Benefits
Councils in £1.7m ‘amicable separation’
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council has asked neighbouring Dorset for £1.7m to leave a joint services partnership.
Rethinking support for young people
The Connected Futures Fund seeks to transform how young people are supported into work in places with higher levels of disadvantage. Anna Smee explains the aims of the multi-sector partnership approach.
More social housing could save councils nearly £600m a year on housing support
A new study has calculated that councils could save millions of pounds if money spent on housing support was invested in building homes in the social rented sector.
Benefits teams overcome COVID challenges
Most councils in Scotland maintained or improved benefits services during the COVID-19 pandemic while battling short staffing and technological issues, a report has found.
'Alarming' rise in child poverty in North East
Research has found the top 10 local authority areas with the greatest increase in child poverty were all in the North East of England.
Unions - COVID self-isolation support 'not working'
Council data shows financial support for people self-isolating in England has left many workers in hardship, and highlights postcode variations in the success rate of applications, say unions.
Youth and BAME jobs hit hardest by lockdown
Young people, BAME workers and those on insecure contracts have lost out most as a result of the changing jobs market during the COVID-19 crisis, says new research from the Resolution Foundation.
Councils warn of ‘avalanche of evictions’
The local government sector is braced for a deluge of homelessness following the end of the evictions ban.
Let’s look out for our residents
As the lockdown reduces it has never been more important for councils to proactively identify and target support for communities, says Deven Ghelani.
Britain's poorest tenants risk homelessness due to private rents gap
Shortfalls between private rental levels and the allowances received by Britain’s poorest tenants are putting households at risk of homelessness, according to housing charity Shelter.
Welfare provision ‘overly centralised’ London council chiefs say
A new report from the cross-party organisation London Councils has criticised the current approach to welfare provision, describing it as ‘overly centralised’.
Nearly £100m in overpaid benefits owed to Manchester local authorities
Residents owed Greater Manchester’s councils nearly £100m in overpaid benefits at the end of 2018/19, according to the latest Government figures.
'Raise benefits to aid homeless'
Campaigners are urging ministers to increase housing-related benefits and to support social house-building following the publication of several reports and datasets on World Homeless Day today.
Universal Credit rollout 'should be halted', says Tower Hamlets' Mayor
The Mayor of Tower Hamlets LBC John Biggs says the roll-out of Universal Credit ‘should be halted’ following its discovery of more than 700 underpayments and overpayments in just 18 months.
Children's services, adult social care top list of complaints
Most complaints about councils received by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO) in 2018/19 concerned education, children’s services and adult social care.
