Fighting the Fakes: The battle against AI disinformation
The Electoral Commission has launched a deepfake detection pilot ahead of May's elections. LocalGov's editor William Eichler finds out how it works.
High street heatmap reveals 'dodgy shop' hotspots
30/04/2026 Birmingham, Liverpool and London top a new national heatmap of high street hotspots for organised crime. |
Prevention 'insufficiently embedded' in social care, says COSLA
28/04/2026 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
24/04/2026 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
22/04/2026 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
22/04/2026 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
16/04/2026 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
15/04/2026 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
14/04/2026 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
13/04/2026 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
10/04/2026 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
08/04/2026 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
07/04/2026 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
02/04/2026 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
31/03/2026 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’
31/03/2026 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
30/03/2026 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’
26/03/2026 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
26/03/2026 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
24/03/2026 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
23/03/2026 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
23/03/2026 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
19/03/2026 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
19/03/2026 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
17/03/2026 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
17/03/2026 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
16/03/2026 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
12/03/2026 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
09/03/2026 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
09/03/2026 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
06/03/2026 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
06/03/2026 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
04/03/2026 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
03/03/2026 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
02/03/2026 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
02/03/2026 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
02/03/2026 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
27/02/2026 A new Government pilot scheme will see seven council areas provided with funding for kinship carers. |
Minister raises ‘significant concerns’ over Somerset Council finances
26/02/2026 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
24/02/2026 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
24/02/2026 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
23/02/2026 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
20/02/2026 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
19/02/2026 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
18/02/2026 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
17/02/2026 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
13/02/2026 The Scottish Government has confirmed that social care will receive a £20m cash injection. |
Call for sustainable funding to support SEND spending
12/02/2026 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
10/02/2026 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
09/02/2026 Councils affected by controversial changes to funding will be compensated, ministers have announced. |
Government to pay off 90% of SEND deficits
09/02/2026 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
09/02/2026 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
06/02/2026 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
06/02/2026 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
05/02/2026 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
04/02/2026 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'
04/02/2026 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
04/02/2026 Birmingham City Council is no longer 'bankrupt', says the local authority’s leader. |
Call for ‘equitable funding’ to support integrated local services
03/02/2026 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
03/02/2026 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
03/02/2026 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%
02/02/2026 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
02/02/2026 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
30/01/2026 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
29/01/2026 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
29/01/2026 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
28/01/2026 An organisation has called for a multi-billion-pound investment to support neighbourhood recovery. |
AI skills push aims to equip 10m workers by 2030
28/01/2026 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
28/01/2026 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
28/01/2026 Nearly 80% of parents are worried about their child’s mental health, a survey has revealed. |
Scottish social care undermined by ‘systemic underinvestment’
27/01/2026 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
26/01/2026 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
26/01/2026 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
23/01/2026 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
23/01/2026 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
22/01/2026 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
22/01/2026 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
22/01/2026 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
21/01/2026 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
19/01/2026 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
16/01/2026 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
16/01/2026 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
13/01/2026 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
12/01/2026 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
08/01/2026 Five Scottish regions are to receive £140m of Government funding to support local growth initiatives. |
South Cambs communities to benefit from £100k allotment funding
06/01/2026 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
06/01/2026 Crowborough Town Council plans to spend nearly £16,000 on CCTV improvements. |
Motor neurone disease patients dying before home adaptation grants approved
24/12/2025 Many people living with motor neurone disease (MND) are dying before essential grants to adapt their homes are approved, according to new research. |
LGA urges investment in 'vital' care leaver services
18/12/2025 The LGA has called for greater council funding to support care leavers following research which reveals that young people experience a ‘sharp decline’ in wellbeing after leaving care. |
Real-terms funding cuts for almost half of councils
18/12/2025 Almost half of councils will see funding fall in real terms under the local government finance settlement, according to analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). |
Government announces funding boost for most deprived councils
18/12/2025 The Government has revealed details of its multi-year funding deal for local government that aims to shift funding to England’s most deprived areas. |
Public Health Grant 'must keep pace with inflation', LGA chair says
18/12/2025 Cllr Dr Wendy Taylor, chair of the LGA’s Health and Wellbeing Committee, has welcomed a multi-year funding settlement for the Public Health Grant but warned it must keep pace with inflation and rising demand to deliver on prevention and reduce pressure on health and social care. |
Tax referendum cap lifted for six councils
17/12/2025 The council tax referendum cap will be temporarily removed for six authorities, the Government has announced today as part of the provisional local government finance settlement. |
Councils to receive £19m to support 4,900 more households impacted by domestic abuse
16/12/2025 Councils are to receive a £19m funding boost from the Government to help deliver safe accommodation for those affected by domestic abuse. |
Revealed: Scottish communities awarded Pride in Place funding named
15/12/2025 The 14 Scottish communities in 12 local authorities receiving £20m each in Pride in Place funding have been named by the UK Government. |
Worcestershire CC plans to hike council tax by more than 5%
15/12/2025 Worcestershire County Council is set to apply to the Government for permission to raise its council tax above the 5% maximum limit. |
Councils to be handed free school money to deliver SEND places
12/12/2025 Councils will be given funding earmarked for the creation of free schools to deliver specialist places for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). |
Councils’ economic role worth over £100bn a year, research reveals
10/12/2025 Councils ‘drive forward prosperity’ across England by generating £117bn annually for local economies, research has found. |
Government announces £500m plan to improve youth services
10/12/2025 A £500m backed strategy to improve youth services over the next decade has been launched by the Government. |
Major EV chargepoint funding boost on the cards for Rotherham
08/12/2025 Rotherham Council is expected to greenlight an initiative designed to deliver up to 1,500 new electric vehicle (EV) charging points. |
Further evidence emerges around councils’ early years underspend
08/12/2025 Further evidence has emerged that councils are either holding back or diverting money that is earmarked for the early years sector. |
