Scotland's bus sector gets a £26m lifeline
County council’s finances face ‘unprecedented level’ of uncertainty
Rising wage bill could lead to service cuts
Social outcomes contracts save £3 for every £1 spent
The UK Infrastructure Bank's first loan to Tees Valley
What does the first 50-year £107m loan from the UK Infrastructure Bank mean for local government seeking investment? Mark Casey explains.
Local authorities urged to bid for £8m fund to accelerate tree planting
17/06/2022 Up to 50 local authorities will share £7.8m to train and employ new staff to drive forward tree planting and woodland creation. |
Council chiefs urge pensioners to apply for cost-of-living benefits
15/06/2022 Local authority leaders today called on pensioners who are eligible for Pension Credit to apply for the top-up welfare payment to help with the cost of living. |
Local government pension schemes urged to work in ‘coherent way’
14/06/2022 The regulatory framework around local government pension schemes should work in a more ‘joined-up and coherent way’, new report says. |
Counties in inflation funding call
14/06/2022 County councils have called for extra Government funding to cope with huge increases caused by inflation. |
Local government pension schemes set to increase private investments
13/06/2022 Local government pension funds are set to invest more in private markets due to increased confidence in the levels of transparency, new research has revealed. |
Warning over second s114 at troubled council
08/06/2022 Conservative-run Northumberland Council may be hit by a second section 114, a senior officer has admitted. |
Government ‘gambling’ with levelling up funding
08/06/2022 Levelling up should be delivered with ‘measurable targets’, council leaders say as MPs raise questions over the funding of the Government’s flagship agenda. |
LGPS funds plan to increase local social investing
07/06/2022 Nearly nine out of ten (89%) Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) funds are planning to increase their allocation to local social investing in the next few years, a new survey has revealed. |
Four transport schemes receive £160m funding boost
06/06/2022 Ministers have announced or confirmed a total of £160.8m for four major road and bridge schemes on the local road network in England. |
Unions demand 'substantial' pay increase
06/06/2022 Councils will be consulted this month after local government trade unions demanded a ‘substantial’ pay increase amid rising costs of food, fuel and household bills. |
Scots councils face four years of cuts
01/06/2022 Scottish councils face four years of cuts under Spending Review plans outlined by Scotland’s finance minister Kate Forbes. |
New regulator to bring ‘greater transparency’ to council finances announced
31/05/2022 The Government today confirmed plans to establish a new regulator aimed at increasing the level of transparency in local authority finance systems. |
Green projects to receive £100,000 to attract investment
31/05/2022 Fifty projects aimed at driving private investment in nature and tackling climate change are to receive £100,000. |
New living wage to be announced early due to cost of living crisis
30/05/2022 Campaigners fighting for employers to pay a living wage has announced it will be bringing its new 2022-23 rate announcement forward to September. |
MPs call for levelling up funding ‘transparency’
27/05/2022 MPs have called for ‘more information and more transparency’ when it comes to levelling up grants and funding pots. |
Council tax loophole costs councils £150m a year
25/05/2022 Local authorities are missing out on millions of pounds worth of council tax income because of a loophole in the business rates system, company warns. |
Councils urged to draw on crisis management skills
24/05/2022 Scotland’s councils should draw on their COVID-19 experiences when handling the new challenges posed by service backlogs and rising inflation, watchdog says. |
North Yorkshire councils’ spending limited ahead of new unitary authority
24/05/2022 Michael Gove has issued a direction which restricts North Yorkshire councils from taking any big financial decisions before creation of the unitary authority. |
Northumberland issues s114 over unlawful finances
23/05/2022 Northumberland CC has issued a section 114 notice for unlawful expenditure – including allowances paid to its chief executive Daljit Lally. |
Government announces £300m fund to tackle youth crime
20/05/2022 Councils across England and Wales will be able to draw on a £300m fund aimed at cutting youth crime. |
Children’s care services ‘stuck in crisis mode’
20/05/2022 Council chiefs call for reform of the children’s social care system as spending to provide support to vulnerable children increases by a quarter in five years. |
Eight more projects benefit from Community Ownership Fund
19/05/2022 Community groups have been given more than £2.2m of government funding to take control of eight venues at risk of being lost forever. |
Combined authority signs £4bn agreement with Legal & General
18/05/2022 WMCA and L&G have today signed a partnership agreement with L&G committing to invest £4bn in regeneration, housing and levelling up across the West Midlands. |
Trust seeks £150m to acquire more homes to rent to councils
17/05/2022 Real estate investment trust Home REIT is looking to raise £150m to support its plans to acquire more homes to let out to charities and councils. |
Poorest households struggle to get £150 energy rebate
17/05/2022 The poorest households are struggling to get the £150 energy rebate that local authorities have been tasked with paying, an energy charity has warned. |
Centre has 'poor understanding' of what works on local growth, says NAO expert
16/05/2022 A large proportion of government spending is ‘not robustly evaluated’ and there is poor understanding by the centre about which approaches to local economic growth work best, says an expert from the National Audit Office. |
DfT spent 15 times more on private than public EV chargers
12/05/2022 Study reveals public money spent on installing off-street residential electric vehicle chargers is 15 times what has been spent on public on-street chargers. |
Chancellor urged to use £20bn windfall to support struggling households
11/05/2022 The Chancellor should use some of the reported £20bn fiscal windfall to provide emergency support to squeezed households, report says. |
Councils encouraged to apply for share of £128m culture fund
10/05/2022 Cultural venues including museums, galleries and public libraries are being encouraged to submit expressions of interest to receive a share of £128m. |
Queen's Speech: Business rates set for overhaul
10/05/2022 It has been confirmed a ‘Non-Domestic Rating Bill’ will form part of the agenda during the next Parliamentary session. |
Council agrees to pay extra costs for bridge restoration project
05/05/2022 Newport City Council has agreed to pay the extra costs for the Transporter Bridge transformation project after the original contractors went into administration. |
Councils allocated £28m to cover costs of council tax rebate
05/05/2022 Local authorities have been allocated just over £28m to help cover the costs of administrating the council tax rebate scheme. |
£200m falls short of saving Johnson's zero emission target
04/05/2022 Prime minister Boris Johnson is set to fail in his pledge to deliver 4,000 zero emission buses to England's roads, despite the Department for Transport having another £200m to spend. |
Green spaces provide £25.6bn of ‘welfare value’ every year, study finds
04/05/2022 A new study has shown that parks and green spaces in England and Wales provide adults with £25.6bn of ‘welfare value’ each year. |
MPs warn of ‘eye-watering’ levels of fraud in COVID scheme
27/04/2022 The Government is ‘complacent’ about preventing ‘eye-watering’ levels of fraud in the COVID Bounceback Loan Scheme (CBLS), new report by the PAC concludes. |
Council chiefs warn of energy rebate scam
19/04/2022 Local authority leaders are warning residents about a new scam where cold callers pretend to be helping people claim the Government’s £150 energy rebate. |
Councils pay out £12m in pothole compensation
13/04/2022 Councils and road authorities paid out more than £12m in compensation to motorists whose cars were damaged by potholes between 2018 and 2021, research reveals. |
Government unveils £2.6bn UK Shared Prosperity Fund
13/04/2022 The Scottish Government has said it has been short-changed by its allocation of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. |
Value of benefit payments at 50-year low
11/04/2022 Today’s increase in benefit payments marks the greatest fall in the value of the basic rate of unemployment benefit since 1972, think tank says. |
Councils urged to apply for grants to tackle gum pollution
08/04/2022 Councils are being urged to apply for funding to clean chewing gum off of pavements and help prevent people from dropping gum in the first place. |
Cost of living crisis risks leaving levelling up ‘dead on arrival’
07/04/2022 The Government’s levelling up agenda could be undermined by a deepening North-South divide exacerbated by the cost of living crisis, a think tank has warned. |
Council staff on £100,000 increased during pandemic
06/04/2022 Senior pay is decided in a ‘transparent way’, council chiefs say in response to report that the number of council staff receiving over £100,000 increased. |
Councils ‘shafted’ over £1bn bus funding allocations
05/04/2022 The Government has announced a raft of local transport cash allocations but the news was overshadowed by angry local reactions. |
New restrictions on use of capital receipts
05/04/2022 Councils have been able to use funds from asset sales to cover revenue costs of projects that reduce costs, increase income, or improve efficiency since 2016. |
Cost of nursery up £1,500
04/04/2022 The average family now spends nearly £1,500 more on a nursery place than five years ago, an analysis by Labour has revealed. |
Over £1bn of support for vulnerable families
04/04/2022 Vulnerable families across the UK are set to receive around £1bn of support to help them access advice and services, the Government has announced. |
Councils to fund housing for homeless refugees
01/04/2022 Local authorities will have to pick up the bill for accommodating homeless Ukrainian refugees from their own budgets, a minister has said. |
Landlords call for ‘absurd’ housing benefit freeze to be lifted
01/04/2022 Landlords have called on the Government to unfreeze the Local Housing Allowance to cover the average rent. |
Households in ‘fuel stress’ set to double
01/04/2022 The number of English households in ‘fuel stress’ will double from 2.5 to 5 million as a result of the price cap rising from today, think tank warns. |
Welsh government announces £25m to roll out free school meals
31/03/2022 The Welsh government is investing £25m in school kitchen and dining infrastructure to roll out free school meals to all primary school children in Wales. |
Shell is helping power the journey towards a circular paving industry with Shell Bitumen LT R, a new product for roads that uses plastics destined for landfill as part of the additives to make the bitumen.
Effective Energy Group is now offering its support to the 40 Local Authorities who have received a share of the £430m to deliver their projects on the ground by surveying properties and installing measures.
Dougie Belmore explains how one of the main interfaces between you and Bacs is about to change.
