Austerity
Liverpool warns of 'perilous financial situation'
Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson has warned the council’s ‘perilous financial situation’ means it faces the ‘worst crisis since the Second World War’.
Lessons from the collapse of Bury FC
The sad demise of Bury FC will hopefully provoke a long overdue debate on how English football is governed, says Paul Wheeler.
Is this a sustainable first step away from austerity?
Andrew Burns says the Spending Round sent a strong positive signal, but short- and medium-term questions remain over funding – and the macroeconomic climate does little to put services back on a sustainable long-term path.
Repairing children’s services is an investment worth making
Spending more on services to stop the rising costs of taking children into care must be worth the investment, says Heather Jameson.
A journey starts with a single step
Places like North Yorkshire have never been well funded by governments, according to Richard Webb. He says we will need to see the final departmental settlement detail of the spending round announcements, but at first look the news is very welcome.
Not just about the money
Manchester City Council’s senior management team talks to Heather Jameson about its focus on working across silos to improve the life chances of all residents.
EXCLUSIVE: Fresh demand for place-based budgets
A fresh demand for place-based budgets has been made by the co-chair of an independent panel that first made the call five years ago.
Effecting change in more ways than one
Saima Ashraf has journeyed a long way to get to her current position of deputy leader of Barking & Dagenham LBC – and she has used her story to encourage other BME women to aim high within the sector.
Time to wake up
Paul Wheeler says the ‘slow death of capable local political leadership’ is hopefully a wake-up call to parties to invest in and support local politics.
Promising findings from social work pilots
Devolving budgets to frontline workers to directly support families could reduce the likelihood of children going into care, pilots have found.
Council to change finance approach after review
Warrington BC has ‘consistently overspent’ against parts of its budget and needs to change its approach to deliver services ‘from a more sustainable financial footing’.
Pay claim would cost sector £1bn
A demand for a 10% pay rise and minimum wage of £10 per hour would cost local government more than £1bn, employers have warned.
A stitch in time
English cities are trying to deal with the impact of austerity, says Tony Kirkham. But he concludes that 'applying the old proverb "a stitch in time, saves nine" may prove wise and extremely valuable'.
New Treasury team must not destroy its inheritance
Michael Burton says the power to plunge the economy into recession lies in the hands of the new Prime Minister and the new Treasury ministerial line-up.
Barnsley 'high performing' despite austerity
Barnsley MBC is ‘high performing’ despite its long battle with austerity, a peer review by the Local Government Association (LGA) has found.
Labour proposes outsourcing reversal
Labour’s plans to reverse outsourcing of council services have drawn a mixed reaction from the sector.
Local government must surely be up for a shift to insourcing
Labour has published a plan for ‘21st century insourcing’. John Tizard says the party is 'not simply arguing for a return to the early 1970s' - 'rather they want to reset the dial’ so that public services are more democratic and accountable.
Planning amid the certainty of uncertainty
John Hewitt says finance directors and their teams have been working ‘minor miracles’ in signing off balanced budgets for the last 10 years. He outlines a number of steps Government could take to help local authorities plan more effectively.
Going places
Martin Reeves says despite the Treasury’s positive assessment of the Total Place pilots over a decade ago, the initiative fell off the radar. He calls on the new Prime Minister to ‘reinvigorate a successor’.
Havering 'can look both ways'
Havering LBC’s chief executive has insisted that the council can look towards both London and Essex as it plots a path to the future.