20/02/2025

Southampton City Council has announced it will no longer post on X, formerly known as Twitter, in a decision it said was ‘fundamentally about values’.

21/10/2024

Chippenham Town Council has announced it will leave social media platform X amid ‘a significant increase in unfiltered and inappropriate content’.

29/07/2024

Social media campaigns costing almost £500,000 ‘did not represent value for money’, a report from Essex County Council's audit committee has said.

01/07/2024

A councillor who posed as a woman on Facebook to exchange explicit images with men has been found to have committed gross misconduct.

05/12/2023

For all those interested in keeping up to date with the latest local government news, LocalGov.co.uk is now available on Facebook and Instagram.

03/10/2023

North Lanarkshire Council has suspended Twitter users’ ability to comment on its posts and said people’s anger over a decision to close 39 facilities ‘does not entitle them to post abuse’.

17/05/2023

Council leaders in Northern Ireland have raised concerns about the abuse and intimidation of candidates in this year’s local council election campaign.

13/04/2023

North Yorkshire Council has banned the use of TikTok on council devices due to digital security concerns.

04/11/2021

Elizabeth Denham offers five recommendations to help Freedom of Information staff deal with requests at a time when the use of private correspondence channels is increasing.

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.

08/01/2021

Coventry City Council and its opposition party have distanced themselves from a tweet by an independent councillor, voicing support for Donald Trump.

22/07/2020

Daniel Piddington warns that councils need to tread carefully when staff bring them into disrepute using personal social media accounts.

13/12/2019

A Scottish council has apologised for what it described as a ‘lack of clarity’ after it told voters they required ID to vote.

28/11/2018

A council leader has gone online to apologise to residents over chaos caused by a reorganisation of bin collections.

26/09/2018

A councillor has been charged for posting allegedly ‘obscene’ and ‘menacing’ messages on social media.

06/09/2018

Mark Whitehead explains why councils are right to use fake Facebook profiles to track down illegal activities.

05/09/2018

The Redditch councillor who set up David Cameron’s official Facebook page has designed his own chatbot service to help local people communicate with the council.

10/04/2018

Gateshead Council has been forced to hit back at a conspiracy theory which claims it is carrying out secret Government trials using its street lights.

06/04/2018

From death threats to online harassment, just why are councillors subject to increasing levels of abuse? Neil Merrick investigates.

23/02/2018

A former apprentice at Southwark Council has been fined after illegally sharing personal information about schoolchildren and their parents via Snapchat.

02/02/2018

Neil Merrick explains how local authorities can get the most from social media and avoid potential pitfalls.

17/07/2017

The mayor of Leeds has been forced to speak out after suffering a barrage of online abuse when hackers posted racist comments in her name.

23/05/2017

An analysis over three months last year revealed 188,000 abusive tweets were sent to MPs, with Brexit marking a high point for online abuse.

15/05/2017

A Conservative councillor has been suspended following a racist tweet he made during the Eurovision song contest.

26/04/2017

In a new podcast, Lord Porter charts his political journey from bolshie school kid to Conservative peer leading the Local Government Association.

11/04/2017

The Electoral Commission has partnered with Snapchat as part of a campaign to remind voters in Scotland to register for the council elections.

15/12/2016

A London Council has shocked residents after it included crying face emojis on an online council tax bill.

25/11/2016

Heated negotiations between Kettering Borough Council and Hollywood star over Christmas plans have broken down, LocalGov is sorry to report.

25/11/2016

Oldham Council has been inundated with hilarious suggestions after it invited local children to name its new gritter.

21/11/2016

Exeter City Council beats the big metropolitan cities to the top spot of the social media charts.

15/11/2016

Thousands of local authority staff and councillors are taking part in a 24-hour tweetathon today, showcasing the diverse and varied work they do.

01/08/2016

The Isle of Wight has taken an unusual approach to challenging the Government’s austerity policies: it has released a single.

24/06/2016

Voters in in an East Midlands borough were told they could not use their own pen to put a cross on their ballot papers - even though official guidelines say they can.

22/06/2016

A Yorkshire councillor has been suspended after he made offensive comments about the charity fund set up in memory of murdered MP Jo Cox.

14/06/2016

Cambridgeshire County Council has said it will no longer use the services of legal firm Baker Small, following inappropriate tweets it made about SEND tribunals.

23/05/2016

Music and sports fans are at risk of a huge increase in online ticket fraud, council leaders have warned.

11/04/2016

Your favourite source of local government news has recently expanded its social media outreach and can now be found on Facebook.

26/01/2016

An investigation by the BBC has found there was a 19% rise in council workers being suspended last year for breaking social media rules.

16/12/2015

71% of local authorities believe that social media represents an opportunity to make savings, according to a new report.

09/12/2015

Two Labour councillors have been caught watching a football game during a finance debate at Croydon Council.

08/12/2015

Duncan Farley examines the trends that are encouraging staff to work in more efficient ways, helping to save money and get more done with less.

08/12/2015

People are failing to recommend or share information from their local authority online, a new survey has revealed.

18/11/2015

Councils have thrown themselves into the national #OurDay tweetathon today to spread the word about work done by local authorities.

16/11/2015

William Eichler gears up for local government's annual tweetathon.

19/10/2015

The Government is to invest £5m to build a network of grassroots organisations as part of its efforts to tackle extremism.

08/10/2015

Nicola Millard argues that local authorities must ensure their network infrastructure can flex up and down to meet public demand.

21/09/2015

Almost two-thirds of public sector workers spend time in ‘inefficient and unproductive’ meetings every week, according to a survey.

06/07/2015

New advice for councillors set to be launched in a South West borough could urge members not to use Twitter when feeling upset or drinking alcohol.

11/06/2015

The number of dog owners fined for failing to pick up their pooch’s poo fell almost a fifth in the last year, research has revealed.

21/05/2015

‘Nine-to-Five’ superstar Dolly Parton has praised Nottingham City Council for its support of child reading, gifting the town hall an exclusive new song to help local fundraising.

13/05/2015

Only a quarter of councils offer more than half of their core services online, according to new research into the progress of digital transformation.

08/05/2015

Leader of Respect, George Galloway, has been accused of breaching election laws over a tweet.

07/05/2015

David Cameron has been the most talked about party leader on social media over the past 90 days, although he also had the most negative tweets about him, according to new research.

07/05/2015

Councils are deploying kittens, historic bridges and dancing automatons as part of a social media drive to get the UK voting.

06/05/2015

A council has come under fire after painting a set of double yellow lines measuring less than a metre long on a residential street.

28/04/2015

A new social media hub has been launched to help local government get to grips with Twitter and online communication.

24/04/2015

Councils have been urged to develop initiatives that encourage a more active contribution from the public, as a new report hails the benefits of public engagement.

17/04/2015

A union member has re-written Kylie Minogue’s smash hit ‘Do the Loco-Motion’ as a protest song against council outsourcing.

01/04/2015

Scarborough Borough Council has been left red-faced after accidently asking residents to pay for their parking permits with cheese rather than a cheque.

31/03/2015

Paul O'Brien reflects on research among councillors, which shows that non-executive members provide a vital connection between residents and front-line services but feel marginalised from decision-making.

23/03/2015

A council has defended a controversial video showing a man going to the toilet in the street, released as part of anti-dog fouling campaign.

16/03/2015

Councils are warning that ‘winter is coming’ for budget cuts in a new Game of Thrones parody unveiled by England’s cities.

05/03/2015

An online blunder has seen Tavistock Town Council advertising for a ‘general hand job vacancy’, prompting sniggering on social media.

02/03/2015

A Facebook campaign encouraging 18 year olds to register to vote has been launched by the Electoral Commission.

15/01/2015

Local authorities are being urged to join a new social media network, in a bid to be more transparent.

06/01/2015

A councillor has quit as leader of a Liberal Democrat group after suggesting an alleged rape victim was too ugly to have been assaulted.

05/01/2015

More than 3,500 people have backed a social media campaign opposing the reported £275,000 ‘golden handshake’ for Derry City Council’s out-going chief executive.

17/12/2014

Communities secretary Eric Pickles would choose to play Scrooge, the protagonist of Charles Dickens’ legendary short story ‘A Christmas Carol’ in pantomime, it has emerged.

04/12/2014

Four councillors involved in a filmed burning of a copy of the Smith Commission report have been suspended from the Scottish National Party (SNP).

04/12/2014

Two-thirds of councils are now using social media, with 77% saying it can lead to savings if used correctly, according to a new report.

02/12/2014

MPs have called on the public to send in questions for communities secretary Eric Pickles on subjects including devolution, housing and council budgets.

26/11/2014

Councillors and council staff are set to take part in a 24-hour social media marathon today, showcasing their daily experiences in local government.

06/11/2014

A council has been forced to distance itself from two bonfire effigies of Alex Salmond, which are now under investigation by police.

29/09/2014

Havering Council has admitted warnings that young girls are being sexually exploited are ‘nowhere near as significant as first feared’, after a letter was accidently sent to parents.

10/09/2014

Research suggests residents in a North Yorkshire seaside resort are the most likely to swear on Twitter in the UK.

27/08/2014

A Scottish council has been forced to apologise after sending an offensive tweet to Alistair Darling during Monday’s referendum debate.

21/08/2014

A council’s shock campaign to tackle dog fouling has caused outrage on social media after a poster showed a toddler ‘eating’ poo.

18/08/2014

Government cuts could force Flintshire County Council to find £18m of savings next year, with social services, education and waste collections all under scrutiny.

15/08/2014

A charity that produced a tourism map in a shape resembling a penis believes the mistake would have paid off if it attracts more visitors.

14/08/2014

Aberdeen City Council has been left red-faced after a headline blunder on its in-house magazine won international notoriety.

06/08/2014

A new law allowing the public to film, record and tweet from council meetings will support 'healthy local democracy', according to communities secretary Eric Pickles.

04/08/2014

A council has refused to reinstate a firefighter of 25 years’ service who was sacked for tweeting about strike action.

02/07/2014

Disciplinary action has been launched by the Green Party against a councillor who called armed forces personnel ‘hired killers’ on Twitter.

12/06/2014

Less than 20% of housing associations across the UK have a full understanding of their existing technology according to a new survey.

30/05/2014

The deputy leader of Stoke on Trent City Council has been suspended from the Labour Party after sending messages to a local radio station under false identities.

07/05/2014

Party leaders should deliver their top five election promises on twitter in order to secure the youth vote, according to a new study.

24/04/2014

Should councils be more aware of the risks associated with using social media?

24/02/2014

An ‘utterly reckless and totally irresponsible’ killer craze should be cracked down on by social media giants Twitter and Facebook, councils have urged.

13/02/2014

The Isle of Wight Council is to host a live Q&A session on Facebook to allows residents to question members on the council’s budget.

03/02/2014

The fast pace of technological advances has left local authorities ‘playing catch-up’ in their attempts to crack down on child sexual abuse, experts have warned.

30/01/2014

Dudley Council has become the first in the country to hold public meetings on Facebook, with thousands of people viewing the discussions online.

23/01/2014

Communities secretary Eric Pickles has insisted he ‘bashes’ local government because he loves the sector.

06/01/2014

Communities secretary Eric Pickles will not escape a public grilling from Twitter users after a session cancelled last year was rearranged for later this month.

11/12/2013

Next year will be the time of the ‘virtual authority’ with digital tools becoming the primary method of interacting with councils, new research is predicting.

09/10/2013

Brent council will integrate Twitter with live streaming of council meetings, as part of Local Democracy Week 2013.

18/09/2013

Local authorities and Whitehall departments should analyse social media to develop policies and be more responsive in delivering public services, a top research network has advised.