hancock champions role of ‘place’ in health services [31 Jul 2020]
- Universal credit 'harms the most vulnerable', says major report amid surge in claims [31 Jul 2020]
- Fears for children as coronavirus disrupts vaccination programmes [31 Jul 2020]
- Care home visits 'delayed' over lack of testing [31 Jul 2020]
- 'Chancellor must protect' jobs of those shielding [31 Jul 2020]
- Councils set up their own track and trace systems [31 Jul 2020]
- Health Secretary defends late-night surprise announcement that stops 4.5m people from meeting indoors just hours before start of Muslim celebrations [31 Jul 2020]
- Government announces £20m in new grants for small businesses [30 Jul 2020]
- Government in attempted grants cash grab [30 Jul 2020]
- LEP Network comes out fighting ahead of White Paper [30 Jul 2020]
- Kirklees agrees £4m leisure services bail-out [30 Jul 2020]
- UK sees highest daily total of COVID-19 cases for more than a month [30 Jul 2020]
- Government announces £20m in new grants for small businesses [30 Jul 2020]
- UK government to expand Covid-19 rescue loan scheme [30 Jul 2020]
- 'Second wave starting to roll across Europe' as isolation period set to be extended [30 Jul 2020]
- Leisure centre jobs at risk as Somerset sites remain closed [30 Jul 2020]
- Private sector ‘in position’ to shoulder tax rises [29 Jul 2020]
- Treasury outlines ‘data-driven’ spending review [29 Jul 2020]
- Plan to hand social care to NHS is for ‘wrong reasons’ [29 Jul 2020]
- Government handling of social care during pandemic attacked [29 Jul 2020]
- MPs call for adult social care to have an equivalent to NHS chief executive [29 Jul 2020]
- Thousands of UK public sector jobs to be created in recruitment drive [29 Jul 2020]
- Sandwell Council sets up own contact tracing system amid anger with government's version [29 Jul 2020]
- Tourist hotspots hit hardest in UK by Covid-19 unemployment [29 Jul 2020]
- Huge growth in free school meals urged to tackle food poverty crisis [29 Jul 2020]
- Stretched LRFs in cash plea [28 Jul 2020]
- People over 40 face higher taxes to fund their care when they’re older [27 Jul 2020]
- Residents to get new decision-making powers in England cycling 'revolution' [27 Jul 2020]
- NHS could take over social care, swelling budget to £150bn [27 Jul 2020]
- England's social care plans 'need timetable and be a radical rethink' [27 Jul 2020]
- UK campaigners call for action to tackle surge in Covid-19 fly-tipping [26 Jul 2020]
- Home Office breaking law by leaving destitute asylum seekers homeless [24 Jul 2020]
- New face covering rules come into force in England [24 Jul 2020]
- UK set to bring in strict new junk food rules including pre-9pm ad ban [23 Jul 2020]
- Child protection referrals could soar by 250% with lockdown easing, social workers warn [23 Jul 2020]
- Coronavirus: Government borrowing and UK's national debt explode due to lockdown [23 Jul 2020]
- Jenrick considers covering business rate and council tax losses [22 Jul 2020]
- UK high streets could be turned into housing, says thinktank [22 Jul 2020]
- Rishi Sunak warns of 'tough choices' ahead as he launches spending review [21 Jul 2020]
- Chancellor launches Comprehensive Spending Review [21 Jul 2020]
- Ministers lavished millions on towns in marginal Tory seats before polls [21 Jul 2020]
- Above-inflation pay rise for almost 900,000 public sector workers [21 Jul 2020]
- Landlords tell ministers: let’s go halves on rent bills [20 Jul 2020]
- Districts unite against county proposal for 1.2m ‘mega unitary’ [20 Jul 2020]
- Grenfell firm took some of cladding savings for itself, inquiry told [20 Jul 2020]
- Women seeking asylum left 'without basic support' during UK lockdown [20 Jul 2020]
- Oxford vaccine triggers immune response [20 Jul 2020]
- Government's catch-up fund for English school pupils comes under fire [20 Jul 2020]
- Justin Griggs: Give parish councils support they need to help build back stronger [20 Jul 2020]
- Changing Places toilets to be installed in every new public building [20 Jul 2020]
- Leisure centres under threat, warn councils [20 Jul 2020]
- Boris Johnson to unveil pupil funding plan during school visit [20 Jul 2020]
- Patients to be prescribed exercise and nature walks [20 Jul 2020]
- UK to appoint chief inspector of buildings to address safety fears [19 Jul 2020]
- Prime Minister gives local authorities more powers for local lockdowns [17 Jul 2020]
- More than 4,000 hospital patients discharged into care homes without test [17 Jul 2020]
- Ministers urged to overhaul early years services in England [17 Jul 2020]
- £3bn for NHS to prepare for possible second wave [17 Jul 2020]
- £62m for local councils to discharge people with learning disabilities or autism [16 Jul 2020]
- Distribution of £500m Covid funding announced [16 Jul 2020]
- Thousands of drivers suffer pothole breakdowns despite low traffic during lockdown [16 Jul 2020]
- Boris Johnson promises independent inquiry into coronavirus response [16 Jul 2020]
- York and districts speak out against North Yorks reorganisation [15 Jul 2020]
- A million smokers quit during pandemic [15 Jul 2020]
- Waste collections ‘return to normal’ [15 Jul 2020]
- Andrea Leadsom to review disadvantaged children's health [15 Jul 2020]
- Workers won't be ordered to wear face masks in offices, says Matt Hancock [15 Jul 2020]
- UK energy efficiency push offers just a third of the investment needed, says report [15 Jul 2020]
- UK government planning new green investment bank [15 Jul 2020]
- Tory peer calls for immediate £8bn care funding boost [14 Jul 2020]
- Care costs in England should be capped, says social care adviser [14 Jul 2020]
- England's free school meals scheme to close for new claims over summer [14 Jul 2020]
- Flood strategy 'at odds with Boris Johnson push for mass housing' [14 Jul 2020]
- 'No DSS' letting bans 'ruled unlawful' by court [14 Jul 2020]
- Ten million Britons unable to attend funerals in lockdown [14 Jul 2020]
- Care workers do not qualify for health visa in new post-Brexit immigration plans [14 Jul 2020]
- Town centres across England may never recover from Covid-19 crisis, Labour warns [14 Jul 2020]
- Bailiff fears as councils chase unpaid tax debts [14 Jul 2020]
- Face masks and coverings to be compulsory in England's shops [14 Jul 2020]
- Face masks and coverings to be compulsory in England's shops [14 Jul 2020]
- millions living longer but in far poorer health [14 Jul 2020]
- Calls to devolve £5.2bn flood defences funding [13 Jul 2020]
- District council gets green light to build first zero carbon affordable homes [13 Jul 2020]
- Councils issue warning over £730m of unspent EU funding [13 Jul 2020]
- Treasury borrowing clampdown ‘should not have been necessary’ [13 Jul 2020]
- English councils poised to make cuts amid loss of commercial income [13 Jul 2020]
- Priti Patel to set out post-Brexit immigration details [13 Jul 2020]
- Cross-party group of MPs to lead first UK coronavirus inquiry [12 Jul 2020]
- Council to bring housing management back in-house [10 Jul 2020]
- Third of social workers looking to quit profession, survey reveals [10 Jul 2020]
- Jobs and services at risk as Luton prepares for emergency budget vote [10 Jul 2020]
- Surrey leader ‘seeks country’s biggest unitary’ [10 Jul 2020]
- Cost of rolling out universal credit rises by £1.4bn, say auditors [10 Jul 2020]
- Junk food deals will be banned in Boris Johnson’s assault on obesity [10 Jul 2020]
- Care homes opening for family visits ‘very soon’ [10 Jul 2020]
- Labour urges Rishi Sunak to cancel 'secret £1bn giveaway' for landlords and second home owners [10 Jul 2020]
- Too many youngsters are going to university, Education Secretary says as he rips up 50 per cent target [09 Jul 2020]
- Dementia patients 'deteriorating' without family visits [09 Jul 2020]
- Cost of funerals continues to rise even as services limited [09 Jul 2020]
- Leicester lockdown: No plans for extra Covid cash, minister says [09 Jul 2020]
- 'Flawed' test denies EU migrants universal credit, thinktank warns [09 Jul 2020]
- Care homes face staffing 'black hole' with new immigration bill [09 Jul 2020]
- Leicester mayor accuses Matt Hancock of not sharing Covid-19 data [08 Jul 2020]
- Chancellor unveils his three-part plan for jobs [08 Jul 2020]
- Coronavirus: Rishi Sunak to unveil 'kickstart jobs scheme' for young people [08 Jul 2020]
- Thousands of council jobs at risk due to funding shortfall, union warns [07 Jul 2020]
- Care chiefs reject Boris' COVID claims [07 Jul 2020]
- Forty charities unite in call for new law to end 'patchy' homeless help [07 Jul 2020]
- Boris Johnson criticised over 'cowardly' care home comments [07 Jul 2020]
- Vouchers of up to £5,000 for home insulation [07 Jul 2020]
- England's vulnerable teenagers at risk of 'falling off the radar' [07 Jul 2020]
- Ed Davey calls for £45bn funding for councils to fuel green economic recovery [06 Jul 2020]
- Think tank calls for sweeping reforms to local taxes [06 Jul 2020]
- Another 27,000 excess deaths 'likely' if government continues on this path, warns top scientist [06 Jul 2020]
- Sunak to give firms £1,000 cash bonus to hire trainees [06 Jul 2020]
- Arts venues welcome £1.57bn government support [06 Jul 2020]
- If lockdown can go local, the plan for recovery should do the same [06 Jul 2020]
- Social care reform needed within a year - NHS England boss [05 Jul 2020]
- Sunak considers £500 vouchers for all UK adults to spend in Covid-hit firms [05 Jul 2020]
- Local officials kept in the dark by Whitehall on Covid-19 testing data [05 Jul 2020]
- Teachers should be vigilant for signs of abuse when schools reopen, NSPCC says [04 Jul 2020]
- English countryside 'at risk from Boris Johnson’s planning revolution' [04 Jul 2020]
- Councils will be forced to make cuts or face bankruptcy amid £6bn funding crisis [04 Jul 2020]
- New five-step plan for local lockdowns as Leicester rules come into force [04 Jul 2020]
- Covid-19 exposes stark generational housing divide, UK report says [03 Jul 2020]
- Almost 30,000 'excess' care homes deaths [03 Jul 2020]
- England lockdown easing 'biggest step yet', says PM [03 Jul 2020]
- LGA says ‘more is desperately needed’ despite funding package [03 Jul 2020]
- LGC survey: Third of senior officers expect to issue s114 [03 Jul 2020]
- Clarke indicates flexibility on unitary size in drive to make state ‘match fit’ [03 Jul 2020]
- Ministers to tone down warnings over use of trains and buses in boost for public transport [03 Jul 2020]
- Labour call for free flu vaccines for over-50s this winter to prevent 'perfect storm' [03 Jul 2020]
- Care home staff and residents to get regular COVID-19 tests from next week [03 Jul 2020]
- Emergency active travel fund: final and indicative allocations [02 Jul 2020]
- Jenrick pledges to lobby Treasury if more council funding needed this year [02 Jul 2020]
- School safety plans will keep groups apart [02 Jul 2020]
- Downing Street blames councils for failure to receive key outbreak information [02 Jul 2020]
- Councils warn of £10billion cash black hole as Robert Jenrick pumps an extra £500million into struggling English local authorities [02 Jul 2020]
- Fears grow for UK high street as more than 6,000 retail jobs cut in a day [02 Jul 2020]
- Year groups kept isolated in back-to-school plan [02 Jul 2020]
- Faulty masks sent to care homes and GPs recalled [01 Jul 2020]
- Ministers reject £6,000 scrappage scheme for toxic vehicles [01 Jul 2020]
- UK libraries are set to reopen – but not as we know them [01 Jul 2020]
- Rent arrears could see homelessness treble this year, campaigners warn [01 Jul 2020]
- CIPFA mulls legal action against council [01 Jul 2020]
- ‘We’re making a noise because this is money we’ve spent in good faith’ [01 Jul 2020]
- Councils miss outbreak plan deadline amid uncertainty over lockdown powers [01 Jul 2020]
- COVID funding gap hits £7.4bn, LGA estimates [01 Jul 2020]
- MHCLG rejects statutory duties review [01 Jul 2020]
- Jenrick expected to announce plans to ease finance woes [01 Jul 2020]
- English councils breaking law in 'secretly' relocating homeless people [01 Jul 2020]
- Struggling councils face £10bn black hole, Keir Starmer warns [01 Jul 2020]
- Coronavirus slump could delay building of 300,000 homes [30 Jun 2020]
- Boris Johnson pledges 'new deal' to build post-virus [30 Jun 2020]
- Leicester lockdown tightened as cases rise [30 Jun 2020]
- Clarke: Devo white paper will bring ‘more mayors and more unitaries’ [29 Jun 2020]
- County set to approve £102m waste contract [29 Jun 2020]
- Council may have to issue s114, warns CIPFA [29 Jun 2020]
- Sheffield devo deal set to be passed by Parliament [29 Jun 2020]
- Playground guidance branded ‘bonkers’ as minsters urge reopening of tips and toilets [29 Jun 2020]
- Jenrick ‘comprehensive plan’ likely this week as June returns show costs rising [29 Jun 2020]
- Cash strapped county unitary names new chief [29 Jun 2020]
- Back-to-school safety plans for autumn leaked [29 Jun 2020]
- South Yorkshire devolution deal set for approval [29 Jun 2020]
- UK needs 'biggest-ever peacetime job creation plan' to stop mass unemployment [29 Jun 2020]
- Thousands may have died in care homes after families were ‘blocked from discharging them’ [29 Jun 2020]
- PM promising £1bn to rebuild crumbling schools [29 Jun 2020]
- Local health officials say they have been left in the dark on spread of coronavirus [28 Jun 2020]
- Citizens advice warn of council tax “D-Day”: Bailiffs to chase debts again under new rules [26 Jun 2020]
- Trafford Centre owner Intu falls into administration [26 Jun 2020]
- Government ‘abandons plans to give Robert Jenrick more power over planning decisions’ [26 Jun 2020]
- 'Unacceptable' drop in care at Kettering home with 12 Covid-19 deaths [26 Jun 2020]
- Hand health powers to elected mayors, says report [25 Jun 2020]
- Fresh reorganisation offensive leaves districts quaking [25 Jun 2020]
- Diana Melville: How to improve councillors’ financial scrutiny [25 Jun 2020]
- Planning and licensing changes to pave the way for alfresco summer [25 Jun 2020]
- Local councils face a Covid-19 cash crisis [25 Jun 2020]
- Anglesey coronavirus cases: How a ‘local lockdown’ would actually work in the UK after spike at 2 Sisters meat factory [25 Jun 2020]
- Over £46m paid to survivors of abuse at Lambeth children's homes [25 Jun 2020]
- Quarter of nurseries fear closure due to coronavirus [25 Jun 2020]
- Government to tear up red tape to allow more outdoor drinking and dining [25 Jun 2020]
- ‘Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’ to speed up climate action with green recovery [25 Jun 2020]
- ‘A sticking plaster’: Fears government plans to rehouse rough sleepers will force thousands back on to streets due to their immigration status [25 Jun 2020]
- Liverpool says £467m will help prevent 'profound crisis' in post-Covid recovery [25 Jun 2020]
- UK councils fear bankruptcy amid Covid-19 costs [25 Jun 2020]
- Government allocates an additional £105m for rough-sleeping [24 Jun 2020]
- Gyms and swimming pools ‘could reopen in July’ [24 Jun 2020]
- Health leaders say UK must start preparing for second Covid-19 wave [24 Jun 2020]
- 1.1m pupils have returned to school [24 Jun 2020]
- Apprenticeships 'are not delivering social mobility' [24 Jun 2020]
- Government announces more money to keep rough sleepers off streets [23 Jun 2020]
- Whitehall not sharing Covid-19 data on local outbreaks, say councils [23 Jun 2020]
- Eight out of 10 English councils at risk of bankruptcy, says study [23 Jun 2020]
- Surge during pandemic of children needing foster care as more families reach ‘crisis point’ [23 Jun 2020]
- UK public 'supports green recovery from coronavirus crisis' [23 Jun 2020]
- Ministerial role needed to fix unequal education system, say MPs [23 Jun 2020]
- GCSEs and A-levels likely to be later next summer [22 Jun 2020]
- Boris Johnson drops plans to suspend Sunday trading laws after objections from own MPs and Labour [22 Jun 2020]
- PM to announce on Tuesday if pubs can reopen [22 Jun 2020]
- Call to build 100,000 homes a year for frontline ‘heroes’ [22 Jun 2020]
- Cash-strapped councils in poorer areas will be hit hardest by coronavirus, study warns [22 Jun 2020]
- Rishi Sunak plans emergency cut in VAT to rescue ailing economy [21 Jun 2020]
- 'One metre plus', the new rule that will reopen UK [20 Jun 2020]
- UK debt now larger than size of whole economy [19 Jun 2020]
- 4.5m people in UK forced to become unpaid carers [19 Jun 2020]
- Up to half of rough sleepers in hotels may not have access to support when they leave, charities warn [19 Jun 2020]
- £350m tutoring scheme aiming to help pupils worst hit by school closures pleases some and concerns others [19 Jun 2020]
- Council celebrates ‘landmark’ ruling that will save museums thousands [18 Jun 2020]
- Social care is running out of cash, experts warn [18 Jun 2020]
- Bank of England unleashes another £100 billion to boost economy amid signs of ‘less severe’ hit [18 Jun 2020]
- Home and school-based learning must be ‘poverty-proofed’, says charity [18 Jun 2020]
- Covid-19 effect on Scottish economy revealed [18 Jun 2020]
- Luton Council warns of ‘severe cuts’ to frontline services [18 Jun 2020]
- Government to fund private tutors for English schools [18 Jun 2020]
- Get all children back to school, doctors tell Boris Johnson [18 Jun 2020]
- Care providers 'will go to the wall' without more funding [18 Jun 2020]
- Homeless people moved out of hotels prompting fears hundreds will be forced to return to streets [18 Jun 2020]
- Leeds City Council warns of cuts and job losses [17 Jun 2020]
- Budget setting could result in ‘large scale reduction’ in services [17 Jun 2020]
- Coronavirus leaves £500m black hole in London's finances [17 Jun 2020]
- England's councils 'face large-scale' cuts to services [17 Jun 2020]
- Toilet fears hamper high street return for some [17 Jun 2020]
- 'Invisible' unpaid carers going hungry in lockdown [17 Jun 2020]
- Job cuts warning as 600,000 roles go in lockdown [17 Jun 2020]
- Younger children ‘struggle with behaviour and focus in lockdown’ [17 Jun 2020]
- New trials planned for cash-stricken communities [17 Jun 2020]
- UK inflation rate falls to fresh four-year low [17 Jun 2020]
- Council planning powers under threat [16 Jun 2020]
- Council chiefs call for action to resolve £6bn Covid-19 crisis [16 Jun 2020]
- Free internet to help poorer pupils study online [16 Jun 2020]
- Four in 10 pupils have had little contact with teachers during lockdown [15 Jun 2020]
- [Coronavirus] '3.5 million jobs at risk' if two-metre rule isn't eased, PM warned [15 Jun 2020]
- Councils warn they have no legal powers to enforce ‘local lockdowns’ [15 Jun 2020]
- IFS exposes impact of COVID-19 on different areas [15 Jun 2020]
- Give 1m UK children reliable broadband or risk harming their education, MPs say [15 Jun 2020]
- Business rates grant money could be clawed back, says IFS [14 Jun 2020]
- [Coronavirus] jobless total to hit 4.5m as firms wield axe [14 Jun 2020]
- Wardens hired to police crowds as high streets in England reopen [14 Jun 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Oversupply of kits to care homes raises concern over Covid-19 test figures [14 Jun 2020]
- Coronavirus R number may have risen above 1 in parts of England, govt says [13 Jun 2020]
- Prime minister is risking basic right to an education, says children’s tsar [13 Jun 2020]
- Traffic levels 'now double the lockdown low' [12 Jun 2020]
- Unite to ballot members over ‘insulting’ council pay offer [12 Jun 2020]
- Scientists say coronavirus 2m rule can be relaxed [12 Jun 2020]
- ‘Simmering community tensions’ spark Covid cohesion concerns [12 Jun 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Poorest areas of England and Wales hit hardest by Covid-19 – ONS [12 Jun 2020]
- Older carers ‘forgotten’ by care system says charity [12 Jun 2020]
- Test and trace funding allocated to councils [12 Jun 2020]
- UK economy shrinks record 20.4% in April due to lockdown [12 Jun 2020]
- Care homes were ‘afterthought’ with devastating coronavirus consequences [11 Jun 2020]
- Children face a 'whole series of harms' because their lives were put on hold by school closures designed to protect the middle-aged and elderly from the coronavirus, SAGE paediatrician warns [11 Jun 2020]
- More than a third of employees furloughed in some UK towns [11 Jun 2020]
- Robert Jenrick urged to release documents in planning row [11 Jun 2020]
- Covid-19 crisis means England's local authorities could go bust, warn mayors [11 Jun 2020]
- Low-carbon and renewable economy could create 700,000 jobs by 2030, report says [11 Jun 2020]
- [Coronavirus] UK economy could be among worst hit of leading nations, says OECD [10 Jun 2020]
- Council tax warning: Town Halls debt-collecting bailiffs must be banned, Sunak urged [10 Jun 2020]
- Councils using data analytics to identify vulnerable people [10 Jun 2020]
- Closure of public toilets causing anxiety, distress and frustration across UK [10 Jun 2020]
- District to hold emergency budget today to stave off section 114 [10 Jun 2020]
- Social distancing ‘could push leisure providers into bankruptcy’ [10 Jun 2020]
- Wiltshire warns of s114 amid £50m shortfall [10 Jun 2020]
- Councils given extra time to update electoral rolls [10 Jun 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Plans shelved for primary pupils to be back in school before summer as figures reveal half have reopened [10 Jun 2020]
- Dozens more statues could be removed due to slavery links as councils promise reviews following protests [10 Jun 2020]
- Rip up planning red tape to spur house building, says Robert Jenrick [10 Jun 2020]
- New powers to crack down on cycle lane misuse by motorists [10 Jun 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Local lockdowns will require local furlough schemes, say mayors [09 Jun 2020]
- [Coronavirus] How are England's coastal resorts faring? [09 Jun 2020]
- £3m fund for urgent work to historic sites to help support recovery [09 Jun 2020]
- [Coronavirus] New coronavirus task force to protect care homes [09 Jun 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Cash boost for debt advice as '£6bn tsunami' hits households [09 Jun 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Plan dropped for all primary pupils back in school [09 Jun 2020]
- Minister slammed for expecting rough sleepers to ‘return to friends and family’ [08 Jun 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Millions have become carers due to coronavirus crisis, new research finds [08 Jun 2020]
- [Coronavirus] UK daily deaths drop to pre-lockdown level [08 Jun 2020]
- Council planning powers under threat [08 Jun 2020]
- MPs call for clarity on proposed Shared Prosperity Fund [08 Jun 2020]
- Clash over call to scrap requirement for annual balanced budgets [08 Jun 2020]
- Mayors press for local furlough powers [08 Jun 2020]
- [Coronavirus] PM may bring forward plans to reopen pubs and restaurants [08 Jun 2020]
- [Coronavirus] New UK travel quarantine rules a stunt, says Ryanair boss [08 Jun 2020]
- Boris Johnson considers giving drivers up to £6,000 in diesel and petrol car scrappage scheme [07 Jun 2020]
- [Coronavirus] plans to open shops all day on Sundays [06 Jun 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Care home residents face steep hike in fees [06 Jun 2020]
- Councils must challenge Government fearlessly for pandemic cash [05 Jun 2020]
- Lockdown legacy: debt and public finances [05 Jun 2020]
- Hughes gets key OBR role [05 Jun 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Calls for post-Covid-19 homeless plan [05 Jun 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Ban on landlords evicting renters extended [05 Jun 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Care homes face £6.6bn bill to fight Covid-19 [05 Jun 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Court action threatened over school meal vouchers [05 Jun 2020]
- Unlock our lavatories, councils told [05 Jun 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Widen rules on where face coverings must be used, say UK doctors [05 Jun 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Thousands of homeless people face being evicted as lockdown is loosened [04 Jun 2020]
- Brexit delay ‘would hit Scottish GDP’ [04 Jun 2020]
- Council stops 300 fraudulent single-person discount claims in one year [04 Jun 2020]
- Gypsies and Travellers in England left without water during lockdown [04 Jun 2020]
- Apprenticeship promised for every young person [04 Jun 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Govt facing legal action unless it admits to acting 'unlawfully' over care homes [04 Jun 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Thousands of homeless 'back on streets by July' [04 Jun 2020]
- Disruption to schools could continue to November, MPs told [03 Jun 2020]
- Fears that nurseries could be forced to close permanently due to effect of pandemic [03 Jun 2020]
- Public sector deposit fund reaches £1bn [03 Jun 2020]
- Tony Travers: Covid is delivering John McDonnell’s hoped-for economy [03 Jun 2020]
- Record numbers used UK food banks in first month of lockdown [03 Jun 2020]
- Decade of progress in tackling pupil disadvantage 'wiped out' [03 Jun 2020]
- Brits willing to pay an extra penny on income tax to fix social care crisis [03 Jun 2020]
- District warns of s114 within two months [02 Jun 2020]
- Wage boards advocated for care workers [02 Jun 2020]
- Somerset CC returns to unitary proposals [02 Jun 2020]
- Deadly risk to social care staff revealed [02 Jun 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Coronavirus: No figures yet but Matt Hancock claims test and trace system has been 'successful' [01 Jun 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Packed beaches see government urged to ban people travelling more than five miles [01 Jun 2020]
- Top business leaders call on Boris Johnson to set out green recovery plan [01 Jun 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Far too soon to ease lockdown in north-east England, leaders warn [01 Jun 2020]
- [Coronavirus]: 'Highly variable' attendance at schools - as UK warned 'disease is not done yet' [01 Jun 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Loved ones reunite and children begin return to school - despite warnings over lockdown easing [01 Jun 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Blueprint to save the High Street [31 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Emergency coronavirus budget to save 2 million jobs [31 May 2020]
- Welsh government urges lifting of borrowing limit [29 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Councils could need additional £6bn to balance Covid-19 spend [29 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Government extends self-employed scheme [29 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Bosses will have to pay fifth of furlough staff wages [29 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Government rejected radical lockdown of England's care homes [28 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Lockdown easing to allow groups of six to meet [28 May 2020]
- Liverpool warns of funding ‘blackhole’ [28 May 2020]
- Committee calls again for social care reform [28 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Shop-bought kits taken off shelves for being unreliable [28 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] UK's most vulnerable people at risk of losing 60% of their income [28 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Test and trace programme launches in England - but insiders report problems [28 May 2020]
- Applications for government’s £1bn fund to remove unsafe cladding open next week [27 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Pubs could reopen next month as Boris Johnson gives hope to Brit boozers [27 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Text message tells vulnerable people in UK they are dropped from shielding list [27 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Care homes plan to withhold funds to CQC in protest at how they handled coronavirus [27 May 2020]
- Tories lose control of district following ‘moral’ resignation over Cummings [27 May 2020]
- Sigoma shortfall tops £1bn [27 May 2020]
- Government pledges homes for rough sleepers [27 May 2020]
- 'Local lockdowns' to be introduced in UK for future coronavirus 'flare-ups' [26 May 2020]
- Exclusive: Councils in England and Wales face £3.4bn funding black hole [26 May 2020]
- Care workers should be better paid and valued after Covid-19 – poll [26 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] All non-essential shops to reopen from 15 June - PM [26 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] 'Virus could be here for year' so schools must open, says education secretary [25 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Boris finalises plans to lift lockdown as package worth hundreds of millions unveiled [24 May 2020]
- England to provide 3,300 homes for homeless after coronavirus [24 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Transport network to get £283m for Covid-19 protection measures [23 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] People urged to stay away from UK beaches over bank holiday weekend [23 May 2020]
- Channel migrants: Lone children 'could overwhelm council services' [22 May 2020]
- Vouchers to fix your old bike and more space on roads as part of biggest ever cycling push to be launched next month [22 May 2020]
- Local authorities to receive extra £300m for test and trace services [22 May 2020]
- Rough Sleepers Could Return To Streets As Councils Warn Of Funding Shortfall [22 May 2020]
- £300 million additional funding for local authorities to support new test and trace service [22 May 2020]
- UK borrowing at record high as virus cost soars in April [22 May 2020]
- Government has ability to make end of rough sleeping permanent if it wants, MPs say [22 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Councils throw 1 June schools reopening plan into doubt [22 May 2020]
- New rules would see councils warn ministers before a s114 [21 May 2020]
- NHS fees to be scrapped for overseas health staff and care workers [21 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Majority of Cabinet want Boris Johnson to ease coronavirus lockdown [21 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] New 'on the spot' COVID-19 swab test being trialled [21 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Government increases large business loan scheme [21 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Cost of government Covid-19 measures revealed [21 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Councils create own local outbreak plans amid lack of clarity from centre [21 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Benefit claims fraud could be £1.5bn [21 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Up to 1,000 care homes could go bust in wake of Covid crisis [21 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Coronavirus forces two million people to fall behind on council tax bills [21 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] NHS and social care staff to get coronavirus antibody tests from next week [21 May 2020]
- Ministers considered cap on care costs before coronavirus outbreak [21 May 2020]
- Government to review TfL finances following Covid-19 [20 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Ministers row back on 1 June schools opening as councils voice concerns [20 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Thirty ways Covid will change how councils work: Nos 1-10 [opinion] [20 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Directors of public health fear ‘shambles’ over contact tracing [20 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Most apprentices losing work and learning opportunities amid Covid-19 [20 May 2020]
- Ministers pile pressure on councils over business grants [19 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Data delay left care homes ‘fighting losing battle’ [19 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] London councils launch procurement partnership as care homes face PPE challenges [19 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] 'Desperate' care homes plea with council for 'immediate financial support' after struggling to get government cash [19 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Luton Borough Council faced with 'stark' savings [19 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Jobless claims surge by record 856,500 in April to highest level since 1996 [19 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Regional lifting of lockdown needed to prevent coronavirus flare-ups, new modelling suggests [19 May 2020]
- [19 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] UK records lowest increase in COVID-19 deaths since lockdown began [19 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Over 20 care homes warn council there may be 'imminent' collapse in sector [19 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Government considers bypassing councils to get cash to care providers [18 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Meeting with Leeds Council leaders to discuss C-19 recovery [18 May 2020]
- Charities call for 'vital' early intervention funding to safeguard children [18 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Better-off children 'studying more than poorer pupils' [18 May 2020]
- Raise taxes for those who live near parks, report says [18 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] £5bn needed to stop local cuts say county councils [17 May 2020]
- Councils' bets on property market 'battered' by Covid-19 closures [16 May 2020]
- Ministers facing renewed pressure over push to reopen schools [15 May 2020]
- Homeless will not be turfed out, says Casey [15 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Councils resist government's changed 'stay alert' message [15 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Homeless people put up in hotels amid pandemic face being kicked out, leaked report says [15 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] ONS survey estimates 148,000 coronavirus cases [15 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Councils call for 'higher risk' schools to be allowed to decide whether to reopen [15 May 2020]
- Councils face £10bn funding 'black hole' [14 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Care-home resources ‘should be allocated at local level’ [14 May 2020]
- Public sector pay freeze ‘dangerously demoralising’ [14 May 2020]
- Impact on UK GDP becomes clearer [14 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Government considers free parking in town centres to keep workers off public transport [14 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Inquiry over Covid-19 patients sent to care homes [14 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] New £600m funding to support care home ‘lockdown’ [14 May 2020]
- Birmingham City Council 'was sent PPE six years out of date' [14 May 2020]
- Councils in England fear they will have to make cuts of 20% [14 May 2020]
- Jenrick warned of ‘massive cuts’ as treasurers prepare Covid returns [13 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Chancellor Rishi Sunak warns of 'significant recession' [13 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] First coronavirus antibody test given approval by Public Health England [13 May 2020]
- Ministers were warned two years ago of care homes' exposure to pandemics [13 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] GDP down 2% as UK economy struggles with pandemic [13 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Councils face losing tens of millions of pounds in coronavirus crisis [12 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Dementia patients three times more likely to get severe coronavirus, study finds [12 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Testing for coronavirus in UK care homes a ‘complete system failure’ [12 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Care home deaths 'starting to decline' [12 May 2020]
- Whiteman: ‘We want to avoid the risk of a public negotiation’ on funding [12 May 2020]
- ‘Honour your promises’, cash-strapped Lancs leaders tell ministers [12 May 2020]
- Finance chiefs say Government could underwrite tax losses for councils [12 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Rishi Sunak extends furlough scheme to OCTOBER and government will STILL cover 80 per cent of pay with staff able to come back part-time [12 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Bus firms face struggle as lockdown eases [12 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] NHS shielding letters miss thousands of cancer patients [12 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Care homes to get extra help from NHS [12 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Care homes faced funding cut if they didn't take in COVID-19 patients [12 May 2020]
- Shielding improvements on agenda for LGA and Whitehall [11 May 2020]
- Chiefs to develop care home resilience plans [11 May 2020]
- Unite expected to urge pay offer rejection [11 May 2020]
- Warning over coronavirus and commercial investment cocktail [11 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] School classes to have 15 pupil limit, Government's new coronavirus guidance says [11 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Furloughed workers set to be allowed back part-time [11 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Public advised to wear face coverings in PM's 50-page plan for lifting lockdown [11 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Businesses want 'clear guidance' on return to work [10 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] PM unveils 'conditional plan' to reopen society [10 May 2020]
- Colchester becomes latest council to furlough staff [07 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Bank of England scenario sees biggest annual slump in GDP since 1706 [07 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Care home crisis is a bitter regret, admits Johnson [07 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] PM to review lockdown restrictions with cabinet [07 May 2020]
- [Opinion] Tony Travers: Councils face multitude of dilemmas as they plan for recovery [06 May 2020]
- DfE urged to get a ‘grip’ of SEND system [06 May 2020]
- Jenrick spending pledge ‘backtracking’ sparks widespread dismay [06 May 2020]
- Business rates revaluation postponed [06 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] 'Abandoned' care homes warn councils of legal action [06 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Jenrick: Councils so far receiving more Covid funding than they say they need [06 May 2020]
- Coronavirus: Social workers brace for a surge in child protection referrals when schools re-open [06 May 2020]
- Many children with special educational needs ‘failed’ by system – report [06 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] 'Segment and shield' way to lift UK lockdown now [05 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Firms need up to three weeks to exit lockdown, government warned [05 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Teachers warn of early school return 'spike' [05 May 2020]
- Jenrick insists local government will have input into contact tracing [05 May 2020]
- Jenrick warns not all costs will be covered and brands lost income estimates ‘highly speculative’ [05 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Launch of PPE delivery system for care home staff hit by delays [04 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] The eight-year-old carer looking after her mum and sisters in lockdown [04 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Antibody tests could be approved by Public Health England this week [04 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Treasury rolls out small business 'bounce back' loans [04 May 2020]
- Robert Jenrick pledges more than £76m for charities to help domestic abuse and trafficking victims in England [02 May 2020]
- Pothole-related breakdowns up 64% in first three months of 2020, figures suggest [01 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Care home coronavirus deaths could be four times higher than official figures suggest [01 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Calls for clarity as tips due to reopen [01 May 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Council bosses 'short-changed' by government fund [01 May 2020]
- Fair Funding Review delayed further [30 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Boris Johnson says UK is past the peak of outbreak [30 Apr 2020]
- Coronavirus: County councils say non-essential spending at risk [29 Apr 2020]
- Coronavirus: County councils say non-essential spending at risk [29 Apr 2020]
- Government confirms allocations of £1.6 billion funding boost for councils [28 Apr 2020]
- Local dumps to reopen for your rubbish - but only if you book an appointment and bring ID [28 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Contact tracing can’t be run by Westminster, experts warn [28 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus: Lockdown] exit must take domestic abuse rise into account - May [28 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] UK failed to stockpile crucial PPE [28 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Councils vying for emergency virus cash [28 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Bosses appeal to the government for a lockdown exit plan [27 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Boris Johnson back at Downing Street to lead response [27 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Councils need 'rock solid' financial support as homelessness rises during outbreak [26 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] £3.2bn cash for councils may not stop 'uncontrollable' second wave [25 Apr 2020]
- Hackney funding gap ‘could hit services’ [24 Apr 2020]
- Government confirms extension to accounts deadline [24 Apr 2020]
- Five councils start bypassing Care Act duties amid Covid pressures [24 Apr 2020]
- [Coronvirus] Covid-19 should be game changing for social care [Opinion] [24 Apr 2020]
- Contact tracing costs could ‘place more pressure’ on council budgets [24 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Care homes face weeks of delay for vital protective kit [24 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Essential workers in England to get tests [23 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Councils warn government bailout cash 'gone now' [23 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Council warns additional funding might not cover Covid costs [23 Apr 2020]
- Wales to maintain free school meals through summer break [23 Apr 2020]
- Government borrowing could top £300bn [23 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Some authorities could become ‘financially unsustainable’ due to pandemic [23 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Pandemic is making ‘inadequate funding baseline’ worse, says new ADCS president [23 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Crisis should spark social care reform - report [23 Apr 2020]
- David Williams: We can’t lead recovery with one hand tied behind our backs [23 Apr 2020]
- Hackney mayor ‘couldn’t rule out’ s114 without extra funding [23 Apr 2020]
- children’s social care referrals down by up to half [23 Apr 2020]
- New national recruitment campaign for adult social care launched [23 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Government confirms extension to council accounts deadline [23 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Heads say 1 June earliest realistic school opening [23 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Coastal and ex-industrial towns 'most economically at risk' [23 Apr 2020]
- Business to receive almost £10 billion in rates relief [22 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Scale of districts’ Covid-19 income challenge revealed [22 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Recycling centres remain closed despite minister’s plea to open [22 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Hard to prevent care home deaths, says Chris Whitty [22 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Social restrictions 'to remain for rest of year' [22 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Virus grants are postcode lottery for small firms with some councils paying just one in ten eligible companies [22 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] MPs and peers call for universal basic income [22 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] 'Disgusting' fly-tipping soars during lockdown [22 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Only a quarter of care workers are being tested for COVID-19 [22 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Rushanara Ali MP calls for urgent action to help workers left out of the coronavirus job retention scheme [21 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Pub sector faces 'bloodbath' over rents [21 Apr 2020]
- Councils warned over delay to emergency grants for business [21 Apr 2020]
- Councils burn recycling amid virus-linked rise in waste and staff absence [21 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] New working arrangements for MPs as Commons returns [21 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Millions of pieces of PPE are being shipped from Britain to Europe despite NHS shortages [21 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Facemasks for public ‘risk NHS shortage’ [21 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] MPs to investigate Covid-19 impact on council finances [20 Apr 2020]
- Unitary chief: ‘no confidence’ s114 notice can be avoided [20 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Furlough scheme: 140,000 firms apply for help to pay a million workers [20 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Care home residents told they are 'unlikely' to be offered ventilators [20 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Emergency appeal to help millions of unpaid carers during pandemic [20 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Government unveils £1.3bn scheme to help start-ups [20 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Schools stay shut until June as two in three pupils ignore online classes [20 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Mortuaries to be expanded by 30,000 spaces [20 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Boris Johnson resists easing of coronavirus lockdown [20 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Care home deaths 'far higher' than official figures [19 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Hospital leaders hit out at government as PPE shortage row escalates [19 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Social care staff from Norfolk told to travel to Sheffield to get tested for Covid-19 [19 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Councils in England given an extra £1.6bn to tackle COVID-19 crisis [18 Apr 2020]
- Unions slam 'woefully low' council pay offer [17 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Delayed supply system rollout causing critical PPE shortages [17 Apr 2020]
- Council tax holiday: Huge pressure mounts for freeze on levy, two weeks after rates hiked [17 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Fly-tipping rise prompts plea to reopen tips [17 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Firefighters begin moving bodies after ‘considerable number’ of coronavirus deaths in Midlands [16 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] NHS volunteer army of 750,000 has been given fewer than 20,000 tasks, data reveals [16 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Treasury backs loans to bigger businesses [16 Apr 2020]
- Signs that more families missing out on first choice primary school [16 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] UK lockdown extended for 'at least' three weeks [16 Apr 2020]
- Deficit ‘could reach 12% of GDP’ this year [16 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Counties urge s114 change as coronavirus costs soar [16 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] LGC survey: Government crisis response given benefit of the doubt [16 Apr 2020]
- Pay offer for council staff increased to 2.75% [16 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Andy Norman: Covid-19 to hit economies in Midlands and North West worst [16 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Councils given greater financial relief against cash flow pressures [16 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] 'Urgent studies needed' into mental health impact of coronavirus [16 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Local pharmacies face cash crisis [16 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Social care concerns revealed in leaked letter [16 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] More PPE promised for social care [15 Apr 2020]
- Hall loses local government post [15 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] 'Too many homeless still sleeping rough' [15 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Care home charity having to source face masks privately at five times usual cost [15 Apr 2020]
- Public sector borrowing set to hit record high [15 Apr 2020]
- Solace savages ‘inane’ and ‘crass’ Taxpayers’ Alliance ‘rich list’ [15 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] More tests promised for care homes [15 Apr 2020]
- UK’s highest earning council official received pay package of more than £600,000 [15 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Ministers urged to raise pay for care home staff during Covid-19 crisis [14 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Chancellor Rishi Sunak warns of more 'tough times' during COVID-19 outbreak [14 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Pressure mounts to re-open primary schools by May half term after catastrophic economic forecast [14 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Older people being 'airbrushed' out of virus figures [14 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Householders face up to five years in prison if they burn recycling during collection cutbacks [13 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] UK triples coronavirus response fund for NHS and public services [13 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Call for testing of firefighters as 3,000 isolate [13 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] UK Parliament still set to return on 21 April [12 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Social distancing measures may need to remain in place 'indefinitely', government experts believe [10 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] England care providers say 10% council fee rise is ‘too little, too late’ [10 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Loosen rules to let councils borrow for day-to-day spending, says IFS [10 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Hundreds of UK care home deaths not added to official coronavirus toll [09 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Dominic Raab says UK 'must keep going' with lockdown measures [09 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Scotland's economy expected to shrink because of Covid-19 lockdown [09 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Treasury agrees extension to emergency overdraft [09 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Think tank calls for benefit cap to be suspended to protect renters [09 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Crisis cash on its way for NI councils [09 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Care homes and prisons are next to receive coronavirus test kits [09 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Chancellor announces aid for charities [09 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] UK restrictions set to be reviewed at special 'lockdown summit' [09 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Few UK firms getting coronavirus funds as wider costs mount [08 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Natwest struggling with calls for emergency loans [07 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Concerns over Autumn budgeting after regulators reject Accounting Code simplifications [07 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Allow young people out of lockdown early to get country moving, say business experts [07 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] U-Turn on free school meals means families will get extra supermarket vouchers [07 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Hundreds of thousands to benefit from 'council tax holiday' during coronavirus pandemic [07 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Cabinet Office moves to further protect suppliers after coronavirus [07 Apr 2020]
- Bid to relax accounts code ‘not acceptable’ to auditors and regulators [07 Apr 2020]
- Birmingham asks Sunak for short term loan to ease cash flow problems [07 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] NHS volunteers to start receiving tasks today - here's how they will help [07 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Boris Johnson spends night in intensive care after symptoms worsen [07 Apr 2020]
- Steve Reed named shadow communities secretary [06 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Military distributing 30 million PPE items for community frontline [06 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Most councils still providing normal waste collections, survey reveals [06 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Free school meal vouchers to continue over Easter holidays [06 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Residential homes 'desperate' for PPE, as two care workers die [06 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] UK councils face lawsuits over access to education in lockdown [06 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Town halls consider council tax payment help [06 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Boris Johnson admitted to hospital over virus symptoms [06 Apr 2020]
- New Labour leader Keir Starmer vows to lead party into 'new era' [04 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Councils in UK struggle to house homeless despite Government calls to accommodate them during pandemic [04 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Libraries see new online memberships soar amid lockdown [04 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Government revamps emergency loan scheme for business [03 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Councils' pandemic fight is hampered by central micromanagement [03 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Downing Street warns: defy the lockdown and we'll introduce more restrictions [03 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] North East care homes 'need more help' to cope with coronavirus outbreak and protect staff [03 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Crematorium attendance halted in West Yorkshire [03 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] New PPE guidance welcomed but concerns remain over shortages [03 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Distribution of £12bn business grants gets underway [03 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] New PPE guidance welcomed but concerns remain over shortages [03 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Government bails out bus firms to keep routes open [03 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Matt Hancock sets aim of 100,000 tests a day by end of April [02 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] UK care home bosses threaten to quit over return of coronavirus patients [02 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Councils' plea for residents to avoid 'spiralling waste' during coronavirus outbreak [02 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Small businesses struggle to get bailout grants as well as bank loans [02 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Government to waive duties on some medical imports [02 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Government urged to take action after spike in Universal Credit applications [02 Apr 2020]
- Launch of new Buckinghamshire Council [02 Apr 2020]
- Councils warn of ‘wave of waste’ [02 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Scottish unions blast 'inconsistent' way councils are handling coronavirus [02 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Councils start to pay out business grants [02 Apr 2020]
- Video conferencing first at council meeting [02 Apr 2020]
- Naylor to be Birmingham chief for a year [01 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Government seeks urgent PPE audit amid widespread shortages [01 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Care homes refusing patients due to lack of PPE [01 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Renters threatened with eviction 'should stay put' [01 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Nearly a million universal credit claims in past two weeks [01 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Coronavirus threatens the future of public transport, councils warn [01 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] England's children commissioner calls for volunteer social workers [01 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Virus-hit charities 'need substantial support' [01 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] A fifth of smaller UK firms 'will run out of cash' [01 Apr 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Free school meals children to get food vouchers [31 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Homeless people 'scared and hungry' on streets despite promise to house them over weekend [30 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Care home calls for camper vans to help staff stay on site [30 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Thousands of rough sleepers still unhoused in England, say charities [30 Mar 2020]
- New permanent secretary at MHCLG announced [30 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] UK unemployment set to double as GDP collapses [30 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Coronavirus forecast to cut UK economic output by 15% [30 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] 20,000 former NHS staff return to fight virus, PM says [30 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Thousands of council staff moved to the frontline [30 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Birmingham and Manchester temporary hospitals announced [28 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Coronavirus restrictions ‘likely to last six months’ [28 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Government to subsidise up to 80% profits for the self-employed [27 Mar 2020]
- Borrowing still forecast to be lower than 2009 peak [27 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Eleanor Kelly: PPE ‘absolutely paramount’ for coronavirus shielding effort [27 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] DPH’s call for access to NHS 111 data to track coronavirus spread [27 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Confusion over local responsibility for ‘NHS’ volunteers [27 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Non essential services slashed as focus diverted to coronavirus crisis [27 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Boris Johnson, 55, has coronavirus: PM tests positive for disease as crisis grips the UK [27 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Cambridge to lead £20m fight against spread of coronavirus [26 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Councils coronavirus Q&A with Andy Burns, CIPFA [26 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Free parking for all frontline coronavirus workers [26 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Sarah Norman: ‘The demands on us are enormous’ [26 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] £1.6bn for social care ‘unlikely to be enough’ for coronavirus crisis response [26 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] COVID-19 to send almost all G20 countries into a recession [26 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Forces raise concern over resilience plans for elderly through LRFs [26 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Universal credit 'almost impossible' to complete claim as more than 500,000 apply [26 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] UK government unveils aid for self-employed [26 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Social care faces 'complete emergency', Commons committee told [26 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Scotland passes Covid-19 business rates compensation law [26 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Council bodies accept Spending Review delay decision [26 Mar 2020]
- Fury as millions of council tax payers face inflation-busting 3.9 per cent average rise to above £2,000 a year despite coronavirus crisis [26 Mar 2020]
- Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2020 to 2021 [25 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] York Council leader warns of £20m shortfall due to coronavirus [25 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] NHS account deadline delayed due to pandemic disruption [25 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Now is not the time for Westminster to tighten its centralising grip [25 Mar 2020]
- Bradford and Kirklees give go-ahead to progress devo deal [25 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Jenrick brings forward payment of £3.4bn in corona crisis cash [25 Mar 2020]
- PWLB lending limit to be raised £115bn [25 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] DWP swamped with half a million universal credit claims in nine days [25 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] UK coronavirus home testing to be made available to millions [25 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Parliament shuts down for a month [25 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Care home staff are being left with no protective equipment and told to self-isolate at work if they test positive for coronavirus [25 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Retired social care workers urged to return to help during coronavirus outbreak [25 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Retired social care workers urged to return to help during coronavirus outbreak [25 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Council procurement innovates around Covid-19 restrictions [24 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Government confirms it will plough £500million into an emergency hardship fund to cover council tax bills for vulnerable people worst affected by coronavirus [24 Mar 2020]
- Chancellor's package of support could cost ‘several billion pounds’ per month [24 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus and CSR] Spending review outlining government plans for next three years to be delayed over Covid-19, chancellor says [24 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Communities secretary handed power to order virtual council meetings [24 Mar 2020]
- Fewer potholes being repaired in England and Wales [24 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Home care business to recruit 10,000 new staff as demand soars [24 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] UK brings in strict curbs on life to fight virus [24 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Landlords barred from evicting firms that fail to pay rent [23 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] What's in the emergency Coronavirus legislation? [23 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Million undocumented migrants could go hungry, say charities [23 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Army to distribute masks and protective suits to frontline NHS staff [23 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] People who ignore government advice 'selfish' [23 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Councils put at heart of coronavirus response [23 Mar 2020]
- [Coronvirus] Rishi Sunak faces legal action from gig economy workers [22 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Race to implement economic support package [21 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Jenrick in coronavirus cash flow appeal [21 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Boris Johnson announces closure of all UK pubs and restaurants [21 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Fraudsters impersonating officials are targeting the elderly [21 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Local authorities to receive £1.6bn from Response Fund [20 Mar 2020]
- Universal Credit advances fraud could have cost £150m [20 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Social workers call for clarity on carrying out statutory duties [20 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Buoyant tax income ahead of coronavirus crisis [20 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Government to pay up to 80% of workers' wages [20 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Take your own rubbish to the tip, families told as bin collections cancelled in crisis [20 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Universal Credit to be raised by £1,000 a year in £7bn rescue deal [20 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Politics latest news: Boris Johnson expected to announce London shutdown today, with pubs and restaurants to close [20 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] PM’s lock down plans came ‘as surprise’ to London’s police and politicians [20 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Clive Betts: Ministers must answer key council questions on coronavirus [20 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Waste operators call for ‘performance penalty’ relief to keep services running [20 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Stop going to the pub or I'll BAN you: Mayor of London Sadiq Khan says human rights should be 'infringed' as he slams people for still going to bars and using public transport [20 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Whiteman: virus spend could lead to s114s unless borrowing rules eased [20 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] (COVID-19): guidance for local government [20 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Tens of thousands of retired medics asked to return to NHS [20 Mar 2020]
- [Coronvirus] Chancellor prepares wage package rescue plan [20 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] £3bn bed blocking coronavirus cash injection [19 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] ‘No excuses for slacking’ as councils work ‘as one team’ to fight virus [19 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Volunteers mobilise to ensure children get fed during school closures [19 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] £2.9bn provided to free up hospital beds for coronavirus patients [19 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] UK interest rates cut to lowest level ever [19 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Schools shut down to stop spread of Covid-19 [19 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Tenants protected from eviction during coronavirus outbreak [19 Mar 2020]
- Devon CC’s children’s services criticised for ‘serious failures’ [19 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Business grant commitment sparks major cashflow concerns [19 Mar 2020]
- Council tax reform would help 'level up' north of England [19 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] 40 London Underground stations to be closed [19 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Up to 20,000 troops on standby to help deal with COVID-19 outbreak [19 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Emergency laws will give powers to close airports and detain and quarantine people [19 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Cratus creates coronavirus hotline [18 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Treasury delays Implementation of IR35 tax until 2021 [18 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Andy Burnham calls for volunteers to help councils support the vulnerable [18 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] NHS staff 'at risk' over lack of protective gear [18 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Call to lift benefits to help renters [18 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Government launches voucher scheme to cover free school meals during closures [18 Mar 2020]
- [Coronavirus] Schools in Wales all closing by Friday [18 Mar 2020]
- Councils to be fully funded for coronavirus costs [18 Mar 2020]
- Fears for democracy amid widespread coronavirus meeting cancellations [18 Mar 2020]
- Coronavirus bill to suspend Care Act entitlements [18 Mar 2020]
- Ofsted slams county after care leavers found living in tents [18 Mar 2020]
- Coronavirus: Care companies fear bankruptcy [18 Mar 2020]
- Jenrick admits no science behind flooding threshold [17 Mar 2020]
- Jenrick urges councils not to delay on coronavirus spending [17 Mar 2020]
- Gove to oversee public sector preparedness for coronavirus [17 Mar 2020]
- Sunak extends coronavirus business rates holiday [17 Mar 2020]
- Councils must not pay the price of the bailout this time round [opinion] [17 Mar 2020]
- Firefighters told to cease ‘non-essential’ action amid fears over keeping “core emergency service” healthy [17 Mar 2020]
- Coronavirus: Chancellor unveils £350bn lifeline for economy [17 Mar 2020]
- Coronavirus: NHS England to cancel all non-urgent surgery to free up 30,000 beds [17 Mar 2020]
- Scottish economy faces 'permanent scarring' from coronavirus [17 Mar 2020]
- Public health grant to increase by £145m in 2020-21 [17 Mar 2020]
- Reported delay to spending review “unsurprising”, says CCN [17 Mar 2020]
- Ministers mull legislation for remote council meetings [17 Mar 2020]
- Planning rules and audit deadline relaxed to support coronavirus effort [17 Mar 2020]
- Public health gets above inflation rise but cuts ‘hit coronavirus capacity’ [17 Mar 2020]
- Online political ads should be labelled, says Law Commission [17 Mar 2020]
- Clean air for all: Lampposts to charge electric cars [17 Mar 2020]
- The need for a social care plan is more urgent than ever [opinion] [17 Mar 2020]
- Coronavirus: Hotels and empty offices should be used to let homeless self-isolate, ministers told [17 Mar 2020]
- Coronavirus: UK businesses feel impact of latest measures [17 Mar 2020]
- Northamptonshire predicts £119k budget surplus [16 Mar 2020]
- Birmingham City Council CFO resigns after chief executive snub [16 Mar 2020]
- Coronavirus: PM says everyone should avoid office, pubs and travelling [16 Mar 2020]
- Yorkshire council criticises Ofsted rating based on ‘short inspection visit’ [16 Mar 2020]
- Tory MPs call for more funding for services to prevent rough sleeping [16 Mar 2020]
- Six councils receive over £1m to ‘spearhead’ digital projects [16 Mar 2020]
- Shapps announces £90m tech fund to make journeys ‘greener’ [16 Mar 2020]
- Council suspends all debt-related court action in wake of coronavirus [16 Mar 2020]
- Only 10% of councils meeting their pothole repair deadlines [16 Mar 2020]
- Social care coronavirus guidance urges ‘plans for mutual aid’ [16 Mar 2020]
- Coronavirus: Downing Street to give daily TV briefings on outbreak [16 Mar 2020]
- Coronavirus patients not self-isolating could be arrested as ministers plan police powers [15 Mar 2020]
- Calls for better support for homeless shelters and food banks amid coronavirus outbreak [15 Mar 2020]
- Bus cuts leave a million people without a regular service [15 Mar 2020]
- Coronavirus: Supermarkets ask shoppers to be 'considerate' and stop stockpiling [15 Mar 2020]
- Government plans to draft in Army to keep hospitals and supermarkets secure, escort food convoys and build tented field wards next to care homes to cope with crisis as deaths almost double in 24 hours [15 Mar 2020]
- Councils make urgent appeals for supplies of hand sanitiser and face masks amid coronavirus fears [14 Mar 2020]
- Coronavirus: teaching union asks PM why schools are not being closed [14 Mar 2020]
- Government debt to rise by £125bn by 2025 [13 Mar 2020]
- Jenrick 'deeply disappointed' in housing delivery under Khan [13 Mar 2020]
- Interactive map to be created for council audits [13 Mar 2020]
- Changes to stop R&D tax credit fraud delayed by chancellor [13 Mar 2020]
- Edinburgh allocates £2bn for coronavirus fight [13 Mar 2020]
- New major road network and large local major schemes announced [13 Mar 2020]
- Local elections postponed for a year over coronavirus [13 Mar 2020]
- Budget 2020: Rishi Sunak's spending plans 'not as generous as they appear', says IFS [12 Mar 2020]
- UK confirms digital services tax despite US threats [12 Mar 2020]
- Jenrick outlines sweeping planning reforms [12 Mar 2020]
- LGA chair self isolating after minister meeting [12 Mar 2020]
- Coronavirus: Plans for homeworking stepped up as concern grows over new burdens [12 Mar 2020]
- Hancock: Social care to get ‘everything it needs’ [12 Mar 2020]
- Planning paper shows Thatcher’s ghost lives on in Johnson government [12 Mar 2020]
- Biggest boost in decade for affordable homes [12 Mar 2020]
- Coronavirus: PM set to escalate UK's response in a matter of hours [12 Mar 2020]
- Budget 2020: Sunak gambles on capital spending splurge [11 Mar 2020]
- ‘Sustainable council finance – the Budget DOESN’T get it done’ [11 Mar 2020]
- Budget 2020: Flood-hit areas to share £200m defence fund [11 Mar 2020]
- Budget 2020: £27bn for national roads and £2.5bn for potholes [11 Mar 2020]
- Budget 2020: Mayoral authorities win big in transport [11 Mar 2020]
- Budget 2020: A "new era" for the country [11 Mar 2020]
- Budget 2020: £1bn fund to strip cladding from tall buildings [11 Mar 2020]
- West Yorkshire £1.8bn devolution deal agreed [11 Mar 2020]
- Two-mile tunnel underneath Stonehenge COULD go ahead as part of £27billion Budget masterplan to improve Britain's roads [11 Mar 2020]
- Budget 2020: Business rates suspended for shops and cafes [11 Mar 2020]
- UK interest rates cut in emergency move [11 Mar 2020]
- Councils pile back into PWLB following coronavirus rate drop [10 Mar 2020]
- Homelessness: Councils 'telling people to contact private landlords' [10 Mar 2020]
- Social care funding gap inquiry launched by MPs [10 Mar 2020]
- Tory MPs demand Chancellor kick starts a council house building boom in Wednesday’s Budget [09 Mar 2020]
- Environment Bill new burdens could cost districts £300m [09 Mar 2020]
- City threatened with 114 notice in budget row [09 Mar 2020]
- PM welcomes £5.2bn flood fund and announces further £200m [09 Mar 2020]
- Home Office extends funding for EU Settlement Scheme [09 Mar 2020]
- Councils warn 3.6 million extra cars are damaging Britain’s roads [09 Mar 2020]
- Labour challenge Chancellor to make up £27 billion social housing cash shortfall [09 Mar 2020]
- The tax that hits struggling High Streets hardest [09 Mar 2020]
- Coronavirus: Boris Johnson to hold emergency Cobra meeting [09 Mar 2020]
- New budget rules for councils may hit special needs school spending [08 Mar 2020]
- Workers over 40 to be taxed 2.5% to fund cost of old-age care under plans being considered by Matt Hancock [08 Mar 2020]
- Top-speed broadband will reach even remotest parts of Britain, promises Chancellor [08 Mar 2020]
- Parents of sick babies to get extra £160 a week [08 Mar 2020]
- Council closes offices amid coronavirus scare [06 Mar 2020]
- Consultation on new business rates funding model expected in the summer [06 Mar 2020]
- Fears raised after Scottish government borrows £200m to balance budget [06 Mar 2020]
- MHCLG spent £85m preparing for EU Exit [06 Mar 2020]
- More than £100m allocated for local government Brexit preparations [06 Mar 2020]
- Matt Hancock asks MPs and peers for views on adult social care reform [06 Mar 2020]
- Boris Johnson close to breaching 100-day promise on social care talks, warn councils [06 Mar 2020]
- Service reform needed to tackle persistent use of Spice within homeless population [06 Mar 2020]
- Councils face £6.5bn funding gap by 2025 [06 Mar 2020]
- LGA responds to CIPFA council tax research [06 Mar 2020]
- People moves: MHCLG confirm interim permanent secretary [05 Mar 2020]
- Kier suffers £41m loss [05 Mar 2020]
- Councils and teachers call for over £5bn of extra school funding [05 Mar 2020]
- Flybe collapse hits council-owned airports [05 Mar 2020]
- Government delays Budget infrastructure plan [05 Mar 2020]
- Coronavirus will brutally expose the effect of a decade of public service cuts [opinion] [05 Mar 2020]
- NHS long-term plan did not include workforce needed to deliver, says NAO [05 Mar 2020]
- Coronavirus could shut down parliament for months under emergency plans [05 Mar 2020]
- Hot air from the Tube recycled to keep homes warm [05 Mar 2020]
- 2 million over-55s live in dangerous homes, say charities [05 Mar 2020]
- Tackling ‘two-tier’ access to care in Central Bedfordshire [opinion] [04 Mar 2020]
- Councils report 'huge overspends' on social care [04 Mar 2020]
- The 'levelling up' agenda cannot overlook shire counties, says report [03 Mar 2020]
- Council warned of section 114 notice danger as reserves dry up [03 Mar 2020]
- This Budget needs to remember local government [03 Mar 2020]
- Civil servant 'tried to kill herself after Priti Patel bullying' [03 Mar 2020]
- The Tories say austerity is over: this budget will prove it isn’t [opinion] [03 Mar 2020]
- To truly ‘level -up’ we need to power up counties [02 Mar 2020]
- Warwick District Council gives green light to council tax referendum [02 Mar 2020]
- Coronavirus set to restrict chancellor’s Budget choices [02 Mar 2020]
- Jenrick voices support for East Midlands Combined Authority plans [02 Mar 2020]
- Lincolnshire council ‘delighted’ by £3.5m Grimsby investment [02 Mar 2020]
- Dorset facing £16m overspend following ‘challenging year’ [02 Mar 2020]
- Unitary’s children’s services leaps from requires improvement to outstanding [02 Mar 2020]
- DCN chair slams district’s plan for ‘climate emergency’ tax hike [02 Mar 2020]
- Chancellor Rishi Sunak to snatch £3bn entrepreneurs’ tax relief to pay for the north [01 Mar 2020]
- 'My husband's care will cost me my £2m house' [01 Mar 2020]
- County lines car thefts: Police chief says gangs target youngsters to steal luxury vehicles [29 Feb 2020]
- Cash-starved councils face big bills after buying up shopping centres [29 Feb 2020]
- LGPS funds given discretion over employer exit payments [28 Feb 2020]
- County hopeful of ‘devo alternative’ growth deal [28 Feb 2020]
- Social care 'cracks are turning into chasms' and system faces collapse in 2029, the Government is warned in an alarming report [28 Feb 2020]
- Coronavirus: Shares face worst week since global financial crisis [28 Feb 2020]
- Number of rough sleepers falls for second year in row [28 Feb 2020]
- Gove outlines EU trade talk plan [27 Feb 2020]
- Peterborough plans £7m repeat of controversial capital receipts treatment [27 Feb 2020]
- Housing benefit reform a ‘false economy’ [27 Feb 2020]
- London boroughs’ joint chief to depart [27 Feb 2020]
- District approves 34% ‘climate emergency’ tax hike [27 Feb 2020]
- Maintaining performance - Social Care IMPOWER INDEX [27 Feb 2020]
- PM announces extra £236m to end rough sleeping [27 Feb 2020]
- Political horse trading yields extra 20% funding for Scottish councils [26 Feb 2020]
- Elphicke handed junior role at MHCLG [26 Feb 2020]
- Structure review could take place ‘alongside’ North Yorks devo deal [26 Feb 2020]
- Councils spend average of £2 per head on cycling infrastructure, study reveals [26 Feb 2020]
- Flood infrastructure funding increased by only £3m over decade [26 Feb 2020]
- Treasury plan for land value duty falls on stony ground [26 Feb 2020]
- Budget 2020: Chancellor must raise taxes in first Budget, says IFS [26 Feb 2020]
- Government to review Public Works Loan Board [25 Feb 2020]
- Rutland named strongest performer in adult social care index [25 Feb 2020]
- Extra council tax bands call [24 Feb 2020]
- Why a Mansion Tax Could Be a Conservative Winner [opinion] [24 Feb 2020]
- Burnham calls for Barnett formula for the regions [24 Feb 2020]
- District plans referendum on 34% council tax hike [24 Feb 2020]
- Public back local tourism taxes [24 Feb 2020]
- Councils struggle with £3 billion budget hole for keeping children safe [24 Feb 2020]
- Rishi Sunak to move Treasury officials north [24 Feb 2020]
- Somerset leader launches unitary bid [21 Feb 2020]
- Think tank launches £3m fund to support community ‘wellbeing’ [21 Feb 2020]
- Migration reform may tip social care ‘over the edge’ [21 Feb 2020]
- Lancs leaders told to reorganise if they want devo [21 Feb 2020]
- Households in England to face council tax rises, research says [21 Feb 2020]
- Councils braced for mounting pressure on aslyum support system [20 Feb 2020]
- Government funding could reduce the number of potholes by 25 per cent [20 Feb 2020]
- Ofsted fears schools will 'squander' extra cash [19 Feb 2020]
- Government announces financial support for flood-hit areas [19 Feb 2020]
- Sean Anstee: Government needs to ‘level beyond’ as well as ‘level up [19 Feb 2020]
- North East unitaries set to pursue South of Tyne devo deal [18 Feb 2020]
- UK Budget date kept at 11 March [18 Feb 2020]
- Large employers fail to spend apprenticeship money [18 Feb 2020]
- Measures to prevent crime could begin as early as nursery, experts say [17 Feb 2020]
- Building 'resilience' won't stop traumatised social workers quitting [17 Feb 2020]
- COP26: Climate summit policing bill estimated at £250m [17 Feb 2020]
- Fall-out from suspected unitary cyber-attack enters second week [17 Feb 2020]
- Chief of flood hit council criticises slow government response [17 Feb 2020]
- Housing Secretary confirms new support for survivors of domestic violence [17 Feb 2020]
- Tories to reinstate all 3,000 bus routes axed in spending cuts, claims transport secretary [16 Feb 2020]
- Hell-on-Sea: how a drugs gang took over a sleepy Devon town [16 Feb 2020]
- Dementia sufferers dumped in hospitals after mass closures of day centres and respite care [16 Feb 2020]
- Flood defences in England get 1% of infrastructure spending [16 Feb 2020]
- It’s time to create a National Care Service for us all, says Susie Boniface [Opinion] [16 Feb 2020]
- Budget may be delayed, says Transport Secretary Grant Shapps [16 Feb 2020]
- Council tax set to soar by four per cent as the government struggles to fund social care - potentially costing families hundreds [15 Feb 2020]
- Tories have closed 1,300 family centres in last 10 years, figures reveal [15 Feb 2020]
- Boris Johnson vetoes mansion tax after backlash [15 Feb 2020]
- Edinburgh sets out £2.5bn housing-investment plans [13 Feb 2020]
- Major investment plans for Kirklees council approved [13 Feb 2020]
- Ombudsman reminds councils of care home ‘top-up fees’ duties [13 Feb 2020]
- Record number of A&E 'trolley waits' reached in January, NHS say [13 Feb 2020]
- Alarm bells over £6.6bn property spending spree [13 Feb 2020]
- Cabinet reshuffle: Sajid Javid resigns as chancellor; replaced by Rishi Sunak [13 Feb 2020]
- Ofcom Board appoints Dame Melanie Dawes as Chief Executive [13 Feb 2020]
- Economy beats gloomy forecasts to be third-fastest growing in G7 [12 Feb 2020]
- Shared service venture to create “finance academy” for managers [11 Feb 2020]
- Councils to receive share of £4.5m to roll out digital social care projects [11 Feb 2020]
- Finance settlement pulled for new terror law [11 Feb 2020]
- HS2 gets go ahead despite cost ‘explosion’ [11 Feb 2020]
- Bus funding: Where would it make the most difference? [11 Feb 2020]
- UK economy saw zero growth at the end of 2019 [11 Feb 2020]
- Government to pledge £5bn for bus services and cycling routes [11 Feb 2020]
- Families in the north have biggest council tax bills [11 Feb 2020]
- Equalities watchdog launches inquiry into pupil restraint in schools amid concerns from parents [11 Feb 2020]
- LGA: £80m from PWLB rate hike should be given back to councils [10 Feb 2020]
- Pooling of LGPS schemes has saved £155m in four years [10 Feb 2020]
- Bus cuts turn rural areas into ‘transport deserts’ [10 Feb 2020]
- Sajid Javid is under pressure to fix unfair business rates system [10 Feb 2020]
- UK’s cities and councils call for fiscal devolution [10 Feb 2020]
- No 10 power grab for NHS sparks backlash over ‘turf war’ [08 Feb 2020]
- Auditors beg for extension to local council accounts deadline [08 Feb 2020]
- Councils receive 4.4% increase in finance settlement [07 Feb 2020]
- Almost 2,000 frail and elderly people are refused home help every day because they do not qualify for social care, new figures suggest [07 Feb 2020]
- DfE schools funding clarification sparks treasurer unease [07 Feb 2020]
- Lisa Nandy promises to let councillors nominate Labour leadership candidates [07 Feb 2020]
- Council tax bills could rise by £70 as ministers confirm 4 per cent hike from April [07 Feb 2020]
- ‘Chancellor has little chance of achieving economic growth goal’ [06 Feb 2020]
- Cumbria devo proposal sparks county fear of ‘super districts’ [06 Feb 2020]
- Gwynne calls for Government to scrap fair funding review [06 Feb 2020]
- Government’s £170m bus boost a ‘drop in the ocean’ [06 Feb 2020]
- Unions’ claim rejected as staff offered 2% pay deal [05 Feb 2020]
- Short-term fixes leaving NHS financially unstable [05 Feb 2020]
- County warns of ‘predatory’ loan offers following PWLB rate rise [05 Feb 2020]
- Councils in crisis with more tax rises and service cuts due [05 Feb 2020]
- Business rates blow [04 Feb 2020]
- Commission calls on government to devolve skills [04 Feb 2020]
- Temporary accommodation industry worth £1.1bn [04 Feb 2020]
- Northants targets £23m savings [04 Feb 2020]
- Ministers must heed local productivity gaps [04 Feb 2020]
- Motorbike firm which said UK would thrive outside of EU goes into administration [03 Feb 2020]
- County offered devo deal with reorganisation and outsourced care services [03 Feb 2020]
- Borough seeking unitary status sparks spending row [03 Feb 2020]
- Scale of children’s funding gap revealed [03 Feb 2020]
- UK regional productivity gap widest in a century [03 Feb 2020]
- Universal credit rollout delayed again - to 2024 [03 Feb 2020]
- Adult Care crisis deepens as providers 'run out of options' [03 Feb 2020]
- Glitch delays business rates relief for hundreds of companies [03 Feb 2020]
- English schools buying in mental health support has 'almost doubled' in three years [03 Feb 2020]
- Apprentice levy ‘failing small firms’ [03 Feb 2020]
- Departmental savings of 5% will be hard to find [31 Jan 2020]
- Mets set to benefit overall from funding review [31 Jan 2020]
- Tories will write minimum school funding into law [30 Jan 2020]
- Ministers told to make cuts to pay for ‘radical agenda’ [30 Jan 2020]
- Kent beefs up support for pension fund following Woodford losses [29 Jan 2020]
- Majority of councils overspend on homelessness as pressure mounts [29 Jan 2020]
- Funding boost for rough sleepers initiative [28 Jan 2020]
- Housing waiting list rises again as 17,000 social homes lost [28 Jan 2020]
- Immigration salary threshold should drop by £4,400, says committee [28 Jan 2020]
- E-scooters on UK roads set for the green light [28 Jan 2020]
- Small music venues to get 50% reduction in business rates [27 Jan 2020]
- NAO to probe one-off Government funding pots [27 Jan 2020]
- Labour councils set to lose under new funding formula [27 Jan 2020]
- English councils set to miss carbon emission targets [27 Jan 2020]
- Auditors in fees increase warning [27 Jan 2020]
- Thousands of pubs will see £1,000 slashed off business rates in reforms aimed at saving the High Street [25 Jan 2020]
- Government urged to fund upgrades to outdated council leisure facilities [25 Jan 2020]
- County lines gangs using Breaking Bad-style motorhomes as drug-dealing bases [25 Jan 2020]
- Grenfell Tower inquiry member Benita Mehra resigns [25 Jan 2020]
- Former 'red wall' areas could lose millions in council funding review [25 Jan 2020]
- UK borrowing falls ahead of March Budget [24 Jan 2020]
- County lines drug gangs must be tackled nationally [24 Jan 2020]
- Cipfa resilience index: cause for concern? [23 Jan 2020]
- Care home costs leap to £34,000 a year in the biggest jump for nearly a decade, new figures reveal [23 Jan 2020]
- Police settlement ‘biggest in a decade’ [23 Jan 2020]
- NHS pledges elderly rapid response community teams [23 Jan 2020]
- Lack of care for dementia sufferers saw war heroine 'abandoned' in hospital [22 Jan 2020]
- Health watchdog reinspects care homes following inaccurate inspection reports [21 Jan 2020]
- Seven fixes for local government grant funding to tackle the North-South divide [21 Jan 2020]
- Government to ‘name and shame’ owners of blocks with dangerous cladding [21 Jan 2020]
- Universal Credit's regional divide exposed as 52% of Liverpool families worse off [20 Jan 2020]
- Cost of placing homeless people in B&Bs has risen by more than £20m [20 Jan 2020]
- Tory manifesto author backs NHS-style social care funding [20 Jan 2020]
- How the Labour leadership candidates stack up on local government [20 Jan 2020]
- Shopping centre owner Intu seeks emergency cash [20 Jan 2020]
- Hull asks to be first UK city to trial universal basic income [20 Jan 2020]
- Youth services suffer 70% funding cut in less than a decade [20 Jan 2020]
- Boris Johnson sends the House of Lords up north [19 Jan 2020]
- Brexit: Price rises warning after chancellor vows EU rules divergence [18 Jan 2020]
- Local buses clocking lowest mileage in decades [18 Jan 2020]
- Councils losing £250m a year through business rates avoidance [17 Jan 2020]
- Ministerial intray: Signs so far are social care will not be a top priority [17 Jan 2020]
- Dozens of social housing blocks still covered in Grenfell-style cladding [17 Jan 2020]
- ‘Government must give at least £2bn to replace EU regional funds’ [17 Jan 2020]
- Lift-off for bonds agency as Lancashire agrees first deal [17 Jan 2020]
- Business rates avoidance costs councils £250m a year, study suggests [17 Jan 2020]
- Officials have no idea how many people were forced to sell their houses to pay for social care, report reveals [16 Jan 2020]
- Work to start on devolution deal for South Yorkshire [16 Jan 2020]
- Officials have no idea how many people were forced to sell their houses to pay for social care, report reveals [16 Jan 2020]
- Scores of tower blocks with Grenfell-style cladding have no plan in place to remove it, figures show [16 Jan 2020]
- Empty business rates relief 'costs £1bn' [16 Jan 2020]
- Fall in inflation raises prospects of interest rate cut [15 Jan 2020]
- 20% spike in pothole-related breakdowns [15 Jan 2020]
- Commercial income could be excluded from council funding calculations [14 Jan 2020]
- Government lifts four-year freeze on Local Housing Allowance [14 Jan 2020]
- Sector accused of ‘overreacting’ to PWLB rates rise as alternatives line up [14 Jan 2020]
- Boris backtracks on cross-party social care solution [14 Jan 2020]
- Care fee divide gets worse as new report reveals nursing home residents who pay their own bills are charged £250 a week more than those who are state-funded [14 Jan 2020]
- Care firm's leadership criticised by Care Quality Commission [14 Jan 2020]
- 90 online abuse crimes against children recorded a day, NSPCC estimates [14 Jan 2020]
- UK GDP: Pound slips on unexpectedly weak growth figures [13 Jan 2020]
- South west launches growth alliance to rival Northern Powerhouse [13 Jan 2020]
- Roundtable: Making NHS-council collaboration work [13 Jan 2020]
- Unitary leadership ordered to seek support over children’s failure [13 Jan 2020]
- Boris Johnson urged to tackle climate emergency as poll shows huge support for carbon emission cuts [13 Jan 2020]
- Sugar tax is WORKING: Britons' consumption of sugar has dropped by a teaspoon a day since tax on sweetened drinks was launched [13 Jan 2020]
- Rural motorists more likely to drive on pothole ridden roads as figures show cities spend three times more on repairs [13 Jan 2020]
- Climate emergency: Boris Johnson faces calls to step up action as poll shows public support for accelerated cuts in carbon emissions [13 Jan 2020]
- Millions left unspent on NHS as councils fail to cash in on money from housing developers [13 Jan 2020]
- Lisa Nandy: 'Councils must have the power to run bus services for people, not profits' [13 Jan 2020]
- Families sending relatives with dementia to Thailand for care [12 Jan 2020]
- Crimes next to primary schools go up sharply [12 Jan 2020]
- County’s unitary call ignites reorganisation row [09 Jan 2020]
- Ministry creates new hub to oversee Towns Fund [09 Jan 2020]
- A&E staff 'despair' as NHS delays are at their worst ever level [09 Jan 2020]
- Housing-benefit errors 'making families homeless' [09 Jan 2020]
- Councils under huge pressure as number of children in care soars [09 Jan 2020]
- LGA calls for seat at table in children's care review [08 Jan 2020]
- Scottish fury at ‘unprecedented’ Budget delay [08 Jan 2020]
- Council buys £10m out-of-area commercial property [08 Jan 2020]
- MPs reject Labour's call to reinstate child refugee pledge [08 Jan 2020]
- Ofsted seeks judgement-free approach to 'stuck schools' [08 Jan 2020]
- Quarter of minimum wage workers underpaid, says study [08 Jan 2020]
- UK budget date is 'disrespectful to devolution', says Derek Mackay [07 Jan 2020]
- 'Infrastructure revolution' in March Budget [07 Jan 2020]
- HS2 spending ‘out of control’, says former review official [06 Jan 2020]
- Number of children admitted to A&E with mental health problems jumps 330 per cent over past decade [06 Jan 2020]
- Troubled families will be helped to get their lives back on track with a new funding boost [05 Jan 2020]
- More pupils to get access to free school breakfasts and meals in the holidays in fight against child hunger [04 Jan 2020]
- Nearly 3.5 million UK working age people have never had a job, report says [04 Jan 2020]
- Rogue landlords who house tenants in freezing homes to be targeted by government crackdown [03 Jan 2020]
- Arts Council boss vows more funding for those at early stages of career [01 Jan 2020]
- Almost one in 10 children miss lessons without the school's permission to go on holiday, figures show [01 Jan 2020]
- Voters tell Boris Johnson they prefer public services to tax cuts [01 Jan 2020]
- 2019
-
- Poor white boys are underdogs of the education system [30 Dec 2019]
- Charity calls for more adopters [30 Dec 2019]
- York wants private cars banned in three years [29 Dec 2019]
- Call to end ‘scandal’ of child in care costing four times annual fee for Eton [29 Dec 2019]
- Foster agencies add pressure on UK to take child refugees [29 Dec 2019]
- Rise in families seeking help for youngsters with special needs [28 Dec 2019]
- Boris Johnson warned to act Immediately to end social care crisis [27 Dec 2019]
- Treasury to rip up public spending rules in cash boost for north and Midlands [27 Dec 2019]
- Revealed: councils paid inadequate care homes £2.3m to house children [26 Dec 2019]
- Boxing Day sales 2019: Climate crisis fears will 'drive Britons away from shops' [26 Dec 2019]
- Hedge funds bet against recovery on high street [26 Dec 2019]
- Revealed: thousands of children in care placed in unregulated homes [25 Dec 2019]
- Leisure centres close as spending on council-run sports facilities plunges [25 Dec 2019]
- Amount of flood-prone land used for new houses in England doubles in a year, figures reveal [24 Dec 2019]
- Thousands of children in care over 100 miles away from family [24 Dec 2019]
- Ministers accused of ‘abject failure’ as fewer people get on their bikes [24 Dec 2019]
- Boris Johnson announces extra money to tackle homelessness [23 Dec 2019]
- Devon town councillor calls for babysitting allowance [20 Dec 2019]
- Chaotic diaries of headteachers' weeks expose shocking truth of crippling budget cuts [20 Dec 2019]
- Government promises to engage with sector in business rates review [19 Dec 2019]
- Bank of England keeps interest rates on hold [19 Dec 2019]
- More than 28% of England's secondary schools now in the red, study finds [19 Dec 2019]
- State Opening: Queen to outline PM's Brexit and NHS agenda [19 Dec 2019]
- David Williams: Give counties the power and money to level up ‘left behind’ places [18 Dec 2019]
- London Fire Brigade 'slow to learn' and needs improvement, says watchdog [17 Dec 2019]
- Shropshire faces £51m funding gap over five years [17 Dec 2019]
- [opinion] Rob Whiteman: Tory spending pledges don’t reflect stress on public services [17 Dec 2019]
- Former West Sussex leader and chief dispute blame as direction issued [17 Dec 2019]
- Oxford City Council announces £19m climate change emergency budget [17 Dec 2019]
- Whitehall silence as Gwynne calls for provisional settlement [17 Dec 2019]
- Sector remains ‘lukewarm’ about ‘crude’ resilience index [17 Dec 2019]
- Jenrick’s re-appointment confirmed [17 Dec 2019]
- Incoming London fire chief to prioritise rebuilding trust of Grenfell community [17 Dec 2019]
- No home for 280,000 on Christmas Day in England, figures show [17 Dec 2019]
- Bus travel hits record low amid 3.3% fares rise [17 Dec 2019]
- Brexit bill to rule out extension to transition period [17 Dec 2019]
- London Fire Brigade 'slow and wasteful', according to inspectors [17 Dec 2019]
- OBR deficit prediction ‘sobering warning’ for new government [16 Dec 2019]
- Shaw to replace Elvery at West Sussex [16 Dec 2019]
- Zero-emission street to ban petrol and diesel vehicles [16 Dec 2019]
- General election 2019: Hart gets Welsh post in government reshuffle [16 Dec 2019]
- What does business want from Boris Johnson? [16 Dec 2019]
- Abuse of politicians ‘undermining democracy’ [16 Dec 2019]
- Boris Johnson to announce new laws to ban train strikes, toughen prison sentences and stop landlords evicting their tenants this week [16 Dec 2019]
- CIPFA resilience index shows just 10% of councils are at financial risk [15 Dec 2019]
- Massive £33billion cash boost for NHS will be enshrined in law [14 Dec 2019]
- Reserves grow at county a year on from s114 threat [11 Dec 2019]
- How the parties’ manifestos compare on local government funding [11 Dec 2019]
- Council fined £500,000 after death of woman with dementia [10 Dec 2019]
- West Sussex’s financial position worsens by £15m in two months [10 Dec 2019]
- Official figures ‘hiding true scale of A&E waits’ [10 Dec 2019]
- Councils hit out at 'unfair' restrictions on flood repair funding [10 Dec 2019]
- Analysis: English councils ramp up charges for services [10 Dec 2019]
- Labour promises to spend £10bn on free personal care [09 Dec 2019]
- Talk of the towns: the battle to support ‘left-behind’ areas [09 Dec 2019]
- Tim Elwell-Sutton: No party manifesto goes far enough on public health [09 Dec 2019]
- Revealed: one in five school buildings in England require urgent repairs [08 Dec 2019]
- Blue badge fraud up 18%, say official figures [06 Dec 2019]
- General election 2019: Labour pledges more help for smaller firms [06 Dec 2019]
- £845k in charity grants supporting disabled people in London [05 Dec 2019]
- Poor children lose out on exercise, research suggests [05 Dec 2019]
- Could 'slow shopping' revive the high street? [05 Dec 2019]
- Does Boris Johnson's pledge to fix social care system stack up? [opinion] [05 Dec 2019]
- One in eight care homes has closed – despite record numbers of older Brits [05 Dec 2019]
- Social care crisis wastes £½m of NHS money a day [05 Dec 2019]
- Tories announce £4.2bn public transport fund for combined authorities [04 Dec 2019]
- Council tax on empty properties set to be raised by Bolton Council [04 Dec 2019]
- Rise in outstanding business rates challenges ‘creating bottleneck’ [03 Dec 2019]
- Children’s services ‘close to collapse’, says charity chief executive [03 Dec 2019]
- Tory plans would further squeeze councils’ budgets, says IFS [02 Dec 2019]
- Seven charts on the £73,000 cost of educating a child [02 Dec 2019]
- General election 2019: Tory and Labour spending plans 'not credible' - IFS [28 Nov 2019]
- UK inequality 'among worst of developed countries' [27 Nov 2019]
- Paul Swinney: What are Labour and the Conservatives offering cities? [opinion] [27 Nov 2019]
- Parts of England 'have higher mortality rates than Turkey' [27 Nov 2019]
- Boris Johnson under fire over 'vague' social care funding plans [25 Nov 2019]
- Councils’ income from business rates rises 5% [22 Nov 2019]
- Charity demands action on social care [22 Nov 2019]
- Promises for councils in ‘£135bn’ Labour manifesto [22 Nov 2019]
- LGA to draw up funding alternatives amid fears for ‘antiquated’ business rates [22 Nov 2019]
- Economists warn of deficit rise as borrowing hits 5-year high [22 Nov 2019]
- Nearly half of British motorists fear the UK's pothole-riven roads are getting worse, with rural areas the hardest hit [22 Nov 2019]
- Nearly half of British motorists fear the UK's pothole-riven roads are getting worse, with rural areas the hardest hit [22 Nov 2019]
- Council service spending grows by 1.9% [21 Nov 2019]
- Clean air for all: Hedges can halve pollution in playgrounds [21 Nov 2019]
- Older people dying for want of social care at rate of three an hour [21 Nov 2019]
- 'Half of women will be carers by the age of 46' [21 Nov 2019]
- PF and CIPFA to monitor election spending promises [20 Nov 2019]
- Councils’ income from business rates rises 5% [20 Nov 2019]
- Housebuilding data shows dearth of homes for affordable renting [20 Nov 2019]
- Fielding suggests return to revenue support grant [20 Nov 2019]
- Guidance recommends sale of risky investment properties [20 Nov 2019]
- Social care must be solved by next government, coalition of charities and councils tell Telegraph [20 Nov 2019]
- Gary Fielding: Is there a better way for business rates? [19 Nov 2019]
- Data reveals the 20 UK cities with declining high streets [19 Nov 2019]
- Surge in number of council tax fraud cases [18 Nov 2019]
- Children’s services budgets blown as spend continues to rise [18 Nov 2019]
- Business rates: 'We might as well hand back the keys' [18 Nov 2019]
- General election 2019: PM puts corporation cuts on hold to help fund NHS [18 Nov 2019]
- Killer potholes: More than 250 cyclists have been killed or seriously injured in crashes caused by potholes in the past five years [18 Nov 2019]
- Why more people are talking about the issue of social care [18 Nov 2019]
- One visit to care home shows why we can't go on like this [18 Nov 2019]
- Councils spend more than £1.1bn on temporary housing for homeless people in space of a year [15 Nov 2019]
- Public sector leaders call for more joined-up working [14 Nov 2019]
- One in 50 'children in need' are not yet born [14 Nov 2019]
- Councils get just 27p from every £1 collected by bailiffs – and it’s pushing households into debt [13 Nov 2019]
- Inflation falls to three-year low as energy prices fall [13 Nov 2019]
- Hundreds of people with autism wrongly being detained in mental health units [13 Nov 2019]
- Severe flooding becomes election campaign issue [12 Nov 2019]
- UK wage growth slows as unemployment falls [12 Nov 2019]
- UK GDP: Britain ducks recession but annual growth weakest since 2010 [11 Nov 2019]
- Thousands of UK workers' pay to rise as living wage increases [11 Nov 2019]
- Slavery offences soar as county lines are targeted [11 Nov 2019]
- Call for reform of pupil exclusions 'as schools unaware of legal duties' [11 Nov 2019]
- Cancellations of NHS child mental health sessions jump 25% [11 Nov 2019]
- Councils 'need billions more to fund adult care as population ages' [11 Nov 2019]
- Faith schools contribute millions of pounds less towards own costs, figures suggest [10 Nov 2019]
- GDP monthly estimate, UK: September 2019 [09 Nov 2019]
- Government activates Bellwin scheme to support local communities hit by flooding [09 Nov 2019]
- Council finance settlement timing “up to new government” [07 Nov 2019]
- Tories and Labour announce spending plans [07 Nov 2019]
- Care home operators accused of extracting 'disguised' profits [07 Nov 2019]
- Commissioner details ‘disturbing narratives’ in West Sussex [07 Nov 2019]
- Williamson derided over ‘don’t disrupt children’s Christmas’ poll demand [06 Nov 2019]
- Ofcom selects Melanie Dawes as chief executive [06 Nov 2019]
- Councils asked to avoid using schools as polling stations [06 Nov 2019]
- Business rates retention rise ‘will make council income inequality worse’ [06 Nov 2019]
- Public health cuts have ‘hit poor hardest’ [05 Nov 2019]
- Care review for thousands of patients with learning disabilities and autism [05 Nov 2019]
- None of pledged starter homes built, says watchdog [05 Nov 2019]
- Care children sexually abused or exploited while missing from homes [04 Nov 2019]
- General Election 2019: Public spending 'to rocket' in next parliament [04 Nov 2019]
- Benefits freeze to end in 2020, government confirms [03 Nov 2019]
- Home-to-school transport for special educational needs children under threat as costs rise and funds are cut [02 Nov 2019]
- Chancellor announces £250m ‘infrastructure revolution’ [01 Nov 2019]
- Number of new rough sleepers in London increases by 50% in one year [31 Oct 2019]
- Single tier fear reignited [30 Oct 2019]
- Local government sector guide to tackling loneliness launched [29 Oct 2019]
- Government careers advice scheme will fail to reach thousands of young people, councils warn [29 Oct 2019]
- City could become first in UK to completely ban diesel cars [29 Oct 2019]
- Councils pessimistic about impact of Brexit [29 Oct 2019]
- High streets in danger as planning applications from retailers plummet [29 Oct 2019]
- PWLB interest rate rise won’t have dramatic effect on council costs, says minister [29 Oct 2019]
- Pace of fracking slower than anticipated [28 Oct 2019]
- Opinion: Spending Review needs to address ‘plague of potholes’ [28 Oct 2019]
- Northamptonshire Council 'failed' grandmother by demanding £11k [28 Oct 2019]
- Labour calls for release of forecasts for Javid’s scrapped budget [28 Oct 2019]
- ‘Nearly a fifth of parents quit jobs because of childcare costs’ [28 Oct 2019]
- Some parts of UK ageing twice as fast as others, new research finds [28 Oct 2019]
- £400m for school buildings is 'too little, too late', says union [28 Oct 2019]
- MPs to vote on Boris Johnson's 12 December election call [28 Oct 2019]
- Transport department bids for long term funds to fix Britain's potholes [27 Oct 2019]
- Ten new towns to bolster regions after Brexit [26 Oct 2019]
- Robots capable of caring for the elderly are being developed in £34m government project amid staffing crisis in social care [26 Oct 2019]
- First council built care home in decades opens in Liverpool [25 Oct 2019]
- Failure of £350m Four Seasons deal proof social care is not ‘properly’ funded [25 Oct 2019]
- Javid writes to new treasury committee chair to announce Budget cancelled [25 Oct 2019]
- UK’s health capital funding ‘lags behind that of other developed countries’ [25 Oct 2019]
- Error found in UK public finances, official statistics body admits [25 Oct 2019]
- Brexit: EU considers extension as MPs mull election [25 Oct 2019]
- Overhaul exclusions to beat knife crime, say MPs [25 Oct 2019]
- ‘Flawed’ Safety Test Leaves Thousands At Risk Of Grenfell-Style Fire, Government Warned [24 Oct 2019]
- Extinction Rebellion: Met Police’s London-wide ban on protests was unlawful, court hears [24 Oct 2019]
- School funding boost 'too little too late', say hundreds of protesting parents [24 Oct 2019]
- High Street: How many UK shops have closed? [23 Oct 2019]
- 'Unlawful practices and buck passing' over special needs [23 Oct 2019]
- Powys council plans to open children's care home [22 Oct 2019]
- Business rates reform key, says Labour business chairman Rachel Reeves [22 Oct 2019]
- UK government borrowing up by a fifth over past six months [22 Oct 2019]
- Airbnb probed by UK tax authorities [22 Oct 2019]
- Funding cuts take toll on support for visually impaired pupils [22 Oct 2019]
- World economy is sleepwalking into a new financial crisis, warns Mervyn King [21 Oct 2019]
- UK population forecast to reach nearly 70 million in the next nine years [21 Oct 2019]
- Police arrest 743 in blitz on 'county lines' drugs gangs [18 Oct 2019]
- Free schools ‘not helping disadvantaged pupils’ [17 Oct 2019]
- Pension tax relief to cost public purse nearly £40bn [17 Oct 2019]
- Chanceller urged to scrap inflationary business rate rise [17 Oct 2019]
- Boris Johnson Confirms Agreed Brexit Deal [17 Oct 2019]
- Troubled fund shut down leaving Kent council waiting for repayments [15 Oct 2019]
- Care for mental health patients has deteriorated in England, regulators say [15 Oct 2019]
- Queen’s Speech sets out Boris Johnson’s election manifesto [15 Oct 2019]
- Vaping: 'I'm 17, and rarely ID'd for e-cigs' [15 Oct 2019]
- County publishes business case for single unitary [14 Oct 2019]
- Chancellor Sajid Javid reveals date of next Budget [14 Oct 2019]
- Labour's nationalisation price tag would start at £196bn, CBI says [14 Oct 2019]
- PM seeks to thrust law and order on to agenda in Queen’s speech [14 Oct 2019]
- How councils 'ignoring the law' on social care forces families apart [13 Oct 2019]
- NHS sets out to tackle homelessness crisis [13 Oct 2019]
- Revealed: the private landlords profiting from England’s housing crisis [13 Oct 2019]
- Families in England hit by 70% cut in school uniform grant [13 Oct 2019]
- Government accused of wrecking plans to build more social housing [11 Oct 2019]
- Modular homes endorsed by Prince William to be built by charity to 'end youth homelessness' [10 Oct 2019]
- South east seeks rail fare freeze to help double economy [10 Oct 2019]
- Thousands of pensioners could be homeless in next 10 years due to soaring rent costs [10 Oct 2019]
- Extinction Rebellion could disrupt Queen opening Parliament [09 Oct 2019]
- CIPFA proposals to 'revolutionise financial reporting' [09 Oct 2019]
- Queen's Speech: What is it and why is it important? [09 Oct 2019]
- Living wage boost would benefit hundreds of thousands of council staff [08 Oct 2019]
- Brexit casts its shadow over budgets [08 Oct 2019]
- NHS bosses warn of social care timebomb [08 Oct 2019]
- Boris Johnson’s spending spree threatens to leave no cash for tax cuts [08 Oct 2019]
- No-deal Brexit would push borrowing above £100bn, IFS warns [08 Oct 2019]
- More than three million Brits struggling to pay basic bills like council tax [07 Oct 2019]
- Leaked Brexit planning memo offers no new guidance for departing EU [07 Oct 2019]
- Fuller: Counties also under threat if devo push has unitary focus [07 Oct 2019]
- Consultation opens on local government finance settlement [04 Oct 2019]
- Climate change targets ‘unlikely to be met’ without funding, council chiefs say [03 Oct 2019]
- ‘Councils should be reduced in size to make savings’ [02 Oct 2019]
- Queen’s Speech ‘must give councils greater fiscal freedom’ [02 Oct 2019]
- Javid announces £4.3bn Brexit 'funding guarantee' [30 Sep 2019]
- Government takes the first steps in a bus revolution? [30 Sep 2019]
- Javid announces white paper as devo ‘regains its Bojo’ [30 Sep 2019]
- Tories tot up cost of free social care [30 Sep 2019]
- Auditors get tough new rules after high?profile collapses [30 Sep 2019]
- Social care for smokers costing councils £720m a year [27 Sep 2019]
- IFS: Johnson’s tax plans will cost economy billions [27 Sep 2019]
- Number of empty shops in UK at highest level for five years [27 Sep 2019]
- No-deal Brexit 'still risk to NHS and care sector' [27 Sep 2019]
- England's most deprived areas named as Jaywick and Blackpool [26 Sep 2019]
- Boris Johnson reveals £5bn broadband bonanza [24 Sep 2019]
- Time is running out for councils to receive EU replacement fund, LGA warns [24 Sep 2019]
- Youth services ‘decimated by 69 per cent’ in less than a decade amid surge in knife crime, figures show [24 Sep 2019]
- Minister confirms creation of Northamptonshire unitary authorities [23 Sep 2019]
- UK ‘needs £128bn’ to solve the housing crisis [23 Sep 2019]
- Government announces over £10 million for 5 more coastal communities [20 Sep 2019]
- Peterborough City Council to tackle homelessness with its own housing company [20 Sep 2019]
- Council to 'terminate' care company [20 Sep 2019]
- Minister handed Brexit cash demand in Portsmouth [19 Sep 2019]
- Think-tank calls for more local taxes [19 Sep 2019]
- Johnson ignores LGA social care deadline [19 Sep 2019]
- Where not to live if you want a good care home [19 Sep 2019]
- Call for views on the financial reporting of local authorities [18 Sep 2019]
- Call for views on the financial reporting of local authorities [18 Sep 2019]
- [Opinion] The Treasury needs to take a place-based view [18 Sep 2019]
- Liverpool ‘in crisis’ over £57.6m funding gap [18 Sep 2019]
- ‘Wasteful’ Treasury slammed for impact on services [17 Sep 2019]
- Research reveals councils' top Brexit risks [17 Sep 2019]
- Why audit needs auditing [17 Sep 2019]
- Providers: No-deal ‘could lead to social care statutory duty failure’ [16 Sep 2019]
- 'Care crisis': Sent-away children are 'easy victims' [16 Sep 2019]
- ‘Armchair auditors’ frustrated by attempts at accounts scrutiny [16 Sep 2019]
- Stinging criticism over ministry's double rates error [16 Sep 2019]
- Legal action threatens council income [16 Sep 2019]
- Positive results found for axed project [16 Sep 2019]
- Councils spend £1bn on shopping centres [16 Sep 2019]
- Somerset auditors recognise improved finances [13 Sep 2019]
- Council PWLB borrowing hits record level in August [13 Sep 2019]
- Chief executives demand 10% pay rise [13 Sep 2019]
- Spending Review saves council from depleting reserves [12 Sep 2019]
- Number of households in temporary residence highest since 2007 [12 Sep 2019]
- Tory conference: Government confirms £25bn for road upgrades [11 Sep 2019]
- Peterborough capital receipts episode prompts prudential framework review [11 Sep 2019]
- Cash-strapped councils struggling to support SEND children, auditors warn [11 Sep 2019]
- Retailers call for action as high street store closures soar [11 Sep 2019]
- Government pledges £62m flood funding for communities in England [10 Sep 2019]
- Britain has biggest primary school classes in the developed world, report finds [10 Sep 2019]
- Major Review into Support for Children with Special Educational Needs [10 Sep 2019]
- Exclusive: Government to launch major review into support for children with special needs [05 Sep 2019]
- Gap in academic skills of girls and boys widens, show Sats [05 Sep 2019]
- Snack tax 'could be more effective than sugary drinks levy' [05 Sep 2019]
- Spending review: Outlined [05 Sep 2019]
- Spending Round 2019: what you need to know [04 Sep 2019]
- Burns to be Cipfa director [04 Sep 2019]
- Chancellor set to unveil government spending plans [04 Sep 2019]
- Food banks increasing in schools for pupils' families [03 Sep 2019]
- Spending Review: What's it all about? [03 Sep 2019]
- [BBC] General Election expected should Opposition Brexit Bill succeed [02 Sep 2019]
- Combined authority moots buses takeover [02 Sep 2019]
- Updated: £700m will form part of high needs block [02 Sep 2019]
- Brexit: No 10 'considering' election amid no-deal battle with MPs [02 Sep 2019]
- UK factory output 'falls at fastest pace for seven years' [02 Sep 2019]
- Labour could give private tenants chance to buy their rented homes [02 Sep 2019]
- Surge in defence spending catches chancellor Sajid Javid off guard [02 Sep 2019]
- Teacher starting salaries could rise to £30,000 [31 Aug 2019]
- Sajid Javid pledges £400m further education funding [31 Aug 2019]
- Councils facing £2.4bn black hole in social care funding urge the Government to continue grants which make up 29% of their cash [30 Aug 2019]
- Umbrella groups make Spending Round plea for social care [30 Aug 2019]
- Price collapse threatens paper recycling collections [29 Aug 2019]
- Sajid Javid’s spending round set to focus on vote winners [29 Aug 2019]
- Parliament suspension sparks furious backlash [29 Aug 2019]
- Give schools incentives to admit more special needs children, councils urge [29 Aug 2019]
- £3.5bn education package not enough, say school leaders [28 Aug 2019]
- Javid pledges spending review cash for schools, NHS and police [28 Aug 2019]
- £4bn school funding boost set to be confirmed [28 Aug 2019]
- Stabilising Northamptonshire County Council [27 Aug 2019]
- £800m overspend on children's social care [27 Aug 2019]
- 'Alarm bells' over private equity foster care firms, councils warn [27 Aug 2019]
- 5G: Rural areas could see bigger and taller masts [27 Aug 2019]
- Warning over children's care 'crisis' amid claims of councils overspend reaching £770m [26 Aug 2019]
- England school places shortage 'made worse by academies' [26 Aug 2019]
- Schools set for long-awaited cash injection [24 Aug 2019]
- 130,000 families with children live in one-bed flats [23 Aug 2019]
- Universal credit 'forces tenants into rent arrears' [23 Aug 2019]
- Call to abandon coastal towns before sea claims them [23 Aug 2019]
- Number of 16 to 24 year olds not in education, employment or training jumps by 30,000 [22 Aug 2019]
- No-deal Brexit 'will see more waste going to landfill' [22 Aug 2019]
- Council reserves rise to record levels [22 Aug 2019]
- Campaigners warn that special needs children have been forced out of mainstream schools [21 Aug 2019]
- Disadvantaged teenagers more likely to score low GCSE grades [21 Aug 2019]
- Government's budget surplus shrinks in July [21 Aug 2019]
- Brexit blow as councils miss MHCLG deadline [20 Aug 2019]
- District had ‘no choice’ in leaving LEP [20 Aug 2019]
- No-deal papers reveal council fears over food supply [20 Aug 2019]
- CIPFA index 'must be forward-looking' [19 Aug 2019]
- North ‘to receive £2,300 less per person in transport spending than London’ [19 Aug 2019]
- Electric buses: Wales' first to hit the roads in Newport [19 Aug 2019]
- London planned transport spending 'seven times more per head than for Yorkshire' [18 Aug 2019]
- Special educational needs crisis deepens as councils bust their budgets [18 Aug 2019]
- Sajid Javid will 'simplify' the tax system in first Budget [18 Aug 2019]
- State Pension Age should be raised to 75 to boost economy, argues think tank founded by ex-Tory leader [18 Aug 2019]
- Two local government pension funds record total deficits of £14.5m [16 Aug 2019]
- A love letter to my hometown high street [16 Aug 2019]
- Hike in council spend on external legal advice, research finds [16 Aug 2019]
- Northamptonshire trebles deficit projection [16 Aug 2019]
- Leaders call for £39bn for Northern Powerhouse Rail project [15 Aug 2019]
- Care homes forced to drop nurse provision amid staffing crisis [15 Aug 2019]
- Council chiefs call for billions to fix North’s ‘creaking infrastructure’ [15 Aug 2019]
- Council-owned solar farm generates £1.2m for frontline services [14 Aug 2019]
- Stop cuts to adult social care, petition urges [14 Aug 2019]
- Homeless person dying every 19 hours in UK, figures show [14 Aug 2019]
- Asda and Boots urge reform of 'broken' rates system [13 Aug 2019]
- More children being cared for in failing council services, says think tank [12 Aug 2019]
- Electric cars to enter next gear as government doubles funding for charging points on residential streets [12 Aug 2019]
- Dams in danger of flooding as dozens in need of safety work [12 Aug 2019]
- High Streets hit as shop vacancy rate worst since 2015 [12 Aug 2019]
- David Davies MP: General election will be called next month [11 Aug 2019]
- Government activates emergency funds for flood-hit councils [10 Aug 2019]
- Real pay cut for millions since 2010, TUC study suggests [10 Aug 2019]
- Stay of execution for civil servants’ £95,000 redundancy cap [09 Aug 2019]
- PSAA records dramatic rise in delayed audit opinions [09 Aug 2019]
- U.K. Economy Unexpectedly Shrinks for First Time Since 2012 [09 Aug 2019]
- Chancellor fast-tracks Spending Round to free up departments to prepare for Brexit [08 Aug 2019]
- Druid Heath's disused Baverstock Academy costs council £241k [08 Aug 2019]
- Local government ‘shut out’ of Brexit discussions, Labour warns [08 Aug 2019]
- Northants finance director to leave after 12-month term [08 Aug 2019]
- Million more young adults still living with parents [08 Aug 2019]
- Thousands of sexual offences reported against children aged four to eight [06 Aug 2019]
- Dame Barbara Windsor calls on Boris Johnson to improve dementia care [06 Aug 2019]
- Jenrick announces £10m for council ‘Brexit leads’ [05 Aug 2019]
- John McDonnell questions chancellor's suitability for office [05 Aug 2019]
- Brexit: Anger as government set to spend five times more on 'propaganda' than helping councils prepare for no deal [04 Aug 2019]
- Councils will share £20m extra to fund no-deal tsars [03 Aug 2019]
- UK spends less on social care than nearly all the other countries in Western Europe with dementia patients among the worst affected by spending shortfall [03 Aug 2019]
- Councils ‘poor relations of Whitehall’ in no deal funding [02 Aug 2019]
- Schools in poorer areas ‘to lose out on pupil funding’ [02 Aug 2019]
- Brexit: How have UK councils prepared? [02 Aug 2019]
- Childcare costs set to soar following Government proposals to raise registration costs by 20 per cent [01 Aug 2019]
- Number of over-16s going into care increases 25% in four years, report finds [01 Aug 2019]
- Prime Minister opens first meeting of National Policing Board [31 Jul 2019]
- Resolution Foundation says council tax unfairly burdens the poor [30 Jul 2019]
- Will Boris Johnson's present for hard-up teachers be enough? [30 Jul 2019]
- Johnson pledges billions of pounds to ‘left behind towns’ [30 Jul 2019]
- £1m boost to sports projects that keep young Londoners out of violent crime [30 Jul 2019]
- Disadvantaged pupils 'stuck 18 months behind' [30 Jul 2019]
- Value of PWLB loans to local authorities rises 75% [29 Jul 2019]
- More than 4m in UK are trapped in deep poverty, study finds [29 Jul 2019]
- Nearly a quarter of the UK's dementia care homes are failing, with many patients neglected and left at risk in 'toxic' environment, new report shows [28 Jul 2019]
- Sajid Javid: What should we expect from new chancellor? [26 Jul 2019]
- School funding top priority for Gavin Williamson [26 Jul 2019]
- Controversial Help to Buy scheme may be extended [26 Jul 2019]
- NI civil servants strike over pay and conditions [26 Jul 2019]
- Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he has a plan to 'fix the crisis in social care once and for all' [24 Jul 2019]
- Robert Jenrick takes over after Brokenshire sacked [24 Jul 2019]
- Boris Johnson: We will fix the crisis in social care once and for all [24 Jul 2019]
- Prevention green paper blasted as ‘shopping list of half-complete ideas’ [23 Jul 2019]
- Government pumps £348million into new schemes to improve local roads [22 Jul 2019]
- Schools face cutbacks to fund pay rise for teachers in England [22 Jul 2019]
- Schools face cutbacks to fund pay rise for teachers in England [22 Jul 2019]
- Government offers 'inflation-busting' pay rises [22 Jul 2019]
- Counties warn SEN costs ‘spiralling out of control’ [19 Jul 2019]
- £2bn public sector pay rise to have limited impact [19 Jul 2019]
- ‘Anything but inclusive’: No school places for three disabled sisters [19 Jul 2019]
- SEND duties ‘increasing pressure on councils’ [19 Jul 2019]
- Public sector pay rise: May gives £2bn to teachers, police and armed forces [19 Jul 2019]
- Councils in country have far less to spend on elderly than those in cities [19 Jul 2019]
- ‘Anything but inclusive’: No school places for three disabled sisters [19 Jul 2019]
- SEND duties ‘increasing pressure on councils’ [19 Jul 2019]
- Public sector pay rise: May gives £2bn to teachers, police and armed forces [19 Jul 2019]
- No deal Brexit ‘will create £30bn black hole’ [18 Jul 2019]
- CIPFA launches drive for ‘easier to understand’ public accounts [17 Jul 2019]
- CIPFA launches drive for ‘easier to understand’ public accounts [17 Jul 2019]
- Unions united on pay claim as Unite back 10% rise [17 Jul 2019]
- Rubbish-tip 'tax' for households prompts fears of a surge in dumping [16 Jul 2019]
- Doctors, teachers and police to share in £4bn-a-year pension boost [16 Jul 2019]
- ‘More clarity required’ despite pension ruling [16 Jul 2019]
- Forget the spending review, we should be talking about taxation [16 Jul 2019]
- CIPFA backs alternative tool for measuring councils’ financial resilience [15 Jul 2019]
- Audit review raises prospect of new transparency rules for s151s [15 Jul 2019]
- Audit review raises prospect of new transparency rules for s151s [15 Jul 2019]
- UK 'scarily' exposed to next major downturn, economists warn Save [15 Jul 2019]
- High street suffers 'summer slump' as Brexit and wet weather bite [15 Jul 2019]
- Lack of homes suitable for older people fuels housing crisis – report [14 Jul 2019]
- Libraries told to focus on books as lending slumps [12 Jul 2019]
- Councils welcome government review of guidance for youth services [11 Jul 2019]
- Councils featured in Government’s £135m health research fund [11 Jul 2019]
- Enterprise zones 'failed to deliver' jobs boost in England [11 Jul 2019]
- ‘Well-run’ council faces £15m budget gap [10 Jul 2019]
- UK to become a ‘smoke free’ nation by 2030, leaked government document says [10 Jul 2019]
- Theresa May’s multi-billion pound school splurge could include a pay rise for teachers [10 Jul 2019]
- Essex drops library closure plans following sustained public protests [10 Jul 2019]
- ‘Core offer’ not enough to reduce county’s budget gap [09 Jul 2019]
- Katherine Fairclough: Sparsity tests your leadership [09 Jul 2019]
- Inner London boroughs back fair funding delay [09 Jul 2019]
- Revealed: Shattering £15billion cost of 'cruel and unfair' bills that families have paid in just 2 years to care for loved ones with dementia [09 Jul 2019]
- A proper plan is needed for local government funding [08 Jul 2019]
- Court date set for NHS business rates challenge [08 Jul 2019]
- NHS waiting lists surge due to pensions row [08 Jul 2019]
- Future High Streets fund shortlist revealed [05 Jul 2019]
- County Councils Network announces new chairman [05 Jul 2019]
- LEPs ‘lack transparency’ despite receiving £12bn of Government funding [05 Jul 2019]
- Northamptonshire CC delivers ‘remarkable’ multi-million underspend [04 Jul 2019]
- Matt Hancock: social care green paper held up by 'partisan politics' [04 Jul 2019]
- Twelve children's homes closed down by Ofsted [03 Jul 2019]
- The Communities Secretary's speech at the LGA Conference 2019 [02 Jul 2019]
- Government has to answer questions on council funding [02 Jul 2019]
- Funding of local authorities’ children’s services: government response to the Select Committee report [02 Jul 2019]
- Spending on children number one worry, says Hillier [02 Jul 2019]
- The Guardian view on the social care impasse: hurting people and politics [opinion] [01 Jul 2019]
- Councils 'in the dark' over future funding amid cash warnings [01 Jul 2019]
- Young people face ‘renting into retirement’, council chiefs warn [01 Jul 2019]
- Childcare might become 'available only in rich areas' [01 Jul 2019]
- Apprenticeships pledge 'will be missed' [27 Jun 2019]
- Striking the right balance - James Maker [26 Jun 2019]
- Landmark High Court case told of ‘genuine crisis’ in special educational needs funding [26 Jun 2019]
- Variation victory as LGA lobbies Treasury [26 Jun 2019]
- Councils save over £1bn by sharing services, council chiefs say [26 Jun 2019]
- Cambridge school PTA asks parents to raise £60k to plug budget gap [24 Jun 2019]
- Jeremy Hunt admits Tory social care cuts went too far [19 Jun 2019]
- Concern as county cancels integration deal [19 Jun 2019]
- Rising levels of poverty in working families [19 Jun 2019]
- Calls for 195-year-old Vagrancy Act to be scrapped [19 Jun 2019]
- Cuts to social care funding went too far, admits Jeremy Hunt [19 Jun 2019]
- UK's problem debtors to get 60-day 'breathing space' [19 Jun 2019]
- Campaigners renew calls for UK to accept 10,000 child refugees [18 Jun 2019]
- '£3.8bn needed to reverse school cuts' [18 Jun 2019]
- Fifth of lead finance officers not at top table [14 Jun 2019]
- 'Stuck in the past' [13 Jun 2019]
- Councils sitting on billions in reserves while cutting back services [10 Jun 2019]
- Review concludes public health should stay with councils [07 Jun 2019]
- Truss admits spending review 'unlikely' in time for 2020-21 [05 Jun 2019]
- Councils slam ‘misleading’ BBC reserves danger list [04 Jun 2019]
- Labour report calls for radical tax and planning reforms [04 Jun 2019]
- Sure Start centres 'big benefit' but face cuts [04 Jun 2019]
- Jeremy Corbyn unveils plans for 'progressive' tax raid on homes and gardens of the middle class [04 Jun 2019]
- Rough sleeping: Arrests fall as police brand law 'archaic' [04 Jun 2019]
- Ministry offers 'goodwill' cash after repeating rates pilot blunder [03 Jun 2019]
- 19 face audit delay due to EY staffing issues [03 Jun 2019]
- Ministry offers 'goodwill' cash after repeating rates pilot blunder [03 Jun 2019]
- Councils across the UK have spent £74million in just two years on maintaining 6,000 empty buildings [03 Jun 2019]
- Amazon to open 10 pop-up shops in UK town centres [03 Jun 2019]
- Austerity to blame for 130,000 ‘preventable’ UK deaths – report [01 Jun 2019]
- Three-quarters of councils move to insource services [31 May 2019]
- May resignation sparks fears for fair funding in 2020 [31 May 2019]
- Families rally against special educational needs funding cuts [30 May 2019]
- Special needs: Petition demands end to 'national crisis' [30 May 2019]
- Council funding system ‘unsustainable’, financial experts warn [29 May 2019]
- English 'short-changed on care funding' [29 May 2019]
- Council funding 'unsustainable' as budgets cut by 20% [29 May 2019]
- Why councils are bringing millions of pounds worth of services back in-house [29 May 2019]
- English councils warned about 'exhausting' reserve cash [29 May 2019]
- Council spending on local services down 21% over past decade [29 May 2019]
- BBC Panorama: Crisis in Care [29 May 2019]
- Funding gap forces national cycling targets off track [28 May 2019]
- Council tax ‘only regressive tax in the UK’ [27 May 2019]
- Pupils with special educational needs to stage funding protests [27 May 2019]
- Rise in special needs pupils forced to attend out-of-area schools [25 May 2019]
- Treasury ‘must do better’ on Whole of Government Accounts [24 May 2019]
- Free social care for the elderly could save NHS £4.5bn a year, think tank says [23 May 2019]
- Bus services outside London need reform, MPs warn amid passenger decline [23 May 2019]
- County director takes on lead STP role [22 May 2019]
- MPs call for coordinated bus strategy to address decline [22 May 2019]
- Tory council chief warns of social care funding shortfall [22 May 2019]
- Even ‘draconian cuts won’t be enough’ as councils face £50bn funding blackhole [22 May 2019]
- Norfolk County Council: Extra cuts to hit children's services [21 May 2019]
- English councils 'face £50bn funding black hole' [21 May 2019]
- 'Broken' care system for most vulnerable [21 May 2019]
- Councils urged to take control of bus services [20 May 2019]