Virtual insanity: Councils hit out at refusal to extend meeting rules
COVID-19: How has the past year affected council staff?
COSLA pay offer ‘slap in the face’, union says
Budget 2021: Furlough scheme extended until autumn
How to reduce spending on temporary staff and boost employee engagement
Scott Erwin calls on councils to adopt a ‘dynamic staffing’ model to combine the use of agency staff with more stable budgeting.
Council housing chief resigns after anonymous Twitter account was exposed
18/02/2021 The cabinet member for housing at Southwark Council has resigned after it emerged he was not 'transparent' about a Twitter account he managed. |
Women on the frontline are 'exhausted' survey warns
17/02/2021 Women working in local government have warned the emotional, physical and financial impact of the pandemic is taking its toll, a new survey has revealed. |
Unions call for 10% pay rise for council staff
16/02/2021 Three local government unions have called for a wage increase of at least 10% for all council and school workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. |
Treasury scraps cap on public sector exit payments
12/02/2021 The Government has dropped its controversial cap on public sector exit payments after admitting it had ‘unintended consequences’. |
Communication now at the top table in local government, survey reveals
29/01/2021 The pandemic has brought communications to the top table in local government, according to the results of a new survey. |
Social care directors warn of 'exhausted' workforce
14/01/2021 Social care needs an immediate cash injection to support exhausted staff and ensure services don’t collapse, service directors have warned today. |
Care services hit by staff shortages due to COVID-19
11/01/2021 Care providers across the country are finding individual services hit hard by staff absences caused by COVID-19, an association for social care providers has warned. |
Union calls for libraries to be ‘completely closed’ during lockdown
06/01/2021 A public sector union has called for libraries to be completely closed to protect library workers during the lockdown. |
Local government workers impacted by pay freeze already facing ‘pay penalty’
23/12/2020 Public sector workers affected by the pay freeze next year already face a pay penalty compared to private sector staff in similar roles, think tank says. |
Report praises local authority and volunteer partnership during COVID-19
16/12/2020 A new report has praised the way local authorities in Wales worked with the third sector to protect vulnerable people during the pandemic. |
Sandwell's outsourced refuse workers secure back pay deal
07/12/2020 Refuse workers in Sandwell are set to receive substantial back pay following intervention by trade union Unite. |
Spending Review: Public sector pay increase for low earners
25/11/2020 Public sector worker wage increases will be limited to the lowest paid, the chancellor has announced this afternoon. |
Leeds council proposes nearly 200 job cuts
20/11/2020 Leeds City Council has warned that it might have to cut 199 full time posts in order to save £17.6m as it deal with the impact of the pandemic and austerity. |
District council workers agree to strike next month
18/11/2020 Up to 1,000 workers at Newry, Mourne and Down District Council are set to strike following a row about pay and conditions. |
A fifth of employees still paid under the real Living Wage, research shows
09/11/2020 A fifth of employees are still paid under the real Living Wage, new research has shown. |
Charity calls for wage parity between care and NHS workers
09/11/2020 Care workers should be paid the same as people doing the equivalent job in the NHS, a charity has said. |
Lincoln best council for employing apprenticeships, list reveals
22/10/2020 Seven councils have made the Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers 2020 list. |
More than 110,000 job vacancies in social care, report finds
21/10/2020 Analysis shows that 7.3% of adult social care roles in England were vacant in 2019/20, equivalent to 112,000 vacancies at any one time. |
Public sector exit cap signed into law
15/10/2020 The £95,000 cap on public sector exit payments was signed into law last night and will come into force on November 4. |
City council poised to lose 617 posts due to COVID-19
14/10/2020 The executive board of Leeds City Council meets next week to consider cutting the workforce by 617 posts amidst a 'stark budget shortfall' due to the costs of COVID-19. |
Carers added to list of occupations hit by migration restrictions
30/09/2020 Senior care workers should be added to a list of occupations which will be able to employ migrants to make up for labour shortages once freedom of movement ends, an advisory committee says. |
Councils in talks over single workforce
03/09/2020 Havant BC and East Hampshire DC are in talks over creating a single flexible workforce. |
Four-day week in public sector could create 500,000 new jobs, think tank argues
01/09/2020 The public sector should pioneer a shorter working week with no loss of pay, a think tank has argued. |
London boroughs meet digital apprentices target
28/08/2020 Councils in London have met their target of recruiting 100 digital apprentices by September 2020. |
Oldham Council asks staff to consider ‘voluntary redundancy’
21/08/2020 Oldham Council have announced that they are asking staff to consider voluntary redundancy in order to help the authority close a £30m funding gap. |
Local government pay deal agreed
21/08/2020 Local government has accepted a 2.75% pay increase, it has been confirmed, despite objections from Unite. |
Four in five council staff working from home
19/08/2020 The number of council staff working from home has rocketed from 5% pre-lockdown to 80%, according to new research. |
Unite members reject 'insulting' council pay offer
17/08/2020 The majority of members of Unite the union have rejected the 2.75% pay offer. |
Early years’ workers ‘overworked and undervalued’, study reveals
05/08/2020 Low pay, a high workload and a lack of career development for early years’ workers risk impacting on the provision of care and education services for the under-fives, report says. |
Progress on ethnic diversity at leadership level has stalled, report finds
28/07/2020 Ethnic diversity in public sector leadership roles has failed to improve over the past three years, a new report has warned today. |
Nottingham Council to cut more than 150 jobs
22/07/2020 Nottingham City Council has announced 154 jobs will be lost as part of emergency plans to save an additional £12.5m. |
Chancellor accused of 'selective memory' over council workers' pay
21/07/2020 Council staff are the 'forgotten army of public service' and are being denied a 'decent' pay rise, a union said today. |
Union in industrial action threat over large-scale council job losses
09/07/2020 Trade union Unite has warned it could launch industrial action unless Nottingham City Council removes its threat of large-scale redundancies. |
Thousands of council jobs at risk due to funding shortfall, union warns
07/07/2020 Tens of thousands of council jobs could be lost unless the Government addresses the current funding shortfall, Unison has warned. |
Luton forced into unavoidable cuts
17/06/2020 Luton BC’s boss has said the council has done all it can but has no other choice than to cut 365 jobs and frontline services. |
Lifeguards return to beaches in preparation for summer
17/06/2020 The UK’s beaches will see an increase in the number of lifeguards this summer as people visit the coast despite the risk of Covid-19. |
Unite to ballot members over ‘insulting’ council pay offer
12/06/2020 Around 100,000 council workers will be asked if they want to accept or reject the 2.75% pay offer. |
LGA split over worker bonus
26/05/2020 A cross-party agreement that the Local Government Association (LGA) would lobby for a coronavirus payment to staff was ditched after senior councillors blocked the move, The MJ can reveal. |
Rejection of coronavirus bonus a 'slap in the face'
19/05/2020 A top union official has branded English councils’ refusal to rally behind a campaign for a workers’ coronavirus bonus as a ‘slap in the face’. |
Unite expected to urge council pay offer rejection
11/05/2020 Trade union Unite is expected to recommend that its members reject the employers ‘final’ 2.75% pay offer at a national committee meeting later this week. |
Colchester Borough Council to furlough staff
07/05/2020 A council in Essex is set to furlough some of its staff in order to limit the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic. |
'High risk' staff are being forced back, claims Unison
04/05/2020 Unison is demanding Milton Keynes Council steps back from what it says is a ‘rogue local plan’ to order staff in high risk categories back to work. |
One in five healthcare workers could quit in wake of Covid-19, think tank warns
23/04/2020 Healthcare could face a staffing crisis after it was revealed on in five healthcare professionals are more likely to leave following the pandemic. |
Council staff will be deployed for Covid-19 contact tracing
21/04/2020 Council staff will be deployed to help spot, trace and isolate new cases of coronavirus, the Welsh Government has confirmed. |
Council considers placing some staff on furlough
17/04/2020 A Scottish council is considering furloughing a limited number of workers in a bid to limit the financial impact of the coronavirus crisis. |
Unions slam 'woefully low' council pay offer
17/04/2020 The Government should provide extra funding to give council workers a 'proper' pay rise during the pandemic crisis, trade unions have said. |
Council workers offered a 2.75% pay rise
16/04/2020 Trade unions have been urged to accept a 2.75% pay increase for council staff. |
Town hall rich list branded 'inane and distasteful'
15/04/2020 Attempts to criticise local government salaries have been branded as ‘both inane and distasteful' by chief executives’ body Solace. |
Refuse workers in Wirral walk out over coronavirus fears
08/04/2020 Refuse collectors in Wirral have refused to work after claiming Biffa Waste Services failed to introduce strict social distancing measures. |
CQC issues COVID-19 guidance on DBS checks
03/04/2020 The Care Quality Commission(CQC) has issued interim guidance on the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and other recruitment checks in response to coronavirus. |
This issue of Public Property examines how how flexible workspaces can lead the way in regeneration for local authorities, Why local authority intervention is key to successful urban regeneration schemes and if the Government’s challenge of embracing beauty is an opportunity for communities.
The March issue also takes a closer look at Blackburn with Darwen Council's first digital health hub to help people gain control over health and care services.
