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.
Union launches Fair Funding campaign to save council jobs
19/05/2025 Unite has launched a campaign calling for an overhaul of how local authorities are funded to prevent further bankruptcies and job and public service cuts. |
London boroughs face £264m council housing cuts
15/05/2025 London boroughs will need to reduce spending on social housing by £264m over three years to avoid the collapse of their council housing finances, report warns. |
West Midlands councils benefit from £12m pothole boost
13/05/2025 Six local authorities in the West Midlands are due to receive £12m of funding to help resurface roads and repair up to 132,000 potholes. |
Nottingham still 'dependent upon EFS'
12/05/2025 Nottingham City Council remains dependent on exceptional financial support (EFS) but has laid the groundwork for becoming sustainable, commissioners say. |
Trading standards teams struggle due to inadequate funding
07/05/2025 Nineteen local authorities failed to carry out standard inspections of businesses last year due to a lack of funding and resources, according to new research. |
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’. |
Councils struggling to cover animal welfare costs
30/04/2025 Local authority efforts to enforce animal welfare legislation are undermined by cost restraints, according to a report by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI). |
Urgent need for teacher training amidst schools crisis
29/04/2025 The Government should provide £260m to fund a new 'national entitlement' to teacher training to help raise school standards, think tank says. |
Charity criticises 40% adoption funding cut
16/04/2025 Adoption experts have criticized the Government’s decision to cut funding for therapy for adopted children in England. |
Local transport in Wales gets £110m boost
11/04/2025 The Welsh Government has announced an investment of £110m to boost local transport. |
Early intervention spending down 40%
08/04/2025 Spending on early intervention children's services has plummeted by more than 40% since the onset of austerity, research has found. |
Council urged to take 'more strategic approach' to transformation
08/04/2025 A watchdog has urged Argyll and Bute Council to take a more ‘strategic approach' to transforming services to help close a £29m funding gap. |
Care leaders call for NIC bridging fund
04/04/2025 Care leaders have called for the creation of a ‘bridging’ fund to mitigate the impact of the rise in National Insurance Contributions (NICs). |
London’s boroughs call for ‘seat at the table’ in devo settlement
03/04/2025 London’s councils have called for joint decision-making arrangements between the mayor and the capital’s boroughs as part of a new devolution settlement. |
EXCLUSIVE: Sector bodies decline to join legal challenge
03/04/2025 County Councils Network and Rural Services Network will not financially support legal action over axing of the £100m rural services grant, The MJ understands. |
Temporary accommodation crisis ‘utterly shameful’, MPs say
03/04/2025 Council chiefs have urged the Government to increase the temporary accommodation subsidy as MPs warn homeless children are living in ‘appalling conditions’. |
One-year £28m 'capacity and capability' grant allocated
01/04/2025 The Department for Transport has announced allocations from a one-year grant of around £28m to enable local transport authorities to build 'capacity'. |
Flood defences get £2.65bn boost
31/03/2025 The Government has announced an investment of £2.65bn over two years to improve flood protection in local areas. |
Croydon woman breaks back after care funding cut
28/03/2025 A woman in Croydon sustained a serious back injury using an NHS bed turning aid after the local authority cut funding for her night-time care. |
Schools for pupils with SEND short by 8k places
28/03/2025 Department for Education figures have revealed that the shortage of places in special schools for secondary pupils in England worsened by 25% in 2023/24. |
Trading standards services get £10m boost
26/03/2025 The Government has announced an investment of £10m to help improve trading standards services across England. |
Somerset could be in need of exceptional financial support
25/03/2025 Somerset Council has been found to have 45 ‘key risks' that mean it may need exceptional financial support from the Government. |
Affordable housing gets £2bn funding boost
25/03/2025 The Government has announced £2bn in funding aimed at delivering up to 18,000 new social and affordable homes. |
Government green lights Plymouth financial support
25/03/2025 The Government has green lighted Exceptional Financial Support (EFS) worth £72m for Plymouth City Council following a review of its finances. |
Great British Energy announces £10m for metro mayors
24/03/2025 Metro mayors are set to benefit from a £10m funding boost from Great British Energy aimed at supporting the delivery of new clean energy projects. |
Council chiefs warn Chancellor of ‘devastating’ financial pressures
24/03/2025 Nearly three quarters of local authorities in England have warned it will be very or fairly difficult to set a balanced budget this financial year. |
PM tells councils to ‘get on with the job’ of fixing potholes
24/03/2025 Councils will be required to publish progress reports on what they are doing to tackle potholes if they are to access £1.6bn of highway maintenance funding. |
British Library’s £1.1bn expansion finds a backer
20/03/2025 The British Library’s £1.1bn expansion plans have received a significant boost after securing the backing of Japanese developer Mitsui Fudosan. |
School absences up two-thirds since before pandemic
18/03/2025 Absences and suspensions from school are two-thirds higher than before the pandemic, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). |
Potholes: Treating the illness not just the symptom
17/03/2025 With the publication of the ALARM survey, chair of the Asphalt Industry Alliance, David Giles, talks to LocalGov about investing in local roads. |
ALARM: Pothole repairs backlog hits £17bn
17/03/2025 Council chiefs have repeated their call for long-term funding for road maintenance as the ALARM survey reveals the pothole repairs backlog has reached £17bn. |
Think tanks calls for doubling of mayoral capacity fund
14/03/2025 A think tank has urged the Government to commit to doubling the mayoral capacity fund to help strengthen capacity and accountability in combined authorities. |
Childcare providers warn of cuts to funded places
13/03/2025 Nurseries, preschools and childminders face a ‘perfect storm of challenges’ amid the expansion of the Government's funded childcare scheme, survey reveals. |
Prevention services 'at risk'
12/03/2025 Prevention services are ‘at risk' because of rising social care spending, a local government leader has warned. |
Council approves £2.5m Rose sculptures
06/03/2025 Barnsley Council has approved £2.5m of funding for three Yorkshire Rose sculptures in the town centre. |
DfT throws Norfolk – and Shropshire – a lifeline
05/03/2025 The Department for Transport (DfT) has said it will not ask Norfolk County Council to return £33m funding towards its shelved £274m link road. |
Council chiefs call for £452m for free bus passes
05/03/2025 Local authority leaders have called on the Government to plug the nearly half a billion pound shortfall caused by the funding of free bus passes. |
Zurich calls for more cash to improve local road safety
04/03/2025 A major council insurer has called for increased funding for local authority road maintenance and more flexibility when spending it. |
Council chiefs back call for funding creatives
04/03/2025 Local government leaders have backed a call to provide more financial support to smaller creative industries which can ‘drive local growth.’ |
Shortfall worsens after allocation changes
04/03/2025 Councils are facing an additional £76m shortfall in their temporary accommodation budgets following changes to the allocation of £440m homelessness grant. |
£1.5bn announced for ‘left behind’ neighbourhoods
04/03/2025 Towns across the UK to benefit from a £1.5bn cash boost aimed at reviving high streets, improving local public services, and driving regeneration. |
Wealth fund backs social housing retrofit loans
03/03/2025 The National Wealth Fund (NWF) has announced plans to guarantee £250m of loans to housing associations to support the retrofitting of social housing. |
Councils welcome ‘gamechanger’ regeneration funding
03/03/2025 Oldham Council and Rochdale Borough Council have been granted £20m each to support a range of regeneration schemes. |
Council leader: Legally challenging grant axing worthwhile
03/03/2025 North Yorkshire Council's legal action against the Government over a £14m funding cut could cost more than £250,000. |
Report finds fall in provision of long-term care
28/02/2025 Councils provided long-term care to fewer people last year than they did a decade ago, according to a new report. |
London’s high streets get £21m regeneration boost
28/02/2025 London’s high streets are to benefit from £21m additional funding this year aimed at regenerating the capital’s high streets. |
Council bailouts could ‘create longer-term risk’, warns NAO
27/02/2025 The spending watchdog has called for a ‘whole-system’ approach to fixing local government finance and warned that bailouts could ‘create longer-term risk.’ |
Call to scrap ringfence in homelessness funding
27/02/2025 The Local Government Association (LGA) has urged the Government to scrap a new ringfence within the homelessness prevention grant. |
New funding for local government to tackle digital exclusion
26/02/2025 The Government has announced that new funding will be available to help local and combined authorities to tackle digital exclusion. |
Extra £30m to combat homelessness
26/02/2025 An additional £30m in emergency funding has been allocated to councils in England to help prevent evictions and support rough sleepers. |
Hospices set to benefit from £100m boost
26/02/2025 Hospices across England are set to receive £25m of funding for facility upgrades and refurbishments, the Government has confirmed. |
Funding floor for Welsh councils
24/02/2025 Councils in Wales are to see an average funding increase of 4.3%, following the announcement of the Welsh Government's Budget. |
Council pledges extra £1m to castle restoration
24/02/2025 Newark and Sherwood District Council has pledged £1m to support the restoration of a historic castle after costs escalate. |
£270m boost for museums and galleries branded ‘sticking plaster’
21/02/2025 The announcement of £270m for museums and galleries is welcome but still just a ‘sticking plaster’ to cover a lack of funding, council chiefs say. |
Councils granted £1.5bn in Exceptional Financial Support
20/02/2025 Thirty cash-strapped local authorities have been granted more than £1.5bn in Exceptional Financial Support (EFS). |
Lack of asylum funding snag for reorganisation
20/02/2025 Funding for asylum seeker support has emerged as a sticking point in Kent's reorganisation plans. |
Sector calls for data and evidence to drive fair funding
19/02/2025 The Government should use the best available evidence and most up-to-date data to calculate local authority funding allocations, sector groups have said. |
End of statutory override could leave half of councils insolvent
19/02/2025 More than half of unitary and upper tier councils could be unable to balance their books when the statutory override for special needs spending expires, a survey has found. |
Funding boost helps council avoid cuts
18/02/2025 Coventry City Council has dropped proposed cuts to charity-run adult services, street cleaning and council tax support due to an increase in funding. |
Labour awards half of Tories’ ‘unfunded’ culture cash
17/02/2025 Ministers have announced today that £50m will be awarded to a string of culture projects – about half the level of funding promised by the Tories. |
£300m active travel funding allocated
14/02/2025 The Government has confirmed £291m for active travel over the next two years as well as reforms to Active Travel England's (ATE) local funding model. |
Rayner announces £350m affordable housing boost
12/02/2025 An extra £350m will be invested to boost the number of affordable homes and more will be done to stop rogue landlords getting benefits, the deputy PM says. |
Spending Review chance to end ‘permacrisis’
11/02/2025 The Spending Review is a chance to end the ‘permacrisis’ that has left a growing number of local authorities on the brink of bankruptcy, London Councils says. |
Council funding gap 'unbridgeable'
11/02/2025 The Treasury has come under fire from peers for adding to councils' financial pressures with increased National Insurance contributions. |
Cash-strapped Croydon requests £136m boost
10/02/2025 Croydon Council has requested £136m exceptional financial support from the Government. |
Government increases Public Health Grant by 5.4%
07/02/2025 A £200m boost to public health services has been announced by the Government. |
Minister told districts funding level 'just not acceptable'
07/02/2025 Local government minister Jim McMahon has responded to claims district authorities will see little increase in their funding this year. |
Alcohol-related deaths prompt health funding call
06/02/2025 The number of alcohol-related deaths hit record levels in 2023, prompting council chiefs to call for certainty over funding for public health services. |
Flood defence funding boost ‘tip of the iceberg’
05/02/2025 Defra's decision to top up funding for flood defences by £250m raises spending in this area to record levels but is still just ‘tip of the iceberg’, MPs say. |
LGA: Council tax increases no substitute for fixing funding
04/02/2025 Council leaders have warned council tax increases place ‘more financial burden on households’ without fixing the long-term pressures facing local government. |
Trading standards cuts expose millions to danger
03/02/2025 Millions of people are exposed to scams and dangerous products because of understaffed trading standards teams, a freedom of information request has revealed. |
Tax hikes agreed for just six councils
03/02/2025 Councils facing financial woes have been told to scale back council tax rises, just weeks before they put their new budgets in place. |
Children’s Services need support to deal with increasing complexity
03/02/2025 The Government must introduce long-term funding mechanisms for Children’s Services to address increasing complexity and rising demand, a new report says. |
Majority of county councils to hike up council tax
31/01/2025 Nine in ten county councils will have to raise council tax by the maximum permitted, the County Council Network (CCN) has warned. |
Andy Burnham adviser quits after report into £400k grant
30/01/2025 An adviser to Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has resigned following an investigation into a grant from Arts Council England (ACE). |
Council set to make £8.6m in savings
30/01/2025 Blackpool City Council is set to make £8.6m in savings but emphasises there will be no job losses at the current time. |
Bournemouth could borrow £57.5m to cover SEND deficit
30/01/2025 Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council has proposed borrowing £57.5m to tackle a funding gap for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision. |
New unitary seeks exceptional financial support
30/01/2025 A unitary council that is less than two years old is seeking exceptional financial support from Government. |
‘More work to do’, councillor responds to SEND petition
29/01/2025 Nottinghamshire County Council’s cabinet member for education and SEND, Cllr Ben Bradle, has acknowledged there is ‘more to do’ on SEND provision. |
DCN: Triple drainage board funding
29/01/2025 The District Councils' Network (DCN) has called on the Government to increase its funding to help local authorities struggling to pay drainage board levies. |
Three boroughs seek more than £120m financial support
28/01/2025 Three London boroughs have announced in the past week they are seeking exceptional financial support from the Government. |
‘No desire’ to address short-term homelessness system
24/01/2025 MPs examining the homelessness crisis have warned that there is seemingly ‘no desire to move away from an unsatisfactory short-term system’. |
Councillor threatens legal action over ‘Rayner's rural robbery’
23/01/2025 The deputy leader of North Yorkshire Council has accused the Government of ‘rural robbery’ over a reduction in funding and raised the spectre of legal action. |
Council commits £6.2m per year to long-term mental health funding
23/01/2025 Oxfordshire County Council has committed £6.2m each year for the next 10 years to a pooled budget for mental health services. |
Rough sleeping emergency fund boosted by £20m
20/01/2025 The Government today announced it was tripling the emergency funding available for rough sleepers this winter. |
Lancashire set to spend £14m on repairs at 61 schools
16/01/2025 Lancashire County Council has set out plans to spend a government grant on ‘urgent’ repairs at 61 schools. |
PAC: ‘Unviable’ SEND system pushing councils towards bankruptcy
15/01/2025 Almost half of all councils in England are in danger of effective bankruptcy within 15 months due in part to the ‘failing’ SEND system, MPs warn. |
Social care cannot wait for 2028 reform, report warns
14/01/2025 Social care is on the brink of collapse and cannot wait for Government reform in 2028, a report has warned. |
Special educational needs statutory override is 'abomination'
10/01/2025 Accountancy alone will not be enough to end the ‘abomination' of statutory overrides for special educational needs (SEN) budgets, a minister has said. |
Social care reform requires 'political courage'
09/01/2025 The Government's three-year timetable for reforming social care has been labelled ‘completely unnecessary' by Sir Andrew Dilnot. |
Schools face ‘death by a thousand cuts’, union says
08/01/2025 Headteachers have warned that schools and colleges will be forced to make cuts if costs continue to outstrip the growth in school funding. |
Social care ‘likely to deteriorate’ during wait for review
03/01/2025 Councils have warned that the social care sector is ‘likely to deteriorate’ during the three-year wait for the findings of a new independent commission. |
Local Welsh treasures receive £2m boost
24/12/2024 Over £2m will be awarded to seven local places in Wales including music venues and community and leisure centres. |
Starmer 'acutely aware' of SEND risk
23/12/2024 Starmer is ‘acutely aware' that demand and market failure across special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services are pushing councils to the brink. |
EXCLUSIVE: Public back council funding hike
23/12/2024 Two out of three people back calls to increase local government funding, a survey has found. |
GLA developer stuggles with £300m debt
23/12/2024 Auditors have warned a developer owned by the Greater London Authority (GLA) may require a rescue package. |
Quarter of extra pothole cash to be held back
20/12/2024 Ministers have confirmed an extra £500m for local road maintenance in England next year, but a quarter of the cash will be held back on the basis of an incentive process that has yet to be worked out. |
Cuts warnings after finance settlement announced
19/12/2024 The bodies representing district and county councils have warned that services will be cut next year after the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement was published yesterday. |
£2bn finance settlement boost announced
18/12/2024 Councils in England will receive a share of £2bn additional funding next year under the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement announced on Wednesday. |
Councils get £1bn to tackle homelessness
18/12/2024 Local authorities in England will receive the ‘largest ever’ cash injection into homelessness services next year, the Government has announced today. |
