Let's put investment into our school buildings

By Gary Fielding | 15 January 2020

Schools capital allocations have been skewed by political priorities, says Gary Fielding As a res...

Is there a better way for business rates?

By Gary Fielding | 19 November 2019

How keen should councils be to bind themselves to a business rates tax that appears to be in demi...

Don't erode new funding with fresh obligations

By Gary Fielding | 01 October 2019

The Spending Round was good news for councils, but if there is a systematic erosion of that fundi...

Can't we keep things simple?

By Gary Fielding | 14 August 2019

Gary Fielding would much rather get his finance team off the accounts as quickly as possible and ...

Are reserves such a bad thing?

By Gary Fielding | 09 July 2019

The public naming of 11 councils deemed at risk of running out of cash reserves has thrown the sp...

Can we all work smarter?

By Gary Fielding | 23 May 2019

Gary Fielding says that even if the government loosens austerity, we probably need to do more wor...

We need the widest possible look at council finances

By Gary Fielding | 09 April 2019

The MHCLG review of the money councils get is welcome - but we need a wider look at local authori...

A good plan is more important than ever

By Gary Fielding | 27 February 2019

In the absence of facts - whatever they may be these days - we need to make assumptions based upo...