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.
Legal threats to Reform ambitions
21/05/2025 Reform UK's ambitions to shake up local government could be stymied by legal hurdles, an expert warned this week. |
Local authority launches robot pilot project in schools
09/05/2025 Wakefield Council is set to trial a pilot project involving robots, enabling students to engage in school remotely. |
Skills England 'needs time to prove itself'
06/05/2025 The agency created by the Government to boost post-16 skills in England needs a year to show whether it will be effective, a prominent educationalist says. |
Councils at liberty to sell school land, Rayner says
01/05/2025 Local authorities across England are allowed to sell off playing fields to help close budget gaps, Angela Rayner says. |
Urgent need for teacher training amidst schools crisis
29/04/2025 The Government should provide £260m to fund a new 'national entitlement' to teacher training to help raise school standards, think tank says. |
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. |
Schools for pupils with SEND short by 8k places
28/03/2025 Department for Education figures have revealed that the shortage of places in special schools for secondary pupils in England worsened by 25% in 2023/24. |
SEND deficits ‘ticking’ clock, CCN warns
20/03/2025 Council leaders have warned ‘unmanageable’ special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) deficits risk bankrupting half of England’s largest councils. |
School absences up two-thirds since before pandemic
18/03/2025 Absences and suspensions from school are two-thirds higher than before the pandemic, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). |
New animation raises air quality awareness
17/03/2025 BCP Council is raising awareness of the dangers of air pollution among children across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole using the power of animation. |
Call for higher education providers to better support care experienced
06/03/2025 Higher education providers have been urged to work closely with local authorities to ensure people who have experienced children's social care are supported. |
Tameside children waiting too long for care reviews
27/02/2025 Tameside Council is taking too long to review children’s education, health and care (EHC) plans, an investigation has found. |
Children in prison failed by ‘multiple services’
27/02/2025 Children in prison have been failed by ‘multiple services’ and youth custody worsens their disadvantages, according to the Children’s Commissioner. |
Report reveals SEND ‘blind spots’
11/02/2025 Research into the provision of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) support in England has highlighted ‘inequalities’ and ‘blind spots.’ |
Council pays family £2,600 over missed education
04/02/2025 Wokingham Borough Council has been ordered to pay a mother £2,600 after it failed to meet her son’s special educational needs. |
Council chiefs welcome Ofsted’s focus on inclusion
03/02/2025 Local authority leaders have welcomed Ofsted’s greater focus on inclusion as part of the proposed overhaul of how schools are inspected. |
‘More work to do’, councillor responds to SEND petition
29/01/2025 Nottinghamshire County Council’s cabinet member for education and SEND, Cllr Ben Bradle, has acknowledged there is ‘more to do’ on SEND provision. |
Parents take council to court over SEN funding
29/01/2025 Two sets of parents are taking Devon County Council to High court, arguing the council has agreed to make cuts to special educational needs (SEN) services. |
Somerset fails to act on Ombudsman recommendations
22/01/2025 Somerset Council has been criticised for failing to act on an ombudsman’s recommendations to meet a young person’s needs. |
Council bureaucracy meant child missed months of school
22/01/2025 A child went months without education because of Trafford Council’s unnecessary delays, an investigation has found. |
Number of school children receiving SEN support surges 40%
21/01/2025 The number of British school children receiving support for special educational needs (SEN) has surged by 40% since 2016-2017, a new study has revealed. |
Special educational needs statutory override is 'abomination'
10/01/2025 Accountancy alone will not be enough to end the ‘abomination' of statutory overrides for special educational needs (SEN) budgets, a minister has said. |
Council takes steps to tackle toilet training crisis
08/01/2025 Teachers in the Welsh county of Blaenau Gwent will no longer change pupils who have wet or soiled themselves, according to the local authority. |
Schools face ‘death by a thousand cuts’, union says
08/01/2025 Headteachers have warned that schools and colleges will be forced to make cuts if costs continue to outstrip the growth in school funding. |
Landmark Bill to introduce ‘children not in school’ registers
17/12/2024 Council chiefs welcome Bill that could bring in new registers to identify children who are not in school but say it should go further to ensure child safety. |
Newcastle to auto-enrol pupils for free school meals
10/12/2024 Eligible families in Newcastle will be automatically signed up to receive free school meals, the city council has announced. |
Councils' SEND deficits ‘could reach absurd levels’
09/12/2024 Local authority deficits for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision ‘could easily reach absurd levels’ without widespread reform, a think-tank has warned. |
Devon proposes £21,000 charge for school exclusions
09/12/2024 Devon County Council has put forward plans to charge schools £21,000 for every child they exclude. |
Children eligible for free school meals twice as likely to be absent
03/12/2024 A think-tank has warned that the costs of going to school are a barrier to regular attendance for some children from low-income families. |
Summer riots linked to ‘torn social fabric’
03/12/2024 The majority of towns that saw rioting over the summer after the stabbing attack in Southport have a ‘torn social fabric’, a charitable trust has said. |
Cambs in bid to rescue £49m funding deal
26/11/2024 Cambridgeshire County Council has drawn up a new special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) strategy after failing to meet the terms of a funding agreement with the Government. |
MPs sound alarm on SEND deficits
20/11/2024 Deficits in SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) budgets are among the top concerns for the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). |
Youth club closures led to more crime, report finds
12/11/2024 Youth club closures between 2010 and 2019 led to higher rates of crime and worse educational outcomes, a report has found. |
Biggest barrier to inclusive education is lack of funding, report finds
05/11/2024 Schools in the capital must become ‘genuinely inclusive’ to improve outcomes for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), a new report has argued. |
More than £1bn to be invested in ‘crumbling’ schools
28/10/2024 The Government has confirmed that £1.4bn will be allocated in the Budget to rebuild ‘crumbling’ schools. |
NAO: Councils face bankruptcy due to SEND deficits
24/10/2024 Two-fifths of councils will face the threat of bankruptcy if more is not done to tackle the £4.6bn special educational needs (SEN) deficit, watchdog warns. |
Education Secretary announces review of 44 free schools
23/10/2024 Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has announced a review of the funding awarded by the previous Government to open 44 new free schools. |
School attendance scheme gets £15m boost
10/10/2024 The Government is set to spend £15m expanding an attendance mentoring scheme to 10,000 more children in England. |
Lack of support leaves two-fifths of parents to teach their disabled child
03/10/2024 Some 200,000 children are being failed by England’s special educational needs system as their parents fight to get the right support, according to new research. |
Council drops all-Gaelic school plan
26/09/2024 Argyll and Bute councillors have decided to drop plans for a Gaelic language and culture school following a close-run public consultation. |
Labour pledges £15m to support 300 new nurseries
26/09/2024 Three hundred nurseries will be opened by next September to help address the rising demand for childcare, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson announces. |
Council SEND spending up 70%
16/09/2024 Local authority spending on children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) has risen from £6.9bn to £12bn since 2018/19, new analysis reveals. |
‘Shocking lack of urgency’ to trace children missing from education
10/09/2024 More than 11,500 children in England went missing from education within a year, the children’s commissioner has found. |
Glasgow faces legal action over education cuts
15/08/2024 Parents have begun legal action over ‘drastic cuts’ to education services in Glasgow City Council’s budget. |
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. |
Skills England to fix ‘fractured’ skills landscape
22/07/2024 A new body will tackle the ‘fractured’ skills landscape across England, the Prime Minister and education secretary have announced. |
Six tips to improve public services in the UK
15/07/2024 From social care and schools to bins and the criminal justice system, public services touch the lives of everyone. Here are six tips for improving them. |
Council offers to brief Farage on SEND pressures
09/07/2024 Essex CC has offered to brief Nigel Farage MP on special educational needs and disabilities issues after the Reform UK leader criticised the council. |
Councils face £1bn SEND shortfall
18/06/2024 Local authorities in England are facing a critical shortfall of almost £1bn in special needs budgets this year, new research has found. |
Councils looking after record 576k children with SEND
13/06/2024 Local authorities are looking after record numbers of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), council chiefs warn. |
Autism care plans in North Yorkshire rise by almost 400%
31/05/2024 The number of children and young people in North Yorkshire who have autism as a primary need on their care plan has risen by 387% since 2015. |
Hull rolls out tool to tackle school absence
24/05/2024 Hull City Council is providing schools with an early intervention tool aimed to boosting pupil attendance. |
Safeguarding panel calls for register of home-educated children
15/05/2024 An expert child safeguarding panel has joined calls for a statutory register of children who are electively home educated. |
What do safety valve agreements mean for children with SEND?
14/05/2024 Catriona Moore, policy manager at SEND legal advice charity IPSEA, looks at the impact of safety valve agreements on local SEND provision. |
SEND experience in Bury has been ‘poor for too long’
09/05/2024 Ofsted has found ‘widespread and/or systemic failings’, its lowest rating, in Bury’s special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision. |
£101m boost for new music hubs
08/05/2024 A ‘new generation’ of music hubs will receive £101m to provide music education to young people across England. |
Schools in disrepair due to funding ‘failure’, union warns
29/04/2024 More than four-fifths of headteachers (83%) have said they do not have enough money to maintain their school buildings. |
Two-fifths of children face barriers to education
26/04/2024 Millions of pupils are struggling to learn because of unstable family environments, mental health challenges and poor attendance, a major children’s charity has warned. |
Council rejects MP’s ‘inaccurate’ funding claim
26/04/2024 Chesterfield MP Toby Perkins has accused Derbyshire County Council of leaving unspent millions of pounds for school spaces for children with special needs. |
What is a metro mayor?
25/04/2024 A metro mayor is directly elected by local people to oversee a region’s combined authority. |
Council pays family £8k over failure to educate child
25/04/2024 Suffolk County Council left a young girl with special educational needs with no education for a year and a half, an ombudsman has found. |
One-word Ofsted judgements to be retained
25/04/2024 The controversial one-word Ofsted judgements for schools are here to stay despite criticism after the suicide of headteacher Ruth Perry. |
Teacher vacancies rise in almost nine in 10 local authorities
19/04/2024 Teacher vacancies have increased in 86% of English local authority areas since 2010, according to analysis by the Trades Union Congress (TUC). |
Increasing number of Coventry children not in school
17/04/2024 A growing number of children in Coventry are not going to primary school due to their parents' reluctance to accept places that have been offered. |
Academy trusts have higher staff turnover than council schools
16/04/2024 Multi-academy trusts (MATs) have ‘higher’ annual turnover of classroom teachers at secondary level than council-maintained schools, according to a new study. |
Schools face losing over £1bn, think tank warns
11/04/2024 A decline in the number of school-age children could lead to schools losing over £1bn in funding by 2030, education experts warn. |
IFS: £2.5bn Sure Start delivered ‘substantial benefits’
09/04/2024 Children eligible for free school meals who grew up near a Sure Start centre performed up to three grades better at GCSEs than those further away, IFS finds. |
Essex council agrees to rethink alternative education changes
04/04/2024 Essex CC agrees to investigate why changes to its alternative education provision for children who are unable to attend school have not improved the service. |
Union criticises Government’s ‘shameful’ SEND support
04/04/2024 Teachers and support staff are ‘losing faith’ in the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system due to inadequate resources, a union has warned. |
Bristol SEND services get £54m bailout
25/03/2024 Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services in Bristol are to receive a nearly £54m bailout, the Government has confirmed. |
Young carers penalised by unfair ‘21 hour rule’
18/03/2024 Young carers who are dependent on Government support are unfairly penalised by the benefits system, a coalition of civil society organisations says. |
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. |
Absence fines without tackling causes 'will not work'
29/02/2024 Plans to boost school attendance do not address the wider factors that contribute to persistent absence, a think-tank and council bosses have warned. |
Over 10,000 children missing from education system
22/02/2024 Local authorities in England have no idea what has happened to over 10,000 children who have left state education. |
Sharp increase in home schooling, survey shows
16/02/2024 A survey of councils in the south of England shows a sharp rise in the number of children being educated at home. |
School leaders call for Ofsted exemption due to RAAC
07/02/2024 School leaders have called for all schools impacted by the dangerous concrete scandal to be exempt from Ofsted inspections until they are ‘fully operational’. |
New £4.9m bonus scheme amid childcare expansion concerns
02/02/2024 The Government has launched a recruitment drive ahead of its free childcare expansion, but a major early years organisation has warned it will do little to boost staff numbers before rollout. |
Children with SEND impacted by psychologist shortage
31/01/2024 The lives of children with SEND are being negatively affected by the shortage of educational psychologists, the local government ombudsman has warned. |
Divided education system ‘unsustainable’, think tank warns
30/01/2024 An education system divided between academies and council-maintained schools has become ‘undesirable and unsustainable’, according to an education think tank. |
Schools face ‘impossible choices’ as demand drops
29/01/2024 Falling demand for school places across London will have major implications for the future of education provision in the capital, a new report says. |
North Northants fined £1,500 after girl misses school
26/01/2024 The leader of North Northamptonshire Council has apologised to the family of a girl who missed part of her education because of her health. |
Devon and Torbay devolution deal announced
25/01/2024 Devon County Council and Torbay Council are set to enter a level 2 devolution deal with the Government. |
Pupils leaving RAAC schools, heads warn
25/01/2024 Students are increasingly being taken out of schools that are affected by a crumbly form of concrete, headteachers have warned. |
Council concerned about Dyson’s £6m school donation
23/01/2024 Wiltshire Council has raised concerns about the impact of a £6m donation to a local school by billionaire inventor Sir James Dyson. |
Schools blunder to cost council £60m
18/01/2024 A report has found that Renfrewshire Council, whose ‘gross incompetence’ left a community short of hundreds of school places, has again failed to be transparent with residents on school provision. |
New £1.5m package to support school leaders launched
15/01/2024 The Government has announced a new £1.5m package to help support the mental health and wellbeing of school and college leaders. |
Council slammed over complaints response
11/01/2024 A watchdog has been ‘compelled’ to publicly highlight Bury Council’s failures after the authority took too long to remedy complaints. |
Labour outlines plans to boost attendance
09/01/2024 Local authorities would be required to keep a register of all children not in school under a Labour government, the shadow education secretary announced today. |
Nine million adults lack essential skills
03/01/2024 Nine million adults lack essential skills with skill level disparities within local areas far exceeding those between local and combined authorities. |
Half of teachers work with homeless children
22/12/2023 The ‘nightmare of child homelessness’ is damaging children’s education as they suffer exhaustion, hunger and poor mental health, Shelter has warned. |
Unions call for school inspections to be suspended
21/12/2023 School inspections must be suspended until Ofsted implements recommendations to reform the system following the death of head teacher Ruth Perry, unions say. |
Oxfordshire publishes SEND ‘action plan’
19/12/2023 Oxfordshire County Council has published an ‘action plan’ for improving care for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). |
£450k to kick-start library transformation
30/11/2023 A Manchester library has been awarded £453,964 to transform its Grade II Listed building and preserve its historic collections. |
'Critical' to maintain progress, Dundee told
30/11/2023 A finance watchdog has said Dundee City Council is ‘well-run’ but ‘long-standing difficulties remain’ to be tackled in its improvement journey. |
Blackpool Council welcomes new £65m campus plan
29/11/2023 A plan for a multi-million-pound campus in Blackpool has been submitted, in what the council has described as a ‘game changing’ addition to the town centre. |
Plan for schools needs local government ‘at its heart’
29/11/2023 England’s children’s services chiefs have set out a future vision to fix an ‘incoherent and fragmented’ education system. |
School support staff paying for pupils’ essentials
24/11/2023 The cost-of-living crisis is forcing school support staff to use their own money to help pay for pupils’ food and clothing, union reveals. |
MPs slam ‘beyond unacceptable’ condition of schools
20/11/2023 Thousands of children are learning in potentially unsafe buildings, with MPs ‘extremely concerned’ about the Department for Education’s understanding of the risks, a new report says. |
Councils hit by improvement notices
20/11/2023 Oldham MBC and Oxfordshire CC have received improvement notices for their services for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). |
