Simple steps to improve cybersecurity
Sameer Dixit argues security is a weak point in councils' armour and outlines ways local authorities can anticipate and plan for cyberattacks.
Unions blast 'unnecessary' delay to council staff pay rise decision
23/01/2020 Trade unions have criticised employers for failing to make a pay offer to local government staff yet. |
Top 100: Our most popular local government stories of 2019
10/12/2019 From calls to a 10% pay rise for council staff to declaring a climate change emergency, here is our countdown of the 100 most popular stories on LocalGov during 2019. |
Fleet mechanics threaten strike after being asked to ‘accept one compromise too many’
03/12/2019 Council fleet mechanics in Wigan are being balloted for strike action after being told to work late on Fridays, according to Unite. |
Lincolnshire health visitors to strike amid pay dispute with council
19/11/2019 A number of health visitors in Lincolnshire started a month-long strike yesterday over what they describe as the council’s ‘divide and rule’ policy. |
Delays to pay claim talks branded a 'disappointment by union
07/11/2019 The biggest local government union has branded a delay to talks over their 10% pay claim 'a huge disappointment'. |
Decision on council staff pay rise delayed until the New Year
06/11/2019 A leading union negotiator has questioned local government employers' good faith after they decided to delay responding to their 10% pay claim until the New Year. |
Council workers to lobby for 10% pay rise
04/11/2019 Unions are set to protest in support of their 10% pay claim when local government employers meet in London tomorrow. |
Living wage boost would benefit hundreds of thousands of council staff
08/10/2019 Workers stand to gain from politicians' pledges to increase the National Living Wage. |
Lincolnshire health visitors announce new pay strikes
06/08/2019 Unite have announced that health visitors employed by the council will be holding further demonstrations across Lincolnshire as part of an ongoing pay dispute. |
In a nutshell: the 2020-21 local government pay claim
29/07/2019 Mark Whitehead explores the context behind the union's bid for a 10% pay increase for council staff. |
A pay rise for local government workers?
25/07/2019 Local government workers are doing overtime on 'an industrial scale’. Mark Whitehead looks at what unions are doing to address this. |
Unions set to propose 10% pay rise for council staff
17/07/2019 Better work-life balance and support for mental health are likely to be elements in a pay claim being agreed by local government unions, LocalGov can reveal. |
Lincolnshire health visitors strike over pay row
16/07/2019 Health visitors in Lincolnshire began strike action yesterday after failing to reach an agreement with the county council over their rate of pay. |
Harnessing the power of place can lead to better pay
17/05/2019 Douglas White explains why the Living Wage Places movement is gaining traction across the country. |
Council employees win ‘substantial wage rise’
02/05/2019 Customer service assistants employed by Sandwell Council have won what the union Unite describe as a ‘substantial wage rise’. |
Council chiefs defend £100,000 plus pay cheques
09/04/2019 Local leaders have defended the generous remuneration packages paid to a minority of council employees arguing they are decided upon in a ‘transparent’ manner. |
Northants apologises for underpaying childminders
08/03/2019 Northamptonshire County Council has apologised ‘unreservedly’ for underpaying childminders and nurseries by thousands of pounds. |
Scottish councils ‘delighted’ at new pay deal with unions
05/03/2019 Council workers have welcomed a new pay deal that is set to deliver cost of living increases over the next few years after a decade of stagnating wages. |
Teaching union rejects pay offer from councils
22/02/2019 The 9% pay increase offered to teachers in Scotland has been rejected by members of trade union EIS. |
Carers win right to appeal in £400m sleep-in shift battle
14/02/2019 The Supreme Court has granted carers the right to appeal in the ongoing sleep-in shift legal battle with a the mental health charity Mencap. |
‘Tougher penalties’ needed to protect small businesses against late payment
15/01/2019 Small businesses have called for ‘tougher penalties’ for large companies that pay their suppliers late to protect them from another Carillion-style collapse. |
Top 100: Our most popular local government stories of 2018
11/12/2018 From council pay rises to troubled outsourcing firms, here is our countdown of the 100 most popular stories on LocalGov during 2018. |
Council pay offer rejected as union moves towards strike action
09/11/2018 The 3% pay offer for council workers in Scotland has been rejected by members of Unison Scotland. |
Glasgow - peace on the horizon?
05/11/2018 Mark Whitehead explores the complexities of an equal pay dispute that led to thousands of women striking last month in Glasgow. |
Greenwich council staff receive payouts after holiday pay ‘miscalculation’
01/11/2018 Around 5,000 women in schools and nurseries across Greenwich have received payouts from the council following a five year legal battle over holiday pay. |
Glasgow and unions agree meetings to resolve dispute
26/10/2018 Talks following the two-day strike by more than 8,000 women in Glasgow this week were described as positive and constructive by both sides. |
Council workers borrowing money to cope with low pay
25/10/2018 Council staff are being forced to rely on credit cards, pawn possessions and borrow money from friends and family due to low pay, a new survey has revealed. |
Glasgow CC offers ‘olive branch’ in equal pay row
25/10/2018 Talks were taking place today in a bid to settle the equal pay row that led to a two-day strike by more than 8,000 women in Glasgow this week. |
Equal pay strike closes council facilities and hundreds of schools
24/10/2018 Unions were today claiming the strike by 8,000 women staff in Glasgow over equal pay was solid and council facilities had shut down as other workers refused to cross picket lines. |
Breaking: Council affected by secondary strike action
23/10/2018 The strike by 8,000 women staff in Glasgow over equal pay appeared to be escalating on day one as more workers downed tools to show their support. |
Council strike over equal pay goes ahead
23/10/2018 One of the biggest strikes in the UK over equal pay went ahead this morning as thousands of women walked out in the dispute with Glasgow City Council. |
Council staff to strike over equal pay claims
22/10/2018 Thousands of women at one of the UK's biggest councils are set to walk out on strike for two days this week over equal pay. |
Four in 10 council employees report ‘financial worries’
18/10/2018 Almost four in 10 central Government and county council employees have financial worries, a fact that affects their work performance and mental health. |
Council chiefs warn of ‘threat’ to music lessons
11/10/2018 Local authority leaders have warned that music lessons will be ‘under threat’ unless the Government covers the cost of a pay rise for music teachers. |
Business rate discounts should drive adoption of Living Wage
14/09/2018 A union has called on London boroughs to follow Brent Council by developing a business rate scheme which incentivises employers to pay a living wage. |
Council staff urged to reject 3% pay increase in Scotland
10/09/2018 Unison is calling on its local government members to reject the new offer of a 3% pay rise. |
Equal pay claims will put 'unprecedented' pressure on council, warns watchdog
23/08/2018 The cost of resolving equal pay claims could put 'unprecedented financial pressure' on council services in Glasgow, the spending watchdog has warned. |
Whistleblower loses ‘unfair dismissal’ case against council
20/07/2018 Cheshire East Council has welcomed an employment tribunal decision which found a ‘whistleblower’ was not dismissed unfairly. |
Court reverses £400m sleep-in shift ruling
13/07/2018 Council leaders have welcomed the Court of Appeal ruling that social care providers will no longer be required to pay £400m in backpay to carers doing sleep-in shifts. |
Council facing £5m equal pay bill
26/06/2018 Fife Council has been warned it could face a £5m bill from a new round of equal pay claims. |
Union rejects Scottish councils' pay offer
20/06/2018 Members of the GMB Scotland trade union have rejected the Scottish local government pay offer, potentially sparking industrial action. |
Unions submit pay rise claim for youth and community workers
14/05/2018 Unions have submitted a pay claim for youth and community workers they say would narrow a growing gap between falling wages and rising costs caused by austerity. |
Council to take pay dispute to Supreme Court
10/05/2018 Nottingham City Council is to take a dispute with its staff over incremental pay rises to the Supreme Court. |
Incremental pay rises - an endangered species?
27/04/2018 Mark Whitehead explores why the right to an automatic pay rise is disappearing in local government. |
Council's pay freeze is ruled unlawful by Court of Appeal
23/04/2018 Nottingham City Council was wrong to impose a freeze on incremental pay rises, the Court of Appeal has ruled. |
Scottish council staff urged to reject ‘unacceptable’ pay offer
13/04/2018 A Scottish trade union has urged its members to reject the offer of a pay increase up to 3%. |
More than 2,000 council staff earn over £100,000
11/04/2018 More than 2,300 council employees were paid more than £100,000 in 2016-17, according to the latest ‘town hall rich list’. |
Update: All three unions accept council pay deal
10/04/2018 A two-year pay deal for more than one million local government workers is set to be rubber-stamped following decisions by all three unions involved to accept it. |
Unison accepts 2% pay rise for local government staff
10/04/2018 A two-year pay deal for more than one million local government workers looks likely to go ahead after the biggest of the three unions involved decided to accept it. |
Gender pay gap data - treat with caution
10/04/2018 Mark Whitehead explains why the new gender pay gap figures reveal a somewhat more mixed picture of what is actually going on. |
The gender pay gap: local government's national perspective
05/04/2018 Why do some councils have a gender pay gap and how are they going to address it? Mark Whitehead investigates. |
Councils praised for narrowing the gender pay gap
04/04/2018 Local government leaders have pointed to the high proportion of women in in lower-paid part-time jobs as the main reason for the differences in average rates compared to men. |
Early figures suggest men earn 6% more than women in local government
28/03/2018 Men in local government earn on average 6% per hour more than women according to the latest data being collected by the Government. |
Union members vote to accept 2% pay rise for council staff
12/03/2018 The vast majority of GMB members have voted to accept the 2% local government pay offer. |
North Ayrshire settles 500 equal pay claims
06/03/2018 North Ayrshire Council has settled hundreds of outstanding equal pay claims after months of delay. |
Data reveals 'significant' ethnic pay gap in the Greater London Authority Group
05/03/2018 New data has revealed there is a 'significant' pay difference between white people and those from a Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) background working for the the Greater London Authority (GLA) Group. |
Care England wins right to intervene in sleep-in care case
20/02/2018 Care England has been granted the right to intervene in the Court of Appeal’s sleep-in-shift case raising hopes the care sector’s impending £400m financial crisis can be averted. |
Councils call for funding to pay for future pay rises
19/02/2018 Scottish council leaders are pressing Holyrood for additional resources and clarity over local government pay. |
Council faces legal action over outstanding equal pay awards
13/02/2018 Fife Council is facing fresh legal proceedings over the non-payment of equal pay awards, a trade union has warned. |
Labour accuses Government of 'holding back' local government
29/01/2018 Labour MPs have urged ministers to provide ‘strategic vision’ for local government. |
A better pay deal for local government?
24/01/2018 With all three unions rejecting the pay offer to local government staff, just what chance do they have of winning more money for council workers? Mark Whitehead explores. |
Unison narrowly rejects pay offer to council staff
23/01/2018 The union with the biggest membership among local government workers has voted to reject the 2% pay offer made by the employers late last year. |
Scottish government under pressure over council pay
22/01/2018 Scotland’s Government is under pressure to reverse planned council budget cuts after MSPs warned ministers created an ‘expectation’ town hall staff would receive pay hikes. |
Unions call for 6.5% pay increase for Scottish council workers
15/01/2018 Trade unions representing local government workers across Scotland have called for a 6.5% pay rise for Scottish council workers. |
Union urges council staff to reject pay offer
15/01/2018 A trade union is calling on local government members to reject the offer of a 2% pay rise this year. |
Council proposes stopping sick pay for three days
14/12/2017 A council’s proposal to stop sick pay for the first three days of an employee’s absence has been criticised as an ‘affront’ to workers. |
Unions make 5% pay increase claim for local government craft workers
11/12/2017 Unions have submitted a pay claim for increases of at least 5% for local government craft workers who mainly carry out housing and maintenance work. |
Council leaders demand end to pay cap
07/12/2017 Nearly 100 council leaders have written to the chancellor demanding extra funding for workers and an end to the public sector pay cap. |
A 2% pay rise will help retain hard-pressed staff
07/12/2017 Councils want to pay staff more, but they can only afford 2%, writes Heather Jameson. |
Council employees offered ‘overdue’ pay rise
05/12/2017 Council employees have been offered a ‘long overdue’ two-year pay increase starting next year. |
Scrap public sector pay cap, petition demands
04/12/2017 A petition demanding the Government scrap the pay cap and give public servants a ‘meaningful pay rise’ will be debated in Parliament. |
Budget 2017: Devolution and housing key planks in speech
22/11/2017 Philip Hammond’s first Autumn Budget has seen the chancellor unveil a raft of new devolution deals, measures to boost housing and changes to resolve issues with controversial Universal Credit. |
Public sector pay cap ‘false economy’, unions warn
21/11/2017 The public sector pay cap has reduced spending power in England by £8.5bn this year, according to the TUC. |
Half the cost of a 5% pay rise for council staff would be offset in tax, says union
16/11/2017 Half the cost of a pay claim for council workers would be offset by increased taxes and other factors, according to local government unions. |
One in 10 council workers paid below living wage
03/11/2017 Local government union Unison is calling on the government to inject cash into councils to make them 'living wage employers'. |
Rate rise adds 'insult to injury' for public sector workers
02/11/2017 The Bank of England's interest rate rise adds 'insult to injury' for public sector employees, union chief Dave Prentis has claimed. |
Council staff told to take mandatory unpaid leave
02/11/2017 Northamptonshire County Council has told its staff they must take a day’s mandatory unpaid leave as part of an effort to save £2m a month. |
New scheme to resolve sleep-in care crisis leaves questions ‘unanswered’
02/11/2017 The Government has ‘failed’ to resolve the sleep-in care crisis with the announcement of a new pay compliance scheme, social care disability providers warn. |
Council heads paid off with £300,000 after suspected misconduct
01/11/2017 Two suspended council heads are to receive a nearly £300,000 combined pay off as their employment is terminated due to questions over past pay rises. |
Salford announces pay rise for care workers ‘well above’ NLW
09/10/2017 Salford City Council has announced it will start paying ‘well above’ the National Living Wage (NLW) to its care workers. |
Councils face recruitment crisis unless pay restraint eased, say financial experts
20/09/2017 Councils could face a management-level recruitment and retention crisis unless public sector pay restraint is eased, a respected think-tank has warned. |
Agreement ending teaching assistant pay dispute in Derby collapses
18/09/2017 An agreement aimed at ending a long-running pay dispute between teaching assistants and Derby council has fallen through raising the threat of further strikes. |
Union claims pay cap is stripping billions of pounds from council budgets
13/09/2017 A major union has accused the Government of stripping billions of pounds from the local authorities, schools and police forces to enforce a cap on public sector pay. |
Newcastle backs calls for a 5% pay rise for all staff
07/09/2017 There should be a 5% pay rise for council staff and a review of the pay spine, according to calls by Newcastle Council. |
A third of equal pay claims still not settled by Scottish councils
07/09/2017 Councils in Scotland have spent £750m settling equal pay claims since 2004, with 27,000 claims still outstanding, a public spending watchdog has revealed. |
Public sector pay cap could be lifted next year
05/09/2017 Theresa May is considering scrapping the 1% cap on pay rises for public sector workers, according to reports about the upcoming autumn Budget. |
Nursery staff facing pay cuts over free childcare rollout says think tank
04/09/2017 The Government’s new 30-hours free childcare scheme is so underfunded that nurseries would have to pay their staff below the minimum wage to make it work, according to new research. |
Council payroll error prevents 20,000 teachers receiving salaries
25/08/2017 Tens of thousands of teachers in Essex have not received their salaries due to a council payroll error. |
Thousands of council staff in Glasgow win equal pay ruling
22/08/2017 Glasgow City Council will look into making payments to potentially thousands of women workers after a court ruling suggested that the council might have been paying them less than their male colleagues. |
Public sector workers work £11bn of unpaid overtime a year, union says
24/07/2017 Two million public sector workers regularly work unpaid overtime, union says in response to chancellor’s suggestion public sector workers are ‘overpaid’. |
Back pay ruling could lead to social care crisis, warns charity
19/07/2017 The learning disabilities sector faces a funding crisis after a tribunal ruled support workers must be paid six years of back pay, a charity has warned today. |
Don’t ‘abandon’ austerity, free market think tank says
13/07/2017 ‘Abandoning austerity is no solution’, says free-market policy think tank amid calls to lift the public sector pay cap. |
Ending public sector pay cap would cost £10bn, think tank says
10/07/2017 Ending the public sector pay cap could cost nearly £10bn over the next five years, warns think tank. |
Late council payments to SMEs worth millions ‘major issue’, report warns
30/06/2017 A new study has revealed that over 40% of top tier local government sourcing comes from SMEs, but late payment by councils is ‘frequently a major issue’. |
Council publishes new pay offer to teaching assistants
20/06/2017 Proposals aimed at ending a long-running dispute with teaching assistants in Durham could mean more than three quarters of the staff being given a pay rise. |
Unions call for 5% pay increase for council staff
15/06/2017 Local government workers should be given a 5% pay rise following eight years of government-imposed pay restraint, trade unions have argued. |
Council strike averted under new trade union rules
02/06/2017 Industrial action in Scotland over local government pay has been scuppered after a ballot by Unison failed to reach the minimum threshold of the new Trade Union Act. |
Glasgow CC faces accusations of discrimination in equal pay case
31/05/2017 Thousands of low paid women are set to make equal pay claims against Glasgow City Council after winning a court victory. |
In-work poverty hits record numbers, report reveals
23/05/2017 Over half of those living in poverty in the UK live in a household where someone is in work, research reveals. |
Public sector pay freeze causing recruitment ‘crisis’, warns union
22/05/2017 Public sector recruitment hovers on the ‘brink of crisis’, union says as think tank warns the squeeze on public sector pay may force workers to move to the private sector. |
This issue of Public Property examines how public sector organisations can unlock the hidden value in their land, and why a new approach to construction could help boost the outcomes of the Government’s One Public Estate programme.
The December issue also considers why learnings from ancient cities could provide the key to promoting wellbeing in the modern built environment. It also contains a case study on how the London Borough of Westminster has provided high quality care for the elderly alongside a block of luxury apartments.
