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.
MPs warn of the cost of inaction on social care reform
06/05/2025 MPs have urged the Government to measure the cost of inaction on social care and warned that failing to do so would mean reforms are ‘doomed to failure’. |
GMB: Local government workforce cut by 600,000
22/04/2025 Local authorities across England and Wales have lost almost 600,000 members of staff since 2012, a public sector union has found. |
Striking Brum bin workers reject pay offer
14/04/2025 Refuse collection workers in Birmingham have rejected the city council’s latest pay offer in long-running dispute. |
Government backs £30m Doncaster airport investment
10/04/2025 The Government has backed the decision by the South Yorkshire mayor Oliver Coppard to invest £30m to reopen Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA). |
Streeting: Care staff to be trained in ‘cutting-edge’ tech
09/04/2025 Social care workers will be trained to use the latest ‘cutting-edge technology’ to help improve the social care system, Wes Streeting has said. |
Universal theme park deal ‘landmark moment’
09/04/2025 The agreement of a deal with Universal to open a new theme park in Bedford – billed as one of the largest in Europe – has been welcomed as a ‘landmark moment’. |
Brum council declares ‘major incident’ amid bin strikes
01/04/2025 Birmingham City Council has declared a major incident to address the impact of the bin strikes in a move branded by Unite as ‘disgraceful strike breaking’. |
NAO warns of jobcentre staffing crisis
31/03/2025 The Government has reduced the level of support it offers to universal credit claimants due to a shortage of work coaches at jobcentres, NAO says. |
Aberdeen council accused of ‘fire and rehire’ threat
28/03/2025 Unite has accused Aberdeen City Council of threatening workers with ‘fire and rehire’ proposals as part of an industrial dispute, a claim the council denies. |
Brum council threatens redundancies to end bin strike
28/03/2025 Birmingham City Council will begin a consultation on compulsory redundancies in an effort to end the bin strike, a move Unite describes as ‘bully boy tactics’. |
Council leader welcomes £1.6bn defence contract extension
27/03/2025 The leader of Telford & Wrekin Council has welcomed the Chancellor’s Spring Statement announcement of a five-year £1.6bn defence contract extension. |
Council green lights multi-billion-pound data centre
06/03/2025 Plans for a multi-billion-pound data centre are a step closer to being realised after the local authority granted the proposals planning permission. |
Port Talbot receives £8m of regeneration funding
06/02/2025 Port Talbot is set to receive £8.2m of regeneration funding in a move expected to deliver 100 jobs. |
Union criticises council’s plan to use AI to cut jobs
30/01/2025 UNISON has criticised Dorset Council’s decision to use AI in its transformation programme to help reduce the number of staff it employs. |
Council signs off on Europe’s biggest AI data centre
27/01/2025 Hertsmere Borough Council has granted outline planning permission for a £3.75bn data centre which promises to deliver thousands of new jobs. |
Call to monitor second jobs of four-day week staff
09/01/2025 Senior councillors in South Cambridgeshire will discuss whether the council should monitor staff working second jobs during its four-day week trial. |
Bus cuts led to a billion more miles by car in 2023
07/01/2025 Cuts to bus provision in England led to an estimated 1.1 billion extra miles driven by cars and taxis in 2023 alone, according to new research. |
Cornwall Council proposes job cuts ahead of Christmas
17/12/2024 More than 100 employees at Cornwall Council could be made redundant in the run up to Christmas because of ‘chronic underfunding’ by the central government, a trade union has said. |
Kendall: Local government to join up work opportunities
26/11/2024 Mayors and councils will be given powers to join up services locally to tackle worklessness, the work and pensions secretary will announce today. |
Council recruitment drive launches across England
04/11/2024 A national recruitment campaign has launched to encourage people to work for their local council. |
Up to 100 jobs to be cut at Southampton
23/10/2024 Southampton City Council has said 67 to 99 redundancies are expected to be made in the next two years. |
Council considers cutting hundreds of jobs
14/10/2024 Leeds City Council is considering cutting over 260 jobs over the next four years to help combat its ‘unprecedented’ £273m financial shortfall. |
Planning departments hit hardest by staff shortages
14/10/2024 Planning departments are facing the worst workforce shortages, with eight out of 10 experiencing recruitment and retention issues, new research has revealed. |
Sky to appeal film studio planning refusal
14/10/2024 Broadcaster Sky is planning to appeal Hertsmere Borough Council's decision to refuse planning permission for an expansion of Sky Studios Elstree. |
Rayner to decide on Hollywood-backed studio plan
09/10/2024 Buckinghamshire Council’s decision to reject plans for a multi-million-pound film studio is set to be reviewed by the Government. |
Council announces support for Tata Steel supply chain
30/09/2024 Supply chain businesses affected by the closure of the final furnace operating at Tata Steel's plant in Port Talbot will be able to access help, council says. |
Staffordshire leaders kick off devolution conversation
30/09/2024 Council leaders across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent have written to the Government to begin a conversation about devolution. |
Blyth to be site of biggest AI data centre in Europe
26/09/2024 A £10bn investment aimed at delivering the biggest AI data centre in Europe could create thousands of jobs for the local community in Blyth, PM says. |
South Yorkshire mayor welcomes £1.5bn nuclear factory decision
20/09/2024 The mayor of South Yorkshire has welcomed the news that South Yorkshire is set to become the new home of a planned £1.5bn Small Modular Reactor (SMR) factory. |
Think tank calls for health and prosperity improvement zones
17/09/2024 Local authorities should be empowered to create health and prosperity improvement zones modelled on clean air zones, a cross-party commission says. |
Councils draining ‘dwindling’ reserves to stay afloat
04/09/2024 Three in five (60%) city leaders have warned they will have to draw on already depleted financial reserves this year to ‘stay financially afloat.’ |
Half of universal credit claimants ran out of food last month
02/09/2024 Almost half of people (48%) claiming universal credit ran out of food last month and could not afford to buy more, a charity has found. |
Think-tank calls for £6bn devolution to tackle economic inactivity
02/09/2024 A think-tank has argued that the Government should transfer £6bn to local government in a bid to tackle economic inactivity. |
Union slams council’s ‘outrageous’ fire and rehire plan
16/07/2024 Worcestershire County Council is planning to fire and rehire more than 140 employees, despite Labour pledging to ban the practice. |
Shropshire could cut 540 job posts
09/07/2024 Shropshire Council could cut 540 full-time equivalent (FTE) posts in a bid to cut costs by becoming a smaller organisation. |
Strikes halted as bullying row drags into ninth month
02/07/2024 Refuse collection workers in South Tyneside have called off the first of three weeks of industrial action due to start today. |
Councils’ confidence for childcare roll-out ‘worryingly low’
27/06/2024 Local authorities in England have raised concerns that they will be unable to meet demand in the next phase of the expansion of free childcare. |
Warwickshire staff miss 15,000 days due to poor mental health
21/06/2024 Poor mental health was the biggest reason for sickness absence at Warwickshire County Council last year, a report has revealed. |
West Midlands Investment Zone gets the green light
17/06/2024 A plan for a West Midlands Investment Zone designed to attract more than £5.5m in investment and to create over 30,000 new jobs has been given the go ahead. |
Councils plan to reduce phone hours to cut costs
12/06/2024 West Oxfordshire and Cotswold district councils will consider cutting back the number of hours residents can get in touch by phone. |
Council workers strike over pay cuts
11/06/2024 Nearly 150 council employees in Greenwich are striking this week over the local authority’s plans to reduce their pay. |
Somerset to save £8m with 201 redundancies
16/05/2024 Somerset Council has accepted 201 redundancy applications, which it said would save more than £8m a year. |
Fresh Best Value Notice for South Cambs over four-day week
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. |
Government urged to fund council pay claim
22/04/2024 Forest of Dean District Council has called on ministers to fully fund trade unions’ pay claim for local government workers. |
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). |
Council considers £110m offer for former EV battery factory site
16/04/2024 Northumberland CC is set to consider a multi-million-pound deal that could see a site earmarked for a collapsed electric vehicle battery factory sold. |
Oxford’s workforce issues a ‘significant risk’
10/04/2024 High staff turnover and difficulty recruiting at Oxford City Council could affect staff morale, wellbeing and absence and ultimately impact service delivery, a report has found. |
Dorset Council sets up recruitment firm
10/04/2024 Dorset Council has launched a recruitment company to help fill temporary roles. |
Campaigners publish council ‘rich list’
09/04/2024 Campaign group TaxPayers’ Alliance has published its annual ‘town hall rich list’ today as it continues to raise the issue of public sector pay. |
Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games boosted economy by £1.2bn
08/04/2024 The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games contributed approximately £1.2bn to the UK economy, according to an evaluation of the impact of the event. |
Doncaster council airship deal set to create 1,200 jobs
26/03/2024 Doncaster council has announced the location for the production facility of the helium-filled airship, Airlander 10, in a deal set to create 1,200 jobs. |
Shropshire Council staff offered voluntary redundancy
12/03/2024 Staff at Shropshire Council have been offered voluntary redundancy as part of the local authority's plans to lose 300 full time jobs. |
Brum members approve £300m of cuts
06/03/2024 Councillors at Birmingham City Council have signed off on £300m of cuts over two years and dramatic council tax increases. |
Basic efficiency savings all ‘long gone’, Chancellor told
05/03/2024 No more 'basic efficiencies' left to make, leaders tell Chancellor in response to reports he will call for consultants and diversity schemes to be cut. |
Surrey apologises for £30m payroll problem
01/03/2024 Surrey County Council has apologised after a problem with their new £30m payroll system left staff out of pocket. |
Council leader welcomes £4bn EV battery factory
29/02/2024 Somerset Council has welcomed the confirmation that Bridgwater in Somerset will be the location of a new £4bn electric vehicle (EV) battery factory. |
Warnings over job cuts repercussions
28/02/2024 Councils embarking on mass job cuts have been warned it will have grave repercussions for the senior managers of the future. |
Future of four-day week in limbo
21/02/2024 South Cambridgeshire councillors have been advised to continue the authority’s four-day week trial until the Government offers more detail on plans to ‘disincentivise’ the practice. |
Brum set to sell off £750m of assets
20/02/2024 Cash-strapped Birmingham City Council is set to sell off £750m of assets and cut spending on services by £300m in an effort to balance the books. |
Birmingham councillors back 18% pay rise delay
08/02/2024 Councillors at cash-strapped Birmingham City Council have voted to delay pay increases for members. |
Kent CC proposes over 180 redundancies
02/02/2024 Kent County Council has proposed axing hundreds of jobs as part of a move to transform services and deliver savings. |
Brum considers axing 600 jobs
17/01/2024 Birmingham City Council could be forced to axe hundreds of jobs as the struggling local authority attempts to balance its books. |
Leaderships posts left vacant to cut costs
11/01/2024 Senior leadership posts at Cheshire East Council are being temporarily left vacant as the authority faces ‘significant financial pressures’. |
Local government recruitment drive launches
10/01/2024 Councils in the North East of England will pilot a new campaign to encourage people to take up a job in local government. |
Bradford Council to cut more than 100 jobs
04/01/2024 Bradford Council is set to cut 113 jobs as part of an initiative to find £40m in the next three years in an effort to avoid declaring effective bankruptcy. |
Navigating the complex terrain of recruitment
18/12/2023 Rod McMillan, marketing manager, Monster UK discusses how local authorities can improve recruitment and retention of staff. |
Swindon’s finances on a ‘cliff edge’
14/12/2023 Axing 80 jobs is one proposal among a raft of measures under consideration by Swindon Borough Council as it seeks to cover a £14m shortfall. |
Middlesbrough proposes job cuts as it warns of ‘tough choices’
14/12/2023 Middlesbrough Council has proposed axing 75 full-time equivalent posts and cutting social care costs as it scrambles to set a balanced budget for next year. |
Nottingham proposes cutting 550 jobs
13/12/2023 Nottingham City Council has proposed cutting 554 full-time equivalent posts in an attempt to tackle its financial shortfall. |
Local authority leaders criticise minimum service levels
11/12/2023 'Unfair’ and ‘undemocratic’ minimum service levels will lead to ‘more frequent and longer strikes’, according to mayors and council leaders from across UK. |
Birmingham given a month to make £300m savings plan
07/12/2023 Commissioners have given Birmingham City Council until 7 January to set out a ‘credible plan’ for addressing a £300m budget gap over the next two years. |
Leeds councillors to discuss axing 750 employees
06/12/2023 Senior councillors in Leeds are set to discuss plans to reduce staffing levels by 750 by the end of the 2024/25 financial year. |
Councils need help to tackle care staff exploitation, union says
28/11/2023 The Government must drop plans to cap overseas care staff and act to stop the exploitation of those already working in the UK, the trade union Unison has said. |
Autumn Statement: West Midlands investment zone confirmed
23/11/2023 An investment zone is set to be established in the West Midlands focusing on three sites in Warwickshire, Birmingham, and Wolverhampton, Chancellor confirms. |
West Yorkshire to host £220m investment zone
21/11/2023 A new investment zone has been announced for West Yorkshire focused on life sciences. |
Derbyshire denies facing ‘bankruptcy situation’
17/11/2023 Derbyshire County Council said ‘serious challenges’ lie ahead despite its progress in tackling its financial shortfall. |
Council ‘saddened’ by proposed job cuts at rail factory
16/11/2023 A council leader has urged ministers to commit to the industrial sector after the UK’s largest rail assembly factory announced 1,330 jobs are at risk in Derby. |
Cambridge faces £6m budget cuts
15/11/2023 Cambridge City Council needs to make an extra £6m of savings over the next three years and £11.1m in new savings by 2029. |
South Cambs issued Best Value notice over four-day week
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’. |
Council looks to address £100m ‘black hole’
01/11/2023 Somerset Council is considering measures, including reducing staffing and cutting services to statutory levels, to cover a £100m funding gap. |
School staff strike amid pay dispute
01/11/2023 Schools in parts of Scotland were closed on Wednesday as non-teaching staff went on strike in an ongoing dispute over local government pay. |
Four-day week trial continues despite DLUHC guidance
31/10/2023 South Cambridgeshire will continue its four-day week trial after new government guidance said councils employing the practice should ‘cease immediately’. |
Time for local authorities to ‘right-size’ their offices?
26/10/2023 Mobilityways' local authorities lead Graeme Banister asks: should councils reinvent their town halls, or motivate staff to return and fill up these empty edifices? |
DLUHC advises councils on four-day week
26/10/2023 The Government has issued guidance for English councils on four-day weeks and said it is exploring other measures ‘to ensure the sector is clear’ that the practice should not be pursued. |
£240m venue launches with Danny Boyle extravaganza
19/10/2023 Four years late and significantly over budget, a new cultural arena opened in Manchester yesterday with an immersive performance directed by Danny Boyle. |
Disconnected job schemes failing to tackle unemployment
17/10/2023 Nine million people who are struggling to find work are at risk of being left out of the labour market because of a ‘complex patchwork’ of job schemes. |
Birmingham agrees job evaluation scheme
13/10/2023 Birmingham City Council has agreed to implement a new job evaluation scheme in a major step towards meeting its £750m equal pay liabilities. |
Almost 400,000 carers leave workforce
12/10/2023 A new report offers an insight into the care sector’s struggle to retain staff after almost 400,000 carers left their jobs in a year. |
Campaign to recruit carers launched
10/10/2023 A campaign to recruit adult social care workers has been launched as part of the effort to tackle the social care workforce crisis. |
High street facing ‘terminal decline’, union warns
09/10/2023 The high street may be facing a ‘terminal decline’ as more than 420,000 traditional retail jobs have been lost since 2010, the union GMB has warned. |
New festival to light up Scarborough
05/10/2023 The Scarborough Lights festival will be launched next month as part of a three-year plan to boost arts, attract tourists and improve job opportunities on the North Yorkshire coast. |
Hampshire County Council on ‘financial cliff edge’
05/10/2023 Hampshire CC has warned that cuts to services and job losses are inevitable as the council is facing ‘one of the biggest budget shortfalls in its history’. |
Coventry refuse workers to vote on industrial action
04/10/2023 The trade union Unite has notified Coventry City Council that it will ballot 55 refuse workers for strike action and action short of a strike. |
Council to shut 39 facilities
02/10/2023 North Lanarkshire Council has decided to close 39 community facilities in response to its financial shortfall. |
Social care should be top of manifestos, forum says
28/09/2023 Adult social care reform should be prioritised on the agendas of all political parties, the National Care Forum (NCF) has said. |
South Cambs denies tampering with 4-day week trial report
28/09/2023 South Cambridgeshire DC has hit back at accusations that they tampered with a report to present an optimistic picture of the controversial four-day week trial. |
Brum kicks off job cuts
27/09/2023 Birmingham City Council has started a wide-ranging programme of job cuts under emergency plans. |
Over £8bn needed to stop care ‘deteriorating’
25/09/2023 Sustainable planning for the care sector must replace short-term cash injections, the Health Foundation said as it published projected costs for adult social care. |
Brighton settles 10-year equal pay issue
20/09/2023 Brighton and Hove City Council will adjust bank holiday pay for more than 800 staff in response to calls from Unison. |
Providers set out ‘pragmatic’ social care plan
19/09/2023 A plan for adult social care with recommendations for the next Government has been put forward by Care England. |
