Austerity

• Unison calls for windfall tax on PFI corporations

  Trade union Unison has backed a Labour MP’s call for a windfall tax on private companies delivering public services.

  

• The end of the local government finance conundrum?

  Mark Whitehead examines why Thurrock Council is focusing on 'financial autonomy' in the wake of austerity.

  

• Council funding cuts restricting access to contraception

  One in three local authorities have reduced or plan to reduce the number of sites delivering contraceptive services in the last two years, FoI request reveals.

  

• Council staff told to take mandatory unpaid leave

  Northamptonshire County Council has told its staff they must take a day’s mandatory unpaid leave as part of an effort to save £2m a month.

  

• Council to axe 420 jobs to close budget gap

  Swindon council may have to axe over 400 jobs as it comes under pressure to close a £30m budget gap.

  

• Don’t ‘abandon’ austerity, free market think tank says

  ‘Abandoning austerity is no solution’, says free-market policy think tank amid calls to lift the public sector pay cap.

  

• Council ‘divide’ across UK

  Local authorities across the UK are increasingly divided into the ‘haves and the have nots’, according to a new report.

  

• Whitehall should use Brexit vote to end ‘failed austerity’, union leader urges

  The Government should use Brexit as an opportunity to ‘throw off the shackles of spending cuts’, UNISON general secretary says.

  

• Give local authorities the wherewithal to drive recovery

  Brakes have been applied to the austerity drive. Tiffany Cloynes, head of public services at Geldards LLP, considers what this means for local government.