25/05/2025

Conservatives in Warrington have called for senior officers to resign following the announcement of Government intervention at the council.

08/04/2025

Liverpool City Council has further to go on its improvement journey but has ‘made significant and substantial’ progress, according to an improvement board.

17/03/2025

Ministers are minded to appoint commissioners to oversee the running of Spelthorne BC.

23/01/2025

Local government minister Jim McMahon has sent three envoys in to improve Tower Hamlets LBC following last year's Best Value inspection.

20/12/2024

Best Value notices issued to Runnymede and Eastleigh borough councils will not be renewed despite ongoing concern about their ‘significant’ debts.

22/11/2024

Government could still appoint commissioners to councils despite proposal to send in non-statutory ministerial envoys to Tower Hamlets, The MJ understands.

12/11/2024

Government envoys will oversee the management of Tower Hamlets LBC after inspectors found a ‘toxic' environment was stopping the council ‘moving forward'.

23/10/2024

Slough Council is facing an extension to Government intervention due to ‘volatility' in its finances.

15/10/2024

The leader of Tameside MBC has resigned after Labour took steps to directly intervene over ‘unacceptable working practices' at the authority.

10/09/2024

Three authorities are no longer operating under Best Value Notices, the Government has confirmed.

05/09/2024

Wirral Council will consider spending an extra £1.1m on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision after it was ordered by the Government to improve.

14/08/2024

The new minister for local government has praised Liverpool City Council’s improvement journey saying it is ‘on its way to achieving its true potential.’

17/06/2024

Current and former local authority bosses have been recognised in this year’s King’s Birthday Honours. 

08/05/2024

The Government has issued a new Best Value Notice to South Cambridgeshire DC due to ‘ongoing concerns’ about the authority’s four-day working week.

01/05/2024

Rushcliffe BC is the highest-ranked council in England for finance with Leeds City Council coming bottom, according to metrics.

19/04/2024

Wirral MBC’s Independent Assurance Panel (IAP) has officially stood down after declaring it was ‘no longer required’.

07/03/2024

Local government minister Simon Hoare has today confirmed that Whitehall’s two-year intervention at Sandwell Council will end.

01/03/2024

The Government has issued a Best Value Notice to City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council over concerns about its financial resilience and children’s services.

22/02/2024

A Best Value inspection is to take place at Tower Hamlets LBC, the Government has announced.

22/02/2024

The situation in Birmingham City Council is worse than commissioners expected, a report to the secretary of state has claimed.

14/02/2024

The Local Government Association (LGA) is to take a more proactive role as it seeks to do more to prevent Whitehall intervention in councils, The MJ understands.

08/02/2024

Auditors have lifted the three statutory recommendations in place at Sandwell MBC.

25/01/2024

A major deal between Woking BC, Surrey CC and McLaren is set to help ease the financial pressure on the troubled borough and pave the way to selling its HQ.

16/01/2024

Nottingham City Council has joined the list of local authorities who have requested ‘exceptional financial support’ from the Government.

04/01/2024

Nottingham City Council has urged the Government not to send in commissioners to oversee the running of the authority.

20/12/2023

The housing secretary has instructed seven local authorities to revise their timetables for delivering their local plans.

13/12/2023

The levelling up secretary is ‘minded to’ escalate government intervention at Nottingham due to ‘serious concerns’ over the city council’s finances and governance.

13/12/2023

The Government has appointed Richard Carr as a managing director commissioner at Woking BC.

13/12/2023

Liverpool City Council is set to regain control over some of its functions, but commissioners are likely to continue to intervene in specific areas.

04/12/2023

Birmingham City Council’s problems of governance and accountability are still ‘largely unaddressed’, despite some gains made by the authority.

01/12/2023

The Government has told Erewash Borough Council to stick with its emerging local plan, which has been branded ‘out-of-date and unsuitable’ by the authority.

24/11/2023

An inquiry looking at the remit of the controversial Office for Local Government (Oflog) was launched by MPs today.

14/11/2023

Birmingham City Council is poised to reveal a worse-than-expected financial position as it embarks on a savings drive and ‘inevitable’ job cuts, The MJ has learned.

14/11/2023

Nottingham City Council has edged closer to issuing a section 114 notice, after revealing it still faces a significant in-year deficit despite tightening its purse strings.

03/11/2023

The Government has issued a non-statutory Best Value notice to South Cambridgeshire District Council ‘following concerns about its trial of a four-day working week’.

02/11/2023

Peterborough City Council has new political leadership after councillors voted to remove Conservative leader Wayne Fitzgerald.

27/10/2023

The leader of Peterborough City Council has said a confidence motion in him will result in ‘major political instability’ and risks further intervention from the Government.

25/10/2023

Shaun Bailey MP has called for Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council to be dismantled.

12/10/2023

Birmingham CC is ‘actively exploring’ action against its former director of council management Becky Hellard for her role in the collapse of the council.

11/10/2023

Guildford BC’s leader has survived a vote of no confidence over the authority’s finances.

06/10/2023

Nine councils have avoided being stripped of their planning decision-making powers after drastically improving their performance figures.

05/10/2023

The team tasked with turning round Birmingham City Council has been announced – including a former Labour minister and a serving council chief.

13/09/2023

Woking BC may have faced a section 114 notice at least four years before it declared effective bankruptcy, senior councillors have been told.

12/09/2023

Birmingham City Council is braced for a wide-ranging Government intervention to help rescue the authority’s bleak finances, and improve political and officer leadership.

03/08/2023

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council has been issued with a Best Value notice after a review found its budget was ‘unrealistic’.

26/07/2023

Birmingham City Council’s mammoth equal pay bill could rise further if it fails to meet a tight deadline to fix the issue.

20/07/2023

Ministers have moved Croydon LBC’s improvement and assurance panel to a statutory footing, meaning it can instruct rather than guide the council.

05/07/2023

After the launch of Oflog yesterday at the LGA conference, Nick Graham, Buckinghamshire Council, takes a step back to look at Government interventions.

15/06/2023

The team from Essex CC led by Tony McArdle have made recommendations for the wider sector in its Best Value report on Thurrock, published today.

07/06/2023

Stricken Woking BC has issued a Section 114 notice as the authority continues to work with Government on a solution its financial crisis.

25/05/2023

Secretary of state Michael Gove has demanded an intervention in Working BC begin immediately after the scale of its financial problems emerged.

27/04/2023

Dudley MBC has been found to have breached health and safety rules by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH).

18/04/2023

Local authority leaders in Scotland have agreed four key priority areas to strengthen collaboration between local government and policing.

06/04/2023

An improvement notice has been issued to Kent CC after it failed to turn around its special educational needs and disability (SEND) services.

16/03/2023

The Government has said there are question marks over the ‘viability’ of Slough Council as a unitary as it announced plans for it and Thurrock and Croydon.

13/03/2023

A minister said councils would receive further support if they were found to be in need of improvement under new Care Quality Commission (CQC) assessments.

09/03/2023

Troubled Liverpool City Council is making progress, its commissioners have ruled, but there are still risks.

02/02/2023

Nottingham City Council has been too slow in turning around its finances, according to the team charged with overseeing its recovery.

08/11/2022

The Government has appointment another commissioner to oversee Liverpool City Council following 'serious shortcomings' around financial management and senior leadership.

04/11/2022

Two councils have been issued with rare statutory recommendations by their external auditor.

25/10/2022

An improvement notice has been handed to Nottingham City Council over its children’s services.

05/10/2022

Thurrock BC will reduce its ‘over-reliance’ on borrowing from other councils by taking out £836m of loans from the Public Works Loan Board (PWLB).

19/08/2022

Commissioners at Liverpool are set to take on governance and financial decision making in an extension of their powers following a damning report.

28/07/2022

Commissioners at Slough Council are set to be given powers over recruitment after finding it was unable to turn around its finances quickly enough.

11/07/2022

Structural change alone is not enough to turn around children’s services, a new report has found.

23/06/2022

Commissioners are to oversee strategic decisions at Nottingham City Council amid fears of ‘further serious issues’ on the scale that led to a section 114.

23/03/2022

The Government has intervened at Sandwell Council after a review found a 'deeply troubling picture of mismanagement'.

16/03/2022

Independent oversight of Merthyr Tydfil CBC has come to an end following improvements to its governance and sustainability.

08/03/2022

Slough Council will only be considered for a £307m Government bailout to cover its deficits if it proves it can turn itself around financially, the Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has warned.

01/12/2021

The Government has sent commissioners in to struggling Slough BC in a bid to turn round its failing finances.

14/07/2021

Local authority leaders have called for a cross-government strategy to ensure that children and young people are at the heart of the post-pandemic recovery.

10/06/2021

Surrey CC’s chief executive Joanna Killian will be part of the team of independent commissioners who will oversee improvements at Liverpool City Council, local government secretary Robert Jenrick has announced today.

02/06/2021

A new report is calling for a legal duty on local authorities to provide early help to children and families, rather than providing what is easiest to measure.

08/04/2021

Intervention can be the best thing that happens to a council, ‘and can serve only to define the past not the future’, says Jo Miller. But the cause of the failure must be recognised and the right series of actions taken, she believes.

24/03/2021

Commissioners will be sent in to Liverpool City Council after an independent inquiry found serious mismanagement and a dysfunctional culture, communities secretary Robert Jenrick has told Parliament.

19/01/2021

The council has identified £100m of assets for sale as part of a plan to bring its finances under control.

18/05/2020

Funding cuts to children's services have left councils unable to cope with the current crisis, charities have warned today.

08/01/2020

Eight local authorities are to receive £20,000 each in order to help them develop new ways to change the behaviour of residents as part of an effort to reduce demand on overstretched councils.

28/06/2019

The leader of Merthyr Tydfil Council has asked the Welsh Government for help to overcome its ‘fractious’ position and financial challenges.

05/06/2019

Former Society of Local Authority Chief Executives president Jo Miller is leaving her chief executive role at Doncaster MBC to take up a new local government post in New Zealand. She talks to Heather Jameson about her legacy.

04/06/2019

Rebecca Bryant suggests collaboration, communication and transparency are key to tackling the rise in anti-social behaviour.

02/04/2019

Birmingham City Council’s intervention team has issued a final, damning report on the crisis-hit council and walked away – despite admitting its job is not complete.

20/03/2019

Council leaders have called for continued funding for the Troubled Families programme after an evaluation found the scheme has helped hundreds of thousands of families.

29/11/2018

Northamptonshire CC will be allowed to use £70m in capital receipts to plug its financial black hole, local government secretary James Brokenshire has ruled. 

05/11/2018

Health secretary Matt Hancock has said the Government is committed to supporting local councils in improving health locally through ‘innovation, communication and community outreach.’

24/07/2018

Rotherham Council looks set to regain full control of its services, after communities secretary James Brokenshire said he was 'minded' to end intervention.

19/06/2018

Ministers have been urged to return full powers back to Rotherham Council, after an independent report found 'impressive' improvements across the authority.

01/05/2018

Government funding reductions have forced councils to cut back on early support services for vulnerable children, an education policy think tank has found.

09/04/2018

The Government today launched a multi-million pound strategy to tackle the ‘root causes’ of violent crime, including a task force involving local authorities.

27/03/2018

Local government secretary Sajid Javid has bowed to the inevitable and outlined plans for commissioners to run Northamptonshire CC amid concerns over the county’s sustainability.

26/03/2018

Three councils are facing government intervention over their failure to produce a local plan.

03/02/2018

Northamptonshire CC’s director of finance has issued a section 114 order, calling a halt to spending at the cash-strapped authority. 

31/01/2018

Plymouth City Council has agreed to take on full managerial responsibility for the ‘inadequate’ children’s services in Torbay.

29/01/2018

Rotherham Council’s children’s services have been rated as ‘good’ by Ofsted, following three years of Government intervention in the aftermath of the child sexual exploitation scandal.

16/01/2018

Five London boroughs have jointly commissioned a new programme to help vulnerable young people stay out of care.

15/11/2017

Councils have been forced to close services designed to spot early signs of child neglect and abuse as they can only afford to help those in crisis, a report has warned today.

07/11/2017

Kensington and Chelsea RLBC has asked the Government to water down its oversight at the council following the Grenfell Tower fire in June.

25/09/2017

District councils have called for introduction of a new health precept on council tax in order to raise £25m for preventative measures.

19/07/2017

A further five powers are due to be returned to Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council following improvements by the council.

06/07/2017

The Government yesterday announced it will be intervening in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) following the Grenfell Tower disaster.