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.
EXCLUSIVE: Councils given 100,000 asylum housing target
21/05/2024 Councils have been told to identify an extra 100,000 bedspaces for asylum seekers amid Home Office expectations of a surge in arrivals, The MJ can reveal. |
Rotheram threatened over Covid restrictions
27/11/2023 Liverpool City Region mayor Steve Rotheram was assigned 24-hour police security after he received threats during the Covid pandemic, he revealed today. |
LGA claims ‘so much more could have been done’ in pandemic
04/10/2023 Councils were held back from effectively tackling the challenges of the pandemic by central Government, it has been claimed. |
Councils unprepared for lockdowns
09/08/2023 Councils were unprepared for the Covid pandemic lockdowns, according to a survey by the Local Government Association (LGA). |
Half of children saw emotional skills worsen during pandemic
01/08/2023 The first year of the COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on the social and emotional skills of almost half of children, according to a new study by IFS. |
Lloyd: Pandemic simulation kept secret from sector
12/07/2023 Lessons from a Whitehall-run pandemic simulation exercise in 2016 were kept secret from local government, the UK Covid-19 Inquiry has heard. |
Pandemic planning 'insufficient,' says public health chief
06/07/2023 The Government’s lack of planning and top-down approach hindered directors of public health during the pandemic, the UK Covid-19 Inquiry has heard. |
Hancock: Whitehall oversight of care was terrible
27/06/2023 Whitehall oversight of adult social care before Covid-19 was ‘terrible’ and officials had no understanding of whether councils could cope, Matt Hancock admits. |
Poor pandemic planning criticised
13/06/2023 Public health directors have criticised the Government’s Covid-19 preparedness – warning Whitehall must utilise council expertise to avoid repeat. |
What the Covid inquiry can learn from local government
13/06/2023 Richard Machin, lecturer in Social Work and Health at Nottingham Trent University, looks at what the Covid inquiry can learn from Nottingham City Council. |
NHS volunteer programme expanded into social care
07/06/2023 The NHS Volunteer Responders Programme is set to be expanded to help the struggling social care system, the Government has announced. |
MPs warn of 'lost decade' for disadvantaged pupils
07/06/2023 The educational gap between disadvantaged pupils and others could take a decade to return to pre-pandemic levels, MPs warn. |
Austerity left Britain ‘unprepared' for pandemic, TUC say
06/06/2023 Years of austerity left Britain 'hugely unprepared' for the COVID pandemic with tragic consequences, union leaders have claimed. |
Seven in 10 children experiencing poverty in working households
05/06/2023 The number of children suffering poverty has shot up since support given during the COVID pandemic came to an end, according to new figures. |
Westminster council takes on tax avoiding candy stores
25/05/2023 Westminster City Council has declared war on US-style candy and souvenir stores that are failing to pay business rates or selling illegal or unsafe goods. |
Auditors call on Scottish councils to ‘radically change’
17/05/2023 Scotland’s local authorities need to ‘radically change’ how they operate if they are to improve service delivery, auditors say. |
MPs press for council incentives to recover Covid cash
11/05/2023 Councils should keep some money recovered from Covid grants paid in error or due to fraud, MPs have said. |
Diabetics face ‘stark health inequalities’, charity warns
10/05/2023 Huge numbers of people with diabetes are not being given the routine checks they need, according to a new report on health inequalities. |
Ascendant Solutions gets royal seal of approval
04/05/2023 A Doncaster-based technology company, which became an unsung hero of the Covid-19 pandemic, has been honoured with the first ever King’s Award for Innovation. |
COVID revealed extent of school nurse shortage
03/05/2023 The COVID pandemic revealed that more school nurses are needed to carry out vital child protection work, researchers say. |
School support cuts impacting attendance, council chiefs warn
24/04/2023 Cuts in pastoral support in schools are making it harder to encourage children to return after the COVID pandemic, council leaders have told MPs. |
Schools report 60% increase in safeguarding referrals
18/04/2023 Schools in England saw a 59% increase in safeguarding referrals and re-referrals made to children's services between 2020-21 and 2021-22, according to survey. |
Staff propped up care system during pandemic, study finds
13/04/2023 Many care home staff worked overtime without extra pay to prop up the system during the pandemic, according to a new study. |
Austerity undermined local response to COVID-19, study finds
31/03/2023 The hollowing-out of local capability by a decade of cuts left local government struggling to cope with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study says. |
COVID support prone to ‘error and fraud’
24/03/2023 Support schemes during COVID were prone to fraud and error because of a rushed timetable and a lack of shared plans between local and national government. |
Teacher vacancies nearly double
23/03/2023 Vacancies for teachers have nearly doubled this year compared to before the COVID pandemic, according to the latest figures. |
Post-COVID work scheme saw ‘missed opportunities’
22/03/2023 Prospects for people getting back into work after pandemic would have been much better if councils had been able to take the lead, council leaders claim. |
Local health chiefs warn of ‘second health emergency’
21/03/2023 The increase in costs of essential food items and energy has created a ‘second health emergency’ after the COVID pandemic, local health chiefs have warned. |
Council chiefs call for ‘structural change’ to tackle racism
06/03/2023 Structural change is needed to reduce inequality in health affecting black, minority and ethnic communities, according to local government leaders. |
Growth for pension pool despite Covid
13/02/2023 One of local government’s biggest joint pension partnerships has now pooled £47.5bn of the £60bn assets under its management. |
COVID business relief fund ‘carnage’, says report
13/02/2023 Less than a quarter of local authorities have paid out their full grants from the COVID relief fund for local businesses, new research reveals. |
Tycoon’s planning application creating 'climate of fear'
06/02/2023 A former nurse paid £2bn by the Government for PPE gear has been accused of 'riding roughshod' over a Bedfordshire village with her plans for new stables. |
Children’s services deal with nearly 220,000 urgent referrals
14/12/2022 Children’s services dealt with 217,800 of the most urgent referrals – those in which significant abuse or harm is suspected – during 2021-22, study reveals. |
Manchester introduces post-COVID ‘toursim tax’
12/12/2022 Visitors to Manchester will be required to pay a ‘tourism tax’ as part of a new initiative to support the city’s accommodation sector after Brexit and COVID. |
Care home deaths fall to pre-pandemic levels
23/11/2022 The number of deaths in care homes has fallen back to pre-pandemic levels, new figures have revealed. |
Children’s health experts warn of pandemic’s ‘lasting impact’
23/11/2022 The majority of professionals say they are seeing an ongoing negative impact on babies’ and young children’s social skills due to the COVID pandemic. |
Council chiefs warn of winter ‘twindemic’
28/09/2022 Local authority leaders are urging people to get their flu and COVID vaccinations amid fears of a joint influenza and COVID-19 pandemic this winter. |
Council chiefs warn of long COVID impact
21/09/2022 Local authority leaders have called on the Government to do more to understand the effects of long COVID as new figures reveal above average excess deaths. |
Thousands of businesses still waiting for COVID relief funds
30/08/2022 Thousands of businesses promised business rates relief through the £1.5bn COVID-19 Additional Relief Fund (CARF) are still waiting to receive council support. |
Councils support small businesses with over £21bn COVID support
23/08/2022 Local authorities have allocated £21.3bn in COVID support grants to small businesses, a new report has revealed. |
Care home residents first to receive COVID booster jab
19/08/2022 Care home residents and people who are housebound will be the first groups to receive the COVID booster jab, NHS England has confirmed. |
Think tank calls for urgent COVID boosters to ‘avoid catastrophe’
17/08/2022 All adults in the UK should receive a COVID-19 booster in order to help relieve the stress on the NHS this winter, think tank says. |
Ofsted calls for social care workforce strategy
27/07/2022 The watchdog the need is ‘more urgent than ever’ as it published a report looking at the ongoing impact of COVID-19 on children’s social care. |
‘Parallel pandemic’ of mental ill health cost North £2bn
25/07/2022 The number of mental ill health cases in the North of England were much higher during the pandemic than in any other part of the country and cost £2bn. |
Employers warn against local pay deals
19/07/2022 Councils have been warned against undermining the ‘fundamental integrity’ of national talks by agreeing local deals as pressure grows on pay. |
'Agile working policies' prompt council move
13/07/2022 A post-pandemic office move expected to save a council more than £2m over the next 10 years has been given the green light. |
Ofsted rates Kent children’s services ‘outstanding’
06/07/2022 Kent children’s services rated ‘outstanding’ with inspectors recognising the council cares for ‘unparalleled numbers’ of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. |
Welsh bus industry receives £48m boost
29/06/2022 The bus industry in Wales is set to receive £48m to help it recover from the pandemic and cope with the financial challenges, Welsh government announces. |
Councils urged to share post-pandemic cultural activities
24/06/2022 The LGA is calling for councils and local partners to share examples of their work in using culture to support the post-pandemic recovery and levelling up. |
Council apologises after leaving cancer patient and children in bedsit
23/06/2022 Croydon Council has apologised after a mother who was recovering from cancer was left in a bedsit with her four children throughout the pandemic. |
COVID cost ethnic minority children early learning opportunities
20/06/2022 The COVID pandemic led to ‘considerably more’ children from ethnic minority and disadvantaged backgrounds missing out on formal early learning, study reveals. |
Five high streets join pilot to boost local business
13/06/2022 Five high streets have been chosen to join a pilot scheme aimed at supporting local businesses and reviving town centres. |
Outer London left behind in post-COVID recovery
13/06/2022 Ethnically diverse local authority areas on the outskirts of London are being left behind in the post-pandemic recovery, think tank warns. |
Unions demand 'substantial' pay increase
06/06/2022 Councils will be consulted this month after local government trade unions demanded a ‘substantial’ pay increase amid rising costs of food, fuel and household bills. |
Councils urged to draw on crisis management skills
24/05/2022 Scotland’s councils should draw on their COVID-19 experiences when handling the new challenges posed by service backlogs and rising inflation, watchdog says. |
COVID inquiry chair requests changes to investigation’s focus
13/05/2022 UK COVID inquiry chair Baroness Hallett has written to the PM proposing changes to the inquiry’s Terms of Reference in order to emphasise inequality. |
Council pays family threatened with homelessness £6,000
13/05/2022 Bromley council has agreed to pay a family threatened with homelessness £6,000 after an investigation concluded that it did not do enough to help them. |
Council chiefs call for locally led pavement licensing regime
09/05/2022 Local authority leaders have called on the Government to introduce a permanent but locally led pavement licensing regime for cafés and bars. |
Government confirms it won’t appeal COVID care home ruling
05/05/2022 Government won't appeal a court decision which found the policy of discharging patients from hospitals to care homes at the start of the pandemic was unlawful. |
Discharging patients into care homes was 'unlawful', High Court rules
27/04/2022 The High Court today ruled that the Government’s policy of discharging patients from hospital to care homes at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic was unlawful. |
MPs warn of ‘eye-watering’ levels of fraud in COVID scheme
27/04/2022 The Government is ‘complacent’ about preventing ‘eye-watering’ levels of fraud in the COVID Bounceback Loan Scheme (CBLS), new report by the PAC concludes. |
Ofsted to increase focus on early years education
26/04/2022 The schools watchdog will increase its focus on early years education over the next five years as part of the effort to help children impacted by the pandemic. |
Experts warn of spike in COVID-related mental health problems
25/04/2022 Adults are becoming increasingly concerned about the impact of the pandemic on their mental health as one third say their mental health has got worse. |
All regions told to take asylum seekers
14/04/2022 All regions of England, Scotland and Wales will be expected to take a share of asylum seekers under a new system of ‘full dispersal,’ the Government has told councils. |
Burnham will support Manchester Airport ‘any way we can’
06/04/2022 Mayor Burnham has attempted to reassure passengers stuck at Manchester Airport that the GMCA is working to ‘support them in any way we can’. |
Council defends £237,000 COVID vaccine festival
06/04/2022 A London council has defended a COVID vaccine festival that cost over £200,000 to put on but only saw 435 people jabbed. |
Council staff on £100,000 increased during pandemic
06/04/2022 Senior pay is decided in a ‘transparent way’, council chiefs say in response to report that the number of council staff receiving over £100,000 increased. |
There is no more cash for COVID, Government confirms
31/03/2022 There will be no more funding to help councils deal with outbreaks of COVID, the Government has confirmed. |
Over 300 theatres and museums receive £35m support
31/03/2022 Cultural organisations from across England have received a share of a £35m emergency support package to help overcome the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. |
Council chiefs call for ‘urgent’ extension of COVID fund
24/03/2022 Council leaders and directors of public health have called for an urgent extension of local outbreak management funding to help with rising COVID-19 rates. |
Glasgow tops list of most economically resilient cities
23/03/2022 Glasgow has proven to be the city with the most resilient economy in the face of the pandemic, a new study has revealed. |
Ministers urged to reverse public health cuts
22/03/2022 The Local Government Association (LGA) has urged ministers to reverse public health cuts amid warnings the COVID-19 pandemic has left staff exhausted and exacerbated recruitment difficulties. |
Uncertain future for Scottish councils' finances
10/03/2022 The Accounts Commission found councils were grappling with funding reductions and restrictions as they prepare to meet significant challenges. |
Week-long strike over pay to hit local government sector
08/03/2022 Council workers are expected to strike for a week this month in the first coordinated industrial action to hit the sector in a decade. |
COVID business rates relief ‘a total joke’
04/03/2022 Hundreds of thousands of businesses promised business rates reliefs through a £1.5bn relief fund are still waiting to receive support, analysis reveals. |
Warnings over unmet care needs
01/03/2022 Social care services could be put under further pressure due to unmet needs resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new research. |
Councils to have access to new online PPE portal
01/03/2022 Local authorities are to be given access to free personal protective equipment (PPE) through a new website, the Government has announced. |
Government’s youth employment scheme branded ‘chaotic’
25/02/2022 Government scheme for helping young people into employment has been ‘chaotic’ and has failed to support as many people as first predicted, PAC says. |
Dealing with complaints became ‘casualty of crisis’, Ombudsman says
24/02/2022 COVID-19 ‘magnified stresses’ that councils were already faced with before the pandemic and dealing with complaints became a ‘casualty’, report says. |
‘COVID-19 hasn’t gone away,’ council chiefs tell PM
22/02/2022 Local authority leaders have urged the Government to ensure that councils have the necessary resources to deal with potential future COVID-19 outbreaks. |
Councils call for local outbreak funding as part of 'Living with COVID' strategy
21/02/2022 Councils have warned they will be forced to stand down public health teams unless the Government extends local outbreak management funding. |
Public health directors warn of dangers in ending COVID-19 testing
17/02/2022 The Government is reportedly looking at scrapping free tests as part of its national post-COVID plan. |
A third of bus services could be cut without emergency funding, experts warn
14/02/2022 Councils have warned nearly a third of bus services will be axed unless emergency funding is extended beyond the end of March. |
DfE welcomes improvements in children’s well-being
08/02/2022 Children’s well-being in 2021 saw improvements when compared to the year before, but research suggests there was a decline over the decade before the pandemic. |
Commissioner reports rise in children ‘struggling’ with mental health issues
07/02/2022 More children are struggling with their mental health due to the impact of the pandemic, the Children’s Commission has warned. |
Government set to scrap mandatory vaccines for care staff
01/02/2022 The Government is considering scrapping compulsory COVID vaccines for health and care workers in England. |
DLUHC 'almost wilfully blind' to state of local government finances warn MPs
31/01/2022 A ‘chronic’ lack of funding for council services amid soaring demand means many communities face a ‘long slog’ out of the COVID-19 pandemic, MPs warned today. |
Restrictions on care home visitors to be removed
27/01/2022 There will be no limit on visits to care homes and self-isolation periods will be cut from Monday, the Government has announced. |
Where does place-making fit into post-pandemic life?
27/01/2022 Merton LBC has completed its widest-ever engagement programme on what a post-pandemic borough in south London looks like. Council leader Mark Allison and CEO Hannah Doody explain. |
Risky business: Look local to learn lessons from the COVID-19 crisis
25/01/2022 Duncan Shaw calls for a more effective ‘whole of society’ approach to managing and assessing risk. |
City centres lose nearly a years’ worth of sales due to COVID-19
24/01/2022 Businesses in city and large town centres have lost more than a third (35%) of their potential takings due to COVID-19, think tank finds. |
Council chiefs warn vital health services ‘at risk’
20/01/2022 Vital frontline health services are at risk due to a lack of certainty around councils’ public health funding, local authority leaders have warned. |
Sheffield chief apologises for Whitehall leaving do
14/01/2022 The chief executive officer of Sheffield City Council has apologised for having her Whitehall leaving do while coronavirus restrictions were in place. |
Staff shortages are ‘excessively high’, warn care providers
13/01/2022 Homecare providers are warning that they are having to refuse new requests for home care because of Omicron and ongoing staffing problems. |
Scottish councils pledge to deploy staff and capacity to social care services
13/01/2022 Scottish councils have warned some services may be paused or reduced in order to protect critical social care services. |
Council staff asked to provide care services amid workforce crisis
11/01/2022 Derbyshire County Council has asked its employees to help the local authority provide care services amid the UK-wide shortage of care staff. |
Council finances fared better than expected in COVID crisis, says IFS
11/01/2022 The cost of COVID for councils has been far less than expected, research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has found. |
Council calls on staff to volunteer for social care roles
10/01/2022 North Yorkshire County Council has urged staff working in non-critical services to volunteer for social care roles due to the pressures caused by the spread of Omicron. |
Councils to deliver £700m grants to businesses hit by Omicron
07/01/2022 Councils will deliver £700m to businesses most affected by the Omicron variant in the next few weeks, the Government has announced. |
Sandwell calls for action on test shortage
06/01/2022 A council has written to ministers after it was forced to step in to alleviate a shortage of COVID testing kits. |
