Delivering Regeneration: How collaborative contracts are transforming place-making
Discover how collaborative contracting is helping councils deliver regeneration more effectively with this free special report from LocalGov and NEC Contracts.
40% of West Surrey revenue budget to be absorbed by servicing debt
6/11/2026 Some 40% of one of the new Surrey unitaries' net revenue budget will be absorbed by servicing debt, it has emerged. |
Councils must ‘stop, reduce or redesign’ services, watchdog warns
6/11/2026 Scottish councils will continue to face increasing financial pressures unless they ‘stop, reduce, or redesign’ services, Accounts Commission says. |
Government awards Somerset £50m to boost flood defences
6/9/2026 The Government has announced a £50m investment to strengthen flood resilience in Somerset, following one of the county's most severe flooding episodes. |
New board seeks to restore health of community arts space
6/8/2026 A newly elected board for a community arts venue in Glastonbury has pledged to restore the financial stability of the organisation. |
Union raises alarm over bullying and harassment
6/8/2026 Social workers are raising the alarm over bullying or harassment at the same time as struggling with funding shortages. |
Review of Welsh funding formula already underway
6/5/2026 Wales’ new local government minister has said work has already started on reviewing the country’s local government funding formula. |
Bedfordshire to receive £1.3bn infrastructure investment as Universal work begins
6/4/2026 Bedfordshire is set to benefit from £1.3bn to help deliver regional and local community infrastructure that will support Universal's planned theme park resort, the Government has confirmed. |
Government names preferred candidate to chair new Local Audit Office
5/27/2026 The Government has named Bill Butler as its preferred candidate to chair the newly established Local Audit Office, subject to a Parliamentary hearing. |
LGA publishes guide to help councils attract private investment
5/20/2026 Councils have been handed a new toolkit to help them secure private investment and drive local growth. |
New Councillors, Same Pressures: IFS warns councils face unchanged funding challenges
5/11/2026 New councillors elected last week inherits a local government finance picture that is deeply constrained – and unlikely to improve quickly, IFS warns. |
£1.5m emergency boost to fight antisemitism after Golders Green attack
5/5/2026 Local authorities are set to receive an extra £1m to help tackle antisemitism, the Government has announced. |
Libraries as a strategic delivery partner for local government
5/1/2026 Rebecca Gediking looks at how GLL is helping councils deliver more with existing services. |
Kent CC bids for over £100m to fix two major road schemes
5/1/2026 Kent County Council has submitted bids to the Government's Structures Fund seeking more than £100m to address critical issues on two key roads in the county. |
High street heatmap reveals 'dodgy shop' hotspots
4/30/2026 Birmingham, Liverpool and London top a new national heatmap of high street hotspots for organised crime. |
Prevention 'insufficiently embedded' in social care, says COSLA
4/28/2026 Scotland's social care system faces unsustainable strain, with services trapped in reactive crisis management rather than preventative support, COSLA warns. |
Social work funding must match nursing and teaching, says LGA
4/24/2026 More than half of adult social workers are experiencing increasingly complex caseloads while resources fail to keep pace with demand, new LGA survey reveals. |
Temporary accommodation 'unfit for human habitation', warn MPs
4/22/2026 Council chiefs have called for a change to the way they are reimbursed for temporary accommodation costs after MPs warned of housing ‘unfit' for habitation. |
Auditor calls for coordinated action on falling primary school rolls
4/22/2026 A new NAO report has warned that declining primary school pupil numbers pose significant financial and educational risks. |
Think tank proposes later-life social care fund
4/16/2026 A think tank is calling for a fundamental redesign of how later-life social care is funded in England, proposing a new national insurance-style fund. |
Government opens £1bn fund to repair bridges, flyovers and tunnels
4/15/2026 The Government has launched a new £1bn Structures Fund to help councils repair ageing bridges, flyovers and tunnels across England. |
Local arts and cultural venues to benefit from £130m funding
4/14/2026 A cash injection of nearly £130m has been confirmed for 130 local cultural venues, museums, and libraries. |
Council threatens legal action over £20m roads funding row
4/13/2026 North Yorkshire Council has threatened to take legal action against York and North Yorkshire mayor David Skaith over a dispute about highways funding. |
Local museums share £4m accessibility fund
4/10/2026 Twenty-four local museums have received a share of £4m from the Government to improve visitor access and enhance their collections. |
Councils cutting services to pay for social care, think tank warns
4/8/2026 Councils are raiding reserves and slashing non-statutory services to keep pace with a ‘precarious’ social care system, according to The King’s Fund. |
APSE: Half of councils facing street cleansing cuts
4/7/2026 Half of local authorities expect their street cleansing budgets to shrink over the next year, according to a new national survey. |
Social housing fund boost to support innovative pilots
4/2/2026 Twenty schemes across England aimed at supporting social housing tenants are set to each receive a share of a £2m fund from the Government. |
Trafford Council gets interest-free loan from combined authority
3/31/2026 Trafford Council is set to receive an interest-free loan from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) to address a multi-million-pound budget gap. |
Call for trading standards funding as high street branded ‘lawless’
3/31/2026 Local government reorganisation represents an opportunity to properly fund trading standards and stop ‘dangerous goods’ being sold on high streets, says CTSI. |
Regions facing grant cut as fiscal overhaul takes shape
3/30/2026 The Treasury’s Northern growth strategy shed light on the overhaul of funding, which will initially target places with the ‘potential to benefit’. |
Welsh councils warn social care system ‘stretched too far’
3/26/2026 Welsh councils are warning that social care is under unsustainable pressure and cannot continue without long-term funding certainty. |
Council considers application for £8m coastal monitoring programme funding
3/26/2026 North Yorkshire Council is seeking approval for a funding bid of almost £8m to continue the Northeast Coastal Monitoring Programme. |
Welsh councils receive £50m capital funding boost
3/24/2026 All 22 Welsh local authorities are to receive a share of £50m in additional capital funding this financial year, the Welsh Government has announced. |
Council cuts raise concerns over arts access
3/23/2026 A new report has warned that significant reductions in local authority arts funding across the UK could limit public access to cultural activities. |
Pride in Place: £319m announced for high street regeneration
3/23/2026 The Government has announced a £319m package aimed at regenerating high streets and improving community spaces, as part of its Pride in Place strategy. |
LGA: Housing finances improving, but budget pressures threaten housebuilding
3/19/2026 The overall financial outlook for social housing is improving, but significant challenges remain, a Local Government Association (LGA) survey reveals. |
ICB savings risk shifting care costs to councils, think-tank warns
3/19/2026 An ICB’s £277m savings programme for 2025/26 risks shifting care costs to local councils and residents, the Nuffield Trust has warned. |
£50m boost to help households hit by soaring heating oil costs
3/17/2026 Over £50m in Government support has been announced to help low-income families struggling with rising heating oil costs due to conflict in the Middle East. |
£1.4bn flood defence funding announced
3/17/2026 The Government has announced a £1.4bn investment in flood defences to better protect homes, businesses and infrastructure across England. |
Welsh Government confirms £11m for storm recovery
3/16/2026 The Welsh Government has announced £11.2m in funding to help councils recover from the severe storms that struck communities across Wales in late 2025. |
Council prepares to consult on Barrow transformation scheme
3/12/2026 Westmorland and Furness Council is due to meet to discuss its £200m investment into renewing Barrow town centre. |
Welsh councils urge funding boost to ease social care pressures
3/9/2026 Welsh councils have called for additional funding for social care to help break what they describe as a cycle of ‘managing crisis’ across frontline services. |
Wolverhampton opens £400k Vibrant High Streets scheme
3/9/2026 Applications have opened for a new £400,000 grant programme designed to support high street businesses across Wolverhampton. |
Mayor announces £9m boost for abuse survivor support
3/6/2026 Sadiq Khan has announced an additional £9m to expand support for survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence across London. |
PAC: Questions on SEND school transport costs unanswered
3/6/2026 MPs have warned reforms to the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system leave unanswered questions about home-to-school transport funding. |
Councils face £4bn temporary accommodation black hole, LGA warns
3/4/2026 The gap between what councils pay for temporary accommodation and what the Government reimburses them could balloon to nearly £4bn by 2029/30, LGA warns. |
£150,000 boost for public libraries in National Year of Reading
3/3/2026 The Government has announced a funding boost of up to £150,000 to support public libraries as part of the National Year of Reading 2026. |
Councils face ‘capacity crisis’ of unspent developer funds
3/2/2026 Roughly £9bn in unspent developer contributions is being held by councils, the Home Builders Federation (HBF) has found. |
Stalled Before They Start: Councils struggling to deliver regen projects
3/2/2026 Economic turbulence and a volatile national policy landscape are preventing councils from delivering regeneration, housing and infrastructure projects. |
Four in 10 of England’s councils to require bail outs
3/2/2026 Nearly 40% of English councils are likely or very likely to require exceptional financial support (EFS) within five years, according to the LGIU. |
Over £100m announced for kinship carers in seven council areas
2/27/2026 A new Government pilot scheme will see seven council areas provided with funding for kinship carers. |
Minister raises ‘significant concerns’ over Somerset Council finances
2/26/2026 Minister Alison McGovern has raised ‘significant concerns’ about Somerset Council’s financial position in a letter responding to its request for support. |
Most councils not confident of hitting net-zero targets
2/24/2026 Two-thirds of local authorities in England are not confident they will meet net-zero targets by 2050, new freedom of information (FOI) requests have revealed. |
Exceptional Financial Support increases
2/24/2026 Some 37 local authorities will be issued with £1.9bn in exceptional financial support (EFS), allowing them to use capital funding to cover day-to-day costs. |
Government unveils £4bn SEND package
2/23/2026 The Government has announced a £4bn investment to expand specialist support for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). |
South Ayrshire Council could consider job cuts in new workforce plan
2/20/2026 South Ayrshire Council has revealed that workforce changes will be unavoidable as part of the measures required to close its budget gap. |
Council-run education catering services face mounting pressures, research finds
2/19/2026 Over 60% of councils that cater for schools have cited final pressures as the key driver for undertaking a catering service review, a survey has found. |
Health and social care integration plans receive £7.1m boost
2/18/2026 Plans for health and social care integration in Powys, mid-Wales have received a £7.1m funding boost. |
Finance settlement raises ‘serious concerns’ for rural areas
2/17/2026 The body championing rural services warns the Government’s final local government finance settlement raises ‘serious concerns’ for rural communities. |
Social care in Scotland receives £20m boost
2/13/2026 The Scottish Government has confirmed that social care will receive a £20m cash injection. |
Call for sustainable funding to support SEND spending
2/12/2026 Council spending on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) has surged by more than £5bn in real terms over six years. |
Auditors call for stronger tracking of housing delivery
2/10/2026 New housing investment will need clearer priorities and stronger tracking if it is to deliver the homes the country needs, says the National Audit Office. |
Compensation for business rates funding flaw
2/9/2026 Councils affected by controversial changes to funding will be compensated, ministers have announced. |
Government to pay off 90% of SEND deficits
2/9/2026 The Government will provide funding for 90% of English councils' deficits relating to special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), it has announced. |
Worcestershire CC issues bankruptcy warning
2/9/2026 Reform UK-run Worcestershire CC could be forced to declare effective bankruptcy if the Government does not provide it with extra support, leader warns. |
Scottish council leaders raise Local Growth Fund concerns
2/6/2026 Council leaders in Scotland have voiced strong concerns over the UK Government’s approach to the new Local Growth Fund. |
Mayor plans to double pothole repair funding
2/6/2026 Mayor Richard Parker has announced plans to double funding for pothole repairs and road resurfacing across the West Midlands. |
PM announces £800m Pride in Place expansion
2/5/2026 The Government has today announced that 40 additional areas will join the Pride in Place programme to help drive regeneration. |
Call for ‘urgent’ action to unlock EV chargepoint funding
2/4/2026 Three quarters of councils have said budget pressures are the greatest challenge to the expansion of electric vehicle (EV) chargepoints. |
Kent DOLGE head resigns over 'lapse of judgement'
2/4/2026 The head of Kent CC's Department of Local Government Efficiency (DOLGE) has stood down over a ‘lapse of judgement'. |
Birmingham City Council no longer ‘bankrupt’, says leader
2/4/2026 Birmingham City Council is no longer 'bankrupt', says the local authority’s leader. |
Call for ‘equitable funding’ to support integrated local services
2/3/2026 Integrated services are vital to ensuring 75% of five-year-olds have a good level of development (GLD) by 2028, research reveals. |
Government rejects food waste transparency call
2/3/2026 The Government has rebuffed calls for transparency around funding for food waste collections, insisting it is not in the ‘public interest'. |
London schools face loosing £45m as pupil numbers plunge
2/3/2026 Falling pupil numbers in London risk undermining school standards and forcing cuts to staff and programmes, according to a new London Councils report. |
Social care costs for asylum seekers up 148%
2/2/2026 Local authorities across the UK have seen a notable rise in spending on social care for people seeking asylum. |
District councils propose council tax freeze
2/2/2026 Lincoln City Council is the latest to join a small band of councils proposing a freeze on council tax in the coming year. |
Call to bolster powers of strategic authorities
1/30/2026 Strategic authorities require more freedoms and capacity to drive growth and reform, a think-tank has urged. |
Nearly half of parents are nervous about SEND system changes, poll reveals
1/29/2026 Almost 50% of parents are worried about approaching changes to the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system, research has found. |
Scottish councils face £1bn budget gap
1/29/2026 The cost of delivering services in Scotland is rising faster than available funding which ‘risks the financial sustainability’ of councils, auditors warn. |
Call for large-scale investment in neighbourhood recovery
1/28/2026 An organisation has called for a multi-billion-pound investment to support neighbourhood recovery. |
AI skills push aims to equip 10m workers by 2030
1/28/2026 The Government has launched an expansion of free AI training for workers, including local government employees, aiming to upskill 10 million people by 2030. |
£30m coastal resilience funding announced
1/28/2026 Councils are set to benefit from a £30m Government package aimed at helping communities adapt to accelerating coastal erosion and climate impacts. |
Children face ‘unprecedented’ mental health strain, research says
1/28/2026 Nearly 80% of parents are worried about their child’s mental health, a survey has revealed. |
Scottish social care undermined by ‘systemic underinvestment’
1/27/2026 Social care in Scotland is undermined by the ‘systemic underinvestment’ in prevention and early intervention delivered by social care services, report finds. |
Minister addresses council leaders on SEND reforms
1/26/2026 Minister leading reform of services for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) has been told councils need more powers and funding. |
Social housing provider secures £55m following funding freeze
1/26/2026 A social housing provider whose funding was frozen after being issued with a regulatory notice over the death of toddler Awaab Ishak has been granted £55m to deliver new homes. |
Welsh Government funding boost for councils
1/23/2026 The Welsh Government has confirmed it will make £112.8m in additional funding available to local government in its final budget for 2026-27. |
County councils warn of service cuts and redundancies
1/23/2026 Millions of people in England’s county areas could see cuts to services as Government funding is set to cover just 2p of every £1 in rising costs, CCN warns. |
Call for sustainable funding to back digital inclusion work
1/22/2026 Nearly 80% of councils say financial constraints are the greatest barrier to digital inclusion, research has found. |
Local cultural venues to benefit from £1.5bn boost
1/22/2026 An investment of £1.5bn is to be delivered by the Government to save over 1,000 local cultural venues. |
Stoke-on-Trent declares UK’s first heritage emergency
1/22/2026 Stoke-on-Trent has become the first city in the UK to declare a heritage emergency, warning that without urgent action historic sites could be lost forever. |
LGA: Councils best place to decarbonise housing
1/21/2026 Local authorities are best placed to lead the effort to decarbonise the country’s housing stock, the LGA says in response to the Warm Homes Plan announcement. |
Call for 'national fee model' for care support
1/19/2026 Care Forum Wales (CFW) has called for a ‘national fee model’ to end the ‘postcode lottery’ of care funding. |
Government unveils £200m SEND teacher training programme
1/16/2026 The Government has announced a £200m programme to expand training for teachers and education staff to better support pupils with SEND. |
LGA: Fair Pay Agreement ‘unworkable’ without council involvement
1/16/2026 The proposed adult social care Fair Pay Agreement (FPA) model is unworkable without adequate funding and meaningful local government involvement, LGA warns. |
Scottish islands challenge local growth funding cut
1/13/2026 Multiple local authorities in the Highlands and Islands area have challenged the Government’s decision not to allocate them any local growth funding. |
Districts remain in dark on funding
1/12/2026 Funding certainty lingers on for finance chiefs in district councils, despite the publication of the provisional local government finance settlement. |
Scottish regions awarded £140m to drive local growth
1/8/2026 Five Scottish regions are to receive £140m of Government funding to support local growth initiatives. |
South Cambs communities to benefit from £100k allotment funding
1/6/2026 Funding of over £100,000 has been approved by South Cambridgeshire District Council to support the improvement of local allotments. |
Crowborough Town Council backs £16k CCTV boost
1/6/2026 Crowborough Town Council plans to spend nearly £16,000 on CCTV improvements. |
Motor neurone disease patients dying before home adaptation grants approved
12/24/2025 Many people living with motor neurone disease (MND) are dying before essential grants to adapt their homes are approved, according to new research. |
