A local authority can borrow for commercial return, as long as it primarily benefits those people in the authority’s area, writes CIPFA’s Mark Williams.
The failure to provide adequate records and working papers in Slough Borough Council’s 2018-19 statement of accounts has prompted its external auditors to issue an unprecedented opinion.
Poor councillor behaviour and strained relationships at a borough council have prevented the authority from moving forward, and underline the importance of constructive engagement and governance,...
Historic under-resourcing of Nottingham City Council’s finance department has weakened the authority’s finance function and led to significant inconsistencies in budget forecasts, external auditors...
The lowest-funded councils have called for “fundamental change” to the way local government is financed – or they risk having to make cuts across all services.
London mayor Sadiq Khan has pledged £130m of funding to provide free school meals for every primary school child in 2023-24 to support families through the cost-of-living crisis.
Councils will continue to struggle to afford housing for refugees without a funded central framework for responding to humanitarian crises, experts have said.
Scotland’s largest teaching union has rejected a pay offer it labelled insufficient, and signalled that planned strikes will continue until a better offer is tabled.
Concerns over a “completely unsustainable” financial position have forced the London Borough of Croydon to request additional government support, including the write-off of more than £500m of debt.
A council leader has criticised “civil servant and Treasury orthodoxy” in his resignation statement, saying he refuses to implement “maximum council tax and cuts to services”.
Unlocking accurate data enables organisations to realise their potential. Problems in your invoicing function can damage your relationships with suppliers, make it impossible to trust your own...
High construction costs and concern over the impact of interest rate rises mean Enfield Council will review how it delivers a 10,000-home development project, and the authority has already pressed...
Government proposals to move the date for annual Local Government Pension Scheme valuations mere weeks before the valuations take place will create further administrative burdens for funds, experts...
Millions returned to councils from a waste-to-energy plant prove a publicly owned facility is “far preferable” to paying for a private business to run the site, one of the councils has said.
Allowing three struggling local authorities to raise council tax beyond the normal limit only pushes the cost of their failure onto residents, experts have said.
Councils need additional income-raising powers and longer-term funding allocations in order to run sustainably, so the local government settlement remains a missed opportunity, senior figures in the...
A rare public interest report into historic governance issues at Cheshire East Council highlights the declining standards of public officials in recent years, the external auditors who published the...
Concerns over soaring private rental costs have prompted Westminster City Council to propose spending more than £80m to buy properties for temporary accommodation.
Proposals to improve oversight and transparency in the children’s care market are unlikely to significantly reduce costs without action on profiteering, experts have warned.
