VE Day: Council duties under the Armed Forces Covenant
As we mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day, Geoff Wild, Legal & Governance Consultant, looks at the duties of councils under the Armed Forces Covenant.
Voters head to polls amid local government reorganisation
01/05/2025 Voters are heading to the polls in parts of England to elect thousands of councillors against the backdrop of local government reorganisation (LGR). |
EXCLUSIVE: Sector bodies decline to join legal challenge
03/04/2025 County Councils Network and Rural Services Network will not financially support legal action over axing of the £100m rural services grant, The MJ understands. |
Lack of staff and funding hinder AI progress
26/02/2025 County councils have warned that insufficient staff capacity and training and a lack of funding are hindering the roll-out of artificial intelligence (AI). |
Majority of county councils to hike up council tax
31/01/2025 Nine in ten county councils will have to raise council tax by the maximum permitted, the County Council Network (CCN) has warned. |
Social care ‘likely to deteriorate’ during wait for review
03/01/2025 Councils have warned that the social care sector is ‘likely to deteriorate’ during the three-year wait for the findings of a new independent commission. |
CCN backs reorganisation
19/12/2024 The chair of the County Councils' Network (CCN), Tim Oliver, has backed radical Government plans to abolish dozens of local authorities by 2027. |
Cuts warnings after finance settlement announced
19/12/2024 The bodies representing district and county councils have warned that services will be cut next year after the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement was published yesterday. |
Home-to-school transport costs hit £2.3bn
21/11/2024 County council chiefs have called for a ‘system-wide approach’ to tackling escalating home-to-school transport costs. |
CCN calls for rethink of social care funding
11/11/2024 The County Councils Network (CCN) has called on the Government to rethink its approach to distributing local authority funding next year. |
Care for working-age and disabled adults to cost £17bn by 2030
11/11/2024 Social care costs for working-age adults and those with a lifelong disability could reach £17bn by 2030, according to new research. |
Counties delay peer challenges
06/11/2024 English county councils appear to be putting off inviting peer challenges from the Local Government Association (LGA) ahead of next year's elections. |
Budget: Council chiefs call for ‘explicit clarity’ on NI increases
31/10/2024 Council leaders have welcomed the £1.3bn funding boost but called for clarity on protection from increases to employer National Insurance contributions. |
Councils call for full waste service costs under EPR
23/10/2024 Council bosses have urged the Government to ensure local authorities receive the full costs for delivering waste and recycling services under new packaging reforms. |
Twenty-six councils could face S114s over SEND deficits
21/10/2024 Dozens of England’s largest councils face ‘financial emergency’ if their multi-billion pound deficits for special needs provision are put on their budget books, according to new analysis. |
Councils face £54bn funding deficit
02/10/2024 England’s local authorities face a funding shortfall of £54bn over the next five years, new research has revealed. |
Councils warn over ‘excessive’ housing targets
27/09/2024 Councils in county and rural areas have raised fears that ‘excessive’ new housing targets could leave them at the mercy of speculative development. |
Rayner confirms four devolution agreements
19/09/2024 Four devolution agreements have been signed off in what the secretary of state for local government describes as ‘only the first step’ of a devolution drive. |
United call following homelessness surge
08/08/2024 The local government sector has united to call for urgent action following a surge in the number of homeless families. |
Landmark report finds SEND system ‘broken’
25/07/2024 Major reforms introduced a decade ago have failed to improve educational outcomes for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), a report has found. |
‘Talk more’ about social care, party leaders told
21/06/2024 Political parties must do more to acknowledge the value of adult social care in the run up to the General Election, sector leaders have argued. |
King recognises council chiefs in honours
17/06/2024 Current and former local authority bosses have been recognised in this year’s King’s Birthday Honours. |
Hoare: We still want productivity plans
30/05/2024 Local government minister Simon Hoare has insisted he still wants councils to draw up unpopular productivity plans despite the election, The MJ understands. |
Council bosses call on next government to deliver ‘fundamental reform’
30/05/2024 Local services could reach ‘breaking point’ if the next government fails to deliver long-term funding and ‘fundamental reform’, a cross-party group of council leaders has argued. |
CCN: Two-thirds of council budgets spent on care
18/03/2024 Council chiefs have called for an ‘honest discussion’ about services as new research reveals local authorities spend two-thirds of their budgets on care. |
Budget: Boost for preventative services
06/03/2024 Funding for preventative services has been announced as part of the Spring Budget in an attempt to relieve local government’s demand pressures. |
Local government launches cultural services alliance
01/03/2024 Organisations representing local government have joined forces to form a new National Alliance for Cultural Services. |
Sector should adopt national branding campaign to boost workforce
05/02/2024 Local government should adopt a national branding campaign to recruit and retain staff amid a worsening workforce crisis, the County Councils’ Network has urged. |
Culture spend down by £500m
01/02/2024 Analysis has uncovered an almost £500m reduction in councils’ spending on libraries, culture, heritage and tourism since the onset of austerity. |
Conservative MPs call for emergency funding for councils
22/01/2024 MPs representing county areas have called on the Government to provide emergency funding to cash-strapped councils to prevent further cuts to local services. |
Council bosses back data use to improve care
07/12/2023 An increased use of data in children’s social care could improve outcomes and deliver much-needed savings, the County Councils Network (CCN) has said. |
One in five councils report bankruptcy fears
06/12/2023 A poll of council leaders and chief executives has revealed that one in five think it likely that their chief finance officer will need to issue a Section 114. |
Sector unites in plea to chancellor
22/11/2023 The local government sector in England has put out a call to Jeremy Hunt to ‘address the significant financial challenges faced by councils’. |
Gove hints at autumn statement gifts
21/11/2023 Levelling up secretary Michael Gove hinted Christmas may come early for councils when Jeremy Hunt unveils his autumn statement this week. |
Councils call for emergency school transport funding
20/11/2023 ‘Spiralling’ transport costs for children with special educational needs are threatening the financial stability of England’s largest councils, according to a report. |
Land value tax could redistribute billions
09/11/2023 A plan to reform business rates could lead to billions of pounds being redistributed from high land value areas to other parts of the country. |
Uncertainty hangs over funding for growth projects
31/10/2023 Councils have voiced fresh concerns as they remain in the dark over future funding for responsibilities inherited from Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs). |
Demand responsive buses won't fill gap, CCN says
25/10/2023 Three in four large rural councils in England are rolling out demand-responsive transport (DRT) bus services but councils have warned that they are not financially sustainable or a substitute for government bus service subsidies. |
Councils ‘held back’ on net zero
24/10/2023 The organisations that represent English councils have collaborated in a call for the Government to change its approach on delivering net zero. |
London Councils eyes apprenticeship levy devolution
09/10/2023 London Councils has named securing devolution of the apprenticeship levy to its boroughs to fund skills and employment activity as a key short-term priority. |
County areas behind on EV charging
28/09/2023 The number of publicly available electric vehicle (EV) charge points in England’s county and rural areas lags ‘far behind’ major towns and cities, according to a report. |
Rural bus services at ‘historic low’
19/07/2023 One in four bus routes in county and rural areas have vanished over the last decade as passenger numbers dropped to a historic low, according to a new report. |
‘Clear plan’ needed for transfer of LEP functions
14/07/2023 County council leaders have called on the Government to set out a ‘clear and decisive’ framework for the transition of LEP functions to local authorities. |
Increased referrals causing children’s services overspend
06/07/2023 Four in five of England’s largest councils overspent on their children’s services budget last year because of more young people requiring care since pandemic. |
Adult obesity in rural areas up by over 1m
15/05/2023 Rural areas are facing a surge in numbers of obese and overweight people but are hamstrung in their efforts to deal with it, according to council leaders. |
Hewitt Review calls for social care to be ‘national priority’
04/04/2023 The former health secretary's report on Integrated Care Systems called for further funding and a workforce strategy for social care. |
County council chiefs issue ‘bleak’ finance warning
23/03/2023 County councils need to make £1bn worth of savings in order to cope with ‘unprecedented’ financial pressures, county council chiefs say. |
Counties’ infrastructure funding faces cuts, report claims
28/02/2023 Funding for infrastructure in county areas could be cut under new planning reforms, council leaders have warned. |
County chiefs call for powers to solve rural workforce crisis
06/02/2023 Council leaders have called for powers to tackle labour squeeze as a new analysis reveals that hundreds of thousands of people have left the rural workforce. |
Social care requests almost hits two million
20/12/2022 Local authority leaders have warned that this will be ‘one of their toughest winters yet’ as the number of requests for care reaches almost two million. |
District concern in wake of finance settlement
20/12/2022 Concern over funding for districts has been voiced following the announcement of the provisional local government finance settlement for 2023-24. |
County leaders call for devolution to be ‘turbocharged’
21/11/2022 County council leaders have called on the Government to ‘turbocharge’ devolution to help them level up by attracting more foreign direct investment (FDI). |
Counties issue ICS warning
21/11/2022 Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) must not become yet another NHS reorganisation to work around, chairman of the County Councils’ Network (CCN) has warned. |
Number of children in care will soar to nearly 100,000 without reform, councils warn
28/10/2022 Almost 100,000 children will enter care in the next three years if the Government fails to deliver social care reforms, council leaders have warned today. |
Council leaders call for strategic planning powers
19/10/2022 A review of planning reforms and the re-introduction of strategic planning are needed if the Government is to achieve housebuilding targets, councils say. |
Counties welcome care reform delay reports
19/10/2022 County councils have reacted to reports the Government is to push back social care reforms by at least a year. |
Government urged to ‘turbocharge’ devolution
26/09/2022 Council leaders have urged the Government to go ‘further’ with devolution and to conclude deals with the first cohort of county areas by the end of autumn. |
Truss told to ‘turbocharge devolution’
06/09/2022 Council leaders have welcomed the new Prime Minister and called on the Government to re-affirm its commitment to levelling up and devolution. |
£1.14bn East Midlands devo deal agreed
30/08/2022 A landmark £1.14bn devolution deal for a new combined county authority (CCA) is on offer for the East Midlands, to include a new elected regional mayor. |
Government not even close to ‘rescuing’ social care
03/08/2022 The Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee said billions of pounds ‘urgently’ needed to be injected into the system to meet both short-term and long-term needs. |
Councils face record £2.4bn deficits in SEN this year
29/07/2022 Local authority deficits in special educational needs (SEN) have reached an ‘unmanageable’ £2.4bn this year, new research has uncovered. |
Care warning after elderly 'population boom'
15/07/2022 A ‘population boom’ of over-65s is piling pressure on adult care services, county councils have warned. |
Minister delays self-funding care reforms
07/07/2022 Residential care self-funders will not be able to ask their council to arrange care for them at the lower local authority rate until April 2025, minister Gillian Keegan has announced. |
Council chiefs warn of 'disastrous' financial crisis
27/06/2022 More councils could be tipped into financial crisis while others face emergency cuts due to soaring inflation and living wage increases, the LGA warned today. |
Counties in inflation funding call
14/06/2022 County councils have called for extra Government funding to cope with huge increases caused by inflation. |
Adult social care reforms could cost nearly £26bn
25/05/2022 Adult social care reforms could cost a minimum of £10bn more than currently estimated and will require over 4,000 new social work staff, new study reveals. |
County council chiefs welcome fire service white paper
19/05/2022 County council leaders have welcomed the Government’s decision not to remove local fire services from the oversight of upper-tier local authorities. |
Councillors back move to hybrid model of council meetings
19/05/2022 Over two-thirds of councillors believe a permanent move to a hybrid model of both online and in-person council meetings would improve the diversity of local councils, according to a new survey. |
Care homes could face 'widespread closures' under reforms, counties warn
18/03/2022 Care homes are at risk of closure as the Government has ‘seriously underestimated’ the cost of its social care reforms, county councils have warned today. |
Tens of thousands fewer children could avoid going into council care
09/03/2022 Tens of thousands of young people could avoid going into council care if services are reshaped under a new ‘optimised delivery model’ based on a family-focused way of delivering support, says a report. |
LA maintenance funding frozen after cut fears
04/03/2022 The Department for Transport (DfT) has announced individual allocations for all local highway authorities outside London and the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements (CRSTS) – with cash frozen at 2021-2022 levels for the next three years. |
Counties warn funding cuts put road maintenance plans at risk
08/02/2022 County and rural councils will see their funding for road maintenance fall by nearly £500m by April this year, new analysis has warned. |
Counties' concern at care funding
17/12/2021 County councils have expressed concern at the level of central funding to rebalance care markets. |
Counties face funding shortfall of over £500m next year
10/12/2021 County councils are facing a funding gap of over £500m in 2022 resulting in council tax rises or service cuts, leaders have warned today. |
Counties call for strategic planning model
08/12/2021 County councils are facing 'excessive' pressures on their infrastructure due to housing development, according to a new report. |
Powers warning ahead of new deals
07/12/2021 A new report today warns areas reluctant to accept directly-elected leaders in the next wave of devolution deals may be offered ‘fewer powers and flexibilities’. |
Counties warn of a 'chasm' in electric vehicle chargers
08/11/2021 There are more publicly available charging points in London than in England's counties combined, new analysis has shown. |
County areas are 'poor relation' in internet speeds, MPs warn
21/10/2021 County ares could become the 'poor relation' to cities in the Government's gigabit rollout, MPs have warned today. |
County leaders urge ministers not to get 'bogged down' on mandatory mayors
13/10/2021 County councils have urged the Government not to insist on introducing more mayors after a poll revealed that only one in three people believe they should spearhead devolution deals. |
Counties in council tax warning
07/10/2021 County leaders have warned council tax bills would have to rise by almost a quarter over three years to get close to eliminating their deficit. |
County council leaders warn social care reforms ‘fall short’
16/09/2021 Social care reforms will protect more individuals from large care costs but will not improve access to care and could make local care markets ‘unsustainable’, county council leaders say. |
Councils call for the tools to support small charities to recover post-COVID
04/08/2021 Local authorities need to be provided with funding and tools to ensure that they can continue supporting smaller charities after the pandemic, county leaders say. |
Empowering county councils ‘game-changer’ for levelling-up
22/07/2021 County leaders have written to the Prime Minister welcoming his commitment to empower county authorities and urging him to follow through on what they describe as a ‘game-changer’ for levelling-up. |
Johnson: Bring your devolution plans to me
15/07/2021 Prime Minister Boris Johnson called for local leaders to take their devolution plans to him in a keynote speech from the West Midlands this morning. |
Call to ‘mainstream’ assistive technology in adult social care
14/07/2021 Assistive technology should be placed at the centre of adult social care to make it more targeted and preventative, a new report has argued today. |
Special needs deficits to grow to £1.3bn in two years
30/06/2021 A ‘spiralling deficit’ in special educational needs services (SEN) is expected to grow to an ‘unmanageable’ £1.3bn in just two years’ time, county councils have warned. |
Council chiefs call for long-term funding to boost post-pandemic resilience
09/06/2021 County council leaders argue that local authorities need a long-term funding settlement to invest in organisational resilience. |
Counties see fastest growth in number of people claiming out of work benefits
28/05/2021 County councils have warned that a 'narrow and simplistic focus' in the levelling-up agenda risks England’s economic recovery from the pandemic. |
Local elections 2021: Counties buck the Tory trend
09/05/2021 County councils have bucked the trend of Conservative success in the local election on Thursday, with a mixed picture for the party. |
Hancock unveils £7bn funding boost for NHS and social care
19/03/2021 The Government has announced an extra £341m for infection control measures and rapid testing in adult social care services. |
Council road repairs cash down £400m next year
15/02/2021 County councils have said they will have ‘no choice’ but to cancel high priority highway maintenance works next year after the Government announced capital funding allocations down £398m on current levels. |
Social care should remain delivered by councils, says new report
10/02/2021 Tens of thousands of people could live more independent lives if councils keep hold of social care under government plans to overhaul health services, a new report has insisted. |
Call for ‘urgent clarity’ on elections
06/01/2021 Speculation over whether local elections will take place in May as scheduled has been labelled ‘unhelpful’ by councils. |
Councils welcome announcement of third national lockdown
05/01/2021 Councils have urged residents to follow the guidelines for the third national lockdown in a bid to stop the continued spread of coronavirus. |
Funding gap has 'devastating' impact on rural and remote bus services
10/12/2020 Rural and remote bus services saw journeys fall by 97 million last year due to a £348m funding gap, a new report has warned. |
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Councils warn about 'significant' overspends on children’s services
24/11/2020 The number of vulnerable young people referred to councils’ children’s services increased by 15% in the first three months after the first lockdown, figures have shown. |
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County councils warn of insolvency risk without frontline cuts
12/11/2020 Only a fifth of England's largest councils are confident they can deliver a balanced budget next year without dramatic reduction to services, a new survey has revealed. |
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Calls for collaboration to fill the ‘strategic planning void’
21/10/2020 Closer collaboration between councils, health bodies and businesses could ‘reinvigorate strategic planning’ a new report has argued. |
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Reorganisation battle lines drawn over think-tank report
20/10/2020 The bitter war of words between counties and districts over reorganisation stepped up this week as battle lines were drawn around a new think-tank report. |
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Counties warn of test and trace ‘missed opportunity’
16/10/2020 Calls for more support for local contact tracing have been redoubled after the national system’s success rate plummeted. |
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Counties warn childcare closures will hit remote areas the hardest
25/09/2020 One in ten childcare providers in England’s most remote areas are at risk of closure this winter, county councils have warned today. |
