Councils click into the future of planning
In town halls across the country, planning officers are racing to update their Local Plans — but this time, the process looks very different.
Council to pay family nearly £8k after education failure
03/04/2025 Oxfordshire County Council has agreed to pay £7,900 in compensation after council failures led to a child missing out on four terms of education. |
Pupil violence costs South East councils £65k
02/04/2025 Councils in the South East paid £64,555 in compensation to staff injured during school violence from 2019/20 to 2023/24, an investigation has revealed. |
Pothole accidents cost taxpayer £40m
10/03/2025 Accident claims lodged against local authorities in the UK due to potholes and other highway defects have cost the taxpayer nearly £40m since 2020. |
National Insurance compensation is 'total shambles'
14/01/2025 The Government's handling of compensating councils for the increase in National Insurance contributions (NIC) has been attacked as a ‘total shambles'. |
Councils pay £1m in data breach compensation
03/05/2024 More than £1m has been paid out by 39 councils in compensation for data breaches in the past three years. |
Council payouts for pothole punctures down 13%
03/04/2024 Council payouts for punctured tyres are down 13% since 2020 despite reports of pothole-riddled roads increasing by almost a quarter over the same period. |
Council to appeal £4.6m employment tribunal payout
18/03/2024 Hammersmith & Fulham LBC has said it will appeal the tribunal’s decision to award a record £4.6m to an employee who was dismissed while on sick leave. |
Councils 'have tightened pothole payout criteria'
05/02/2024 Compensation paid by councils for damage caused by potholes has fallen by more than a half, with some giving out ‘next to nothing’. |
Road conditions add flood risk to pothole ‘crisis’
27/09/2023 English councils received hundreds of compensation claims for flood damage in recent years as they struggled to maintain roadside drainage, according to study. |
Councils pay out £11m in pothole-related compensation
24/07/2023 Over the past four years councils have paid out more than £11m to drivers who successfully claimed their vehicles had been damaged by potholes, RAC reveals. |
Ministers promise CSA compensation scheme
23/05/2023 Ministers have promised a compensation scheme for survivors of child sexual abuse (CSA) including those abused in council care. |
London borough hit by 'severe maladministration' finding
09/05/2023 The Housing Ombudsman has issued seven findings of ‘severe maladministration’ against Hammersmith & Fulham LBC. |
Councillor apologises for assaulting blogger
02/02/2023 A Sandwell councillor who assaulted a blogger by knocking the phone out of his hands has apologised for the incident. |
Birmingham complaints handling ‘fundamentally flawed’
17/01/2023 Birmingham City Council has been ordered to overhaul its ‘fundamentally flawed’ complaints procedures by the housing ombudsman. |
Council must ‘urgently’ improve complaints handling
14/09/2022 A council has been told to ‘urgently’ improve its handling of complaints from the public. |
Record-breaking year for Ombudsman
27/07/2022 The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has directed more improvements to councils in the past year than ever before. |
Councils pay out £12m in pothole compensation
13/04/2022 Councils and road authorities paid out more than £12m in compensation to motorists whose cars were damaged by potholes between 2018 and 2021, research reveals. |
Council loses court battle over £1m fatal bin lorry crash damages
11/12/2019 Glasgow City Council has failed in its bid to reclaim the £1m in damages it was forced to pay to the families of those who lost their lives in a bin lorry crash. |
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Councils received 700,000 pothole complaints last year
14/08/2019 Local authorities received 700,000 complaints last year about ptoholes and other road defects, new figures have revealed. |
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Council pays out over £40,000 for ‘mistakes’ in respite centre closure
14/05/2019 Southampton City Council has paid thousands of pounds in compensation after an Ombudsman ruled that the authority had caused ‘avoidable distress’ when it closed a respite centre. |
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Council pays £1.75m in compensation to recycling contractor
08/04/2019 Milton Keynes Council has reached a settlement with the contractor Viridor to cover what the local authority describes as the ‘historic costs’ of contamination in its recycling sacks. |
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Lambeth survivors of abuse receive £7.7m compensation
25/03/2019 More than 1,000 applications for compensation have been made during the first year of a council scheme which was set up to compensate victims of abuse. |
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Councils paying out £8,800 per cyclist in pothole compensation
04/03/2019 Councils are paying out an average of £8,800 per cyclist in pothole compensation claims, a new investigation has revealed. |
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Pothole compensation costs councils nearly £3m a year
13/02/2019 Councils paid £2.8m to drivers for damage caused by potholes in 2017/18, new figures have revealed. |
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Capita to pay council more than £4m for poor performance
23/11/2018 Outsourcing company Capita has agreed to pay more than £4m compensation to Barnet Council for its poor performance - but will continue providing services until at least next year. |
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Council pays £50,000 to victim of care home grooming gang
10/09/2018 A former children's care home resident has received a £50,000 payout from Birmingham City Council after she claimed it failed to protect her from grooming gangs. |
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Councils pay out £2.1m in compensation to injured pedestrians
14/08/2018 Local authorities paid out more than £2m in compensation over the past year to pedestrians who have tripped on poorly maintained pavements. |
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Contractor ordered to pay Birmingham £50m in PFI dispute
13/06/2018 Amey Birmingham Highways Ltd has been ordered to pay Birmingham CC £50m in compensation in a long running dispute over a highways PFI, according to reports. |
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Land compensation rules ‘barrier’ to development, think tank says
16/04/2018 A change in the UK’s land compensation rules could lead to local authorities having an extra £9.3bn to invest in infrastructure, think tank says. |
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Councils spend £43m on pothole claims in five years
26/03/2018 Councils across the UK have paid out at least £43m on compensation claims from potholes over the last five years, according to a cycling charity. |
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Council pays £750 in compensation after resident hits head
11/01/2018 A Welsh council has had to pay out hundreds of pounds after a member of the public hit their head on a low sign. |
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Calls for independent panel to administer compensation for child abuse
12/12/2017 Compensation for survivors of child abuse in Lambeth should be decided by an independent panel rather than the council, a councillor has warned. |
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Councils paid out more than £3m last year due to pothole damage
19/10/2017 Putting all the UK's potholes together would create a 40km hole stretching down to the Earth's mantle, according to research by the comparison website Confused.com. |
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Lambeth pays out ‘tens of millions’ in historical abuse compensation
16/12/2016 Lambeth Council has publicly apologised and paid out tens of millions of pounds after a new report revealed the ‘abuse and poor care’ suffered by children in its homes. |
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Skyscaper owner to compensate Leeds Council over wind damage costs
02/12/2016 Leeds City Council is to receive £903,000 in compensation for wind danger caused by Yorkshire’s tallest skyscraper, Bridgewater Place. |
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Councils received over 30,000 pothole compensation claims in past year
13/10/2016 Motorists made over 30,000 compensation claims to councils last year for damage caused to their vehicles by poor road conditions, new figures have revealed. |
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Court determines councils not always liable for accidents on their property
12/10/2016 Local authorities should not automatically be financially liable for accidents that occur on their land, a court has ruled today. |
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Breach of duty: they think it’s all over – but is it?
20/09/2016 Peter Wake and Ken Slade explain what councils should consider when faced with personal injury claims. |
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Personal injury claim should not affect care assessments warns ombudsman
06/07/2016 Personal injury settlements should not be taking into account by councils when assessing someone’s care contribution, the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) has warned. |
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Councils could face claims over pumped floodwater damage
26/01/2016 Local authorities have been warned to prepare for claims from farmers affected by pumped floodwater after a council in Yorkshire lost a test case. |
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Councils paid out £100m in compensation claims over past two years
21/01/2016 Councils paid out more than £100m in compensation claims over the past two years, according to new research from the TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA). |
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Pothole claims fall – but there’s still one every 18 minutes
30/09/2015 Councils paid out just one in four claims for vehicle damage caused by potholes over the last year, according to latest figures. |
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Council to pay compensation over Nazi-looted artwork
14/08/2015 A Scottish council is to pay compensation to a German Jewish woman’s family after it emerged Nazi-looted artwork was in a local museum. |
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Feeling the pinch! Council worker hit by loo lid lands £12k payout
20/07/2015 Over £30m has been paid out in compensation to council workers since 2012, including thousands of pounds for a worker ‘hit by a toilet seat’. |
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Pothole sensor innovation opens up real-time detection for councils
10/06/2015 An innovative research project could soon see cars sharing real-time data on potholes with other drivers and councils, potentially slashing local authority costs. |
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Burglar’s family face £260k bill after trying to sue council for skylight fall
15/04/2015 A burglar has failed in a bid to sue a county council after falling through a school skylight and sustaining life-threatening injuries. |
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Councils pay out £3.2m in pothole compensation to drivers
26/01/2015 Councils paid out £3.2m in compensation to motorists for pothole damage caused to vehicles last year, research reveals. |
