Budgets

  • Nottingham issues s114 notice

    29 November 2023

    Nottingham City Council has issued a section 114 notice after failing to deliver a balanced budget for the current financial year.


  • Innovation keeps the wheels on social care

    27 November 2023

    With no prospects of long-term funding solutions, social care teams are having to focus on creative initiatives and partnership working – and the Autumn Statement has added to the pressure. Paul Marinko reports.


  • Challenging times

    27 November 2023

    Behind the headlines on finances, councils are grappling with protecting services and regenerating communities, writes Sheila Oxtoby.


  • London borough applies for capitalisation direction

    27 November 2023

    Havering LBC is to apply for a capitalisation direction as it bids to avoid issuing a section 114 notice next year.


  • MPs press Government to resolve audit crisis

    24 November 2023

    The Government should show more urgency in tackling the local audit crisis, a committee of MPs has said.


  • Millions of pounds in extra savings needed in social care, survey reveals

    16 November 2023

    Council social care leaders are having to find millions of pounds of extra savings this year as winter pressures approach, a survey has revealed.


  • Thinking big and delivering locally

    08 November 2023

    Chippenham Town Council may be a parish council, but is structured as and acts like a district or borough council – and that was always the plan, says Mark Smith.


  • Districts face unpalatable choices

    30 October 2023

    The majority of district councils do not expect to be able to balance their budgets this year, says Cllr Elizabeth Dennis. But she believes it’s not too late for the Government to act.


  • Managing the tightrope

    25 October 2023

    Given the knife-edge on which council budgets are currently balanced, the 20% of uncertainty local authorities face could be the difference between failure or survival, says Adele Taylor.


  • Charting new waters: the LGA after Mark Lloyd’s exit

    17 October 2023

    Cllr Phil Broadhead looks at the challenge for the LGA as it seeks a new chief executive capable of navigating both choppy governmental seas and the channels of council operations.


  • Brum's fiscal firestorm

    12 October 2023

    Birmingham City Council's dilemma highlights local governance struggles, but dire financial circumstances can catalyse positive changes, says Claire Agutter.


  • Putting communities in control

    05 October 2023

    How could a serious government address tough challenges head on? A report from New Local and co-authored by a group of Labour council leaders sets out a route towards just that, says Jessica Studdert.


  • Overcoming our culture of austerity

    04 October 2023

    Jonathan Flowers says there may be an opportunity for a new approach that is not defined by austerity, so where there is scope for innovation it’s important to make it count.


  • Putting the choice back into social care

    03 October 2023

    In difficult times we have focused less on choice and control, but this needs to drive social care reforms again, says Ewan King.


  • Financial sustainability is never about clever financial mechanisms

    03 October 2023

    Instead of waiting until it’s too late, Cornwall Council has stood up the senior officer Financial Review Group whose mandate is to call officers to account for the delivery of budgets within the approved limits, says Tracie Langley.


  • Combatting colossal challenges - future-proofing local authorities

    03 October 2023

    With the right partner, cloud-based solutions are a more cost-effective route to modernisation than many in the public sector expect, says Anton Roe.


  • Council's ‘low-risk approach’ questioned

    02 October 2023

    A council has been urged by Local Government Association (LGA) peers to take more risks to improve its financial outlook.


  • The sound of overstretched elastic bands snapping?

    02 October 2023

    The budget setting process provides an insight into how sensitivity to the political undercurrents plays into the role of the chief executive, says Blair Mcpherson.


  • Councils face £3.5bn shortfall

    28 September 2023

    Research has uncovered a £3.5bn shortfall facing councils over the next financial year.


  • Missions budgeting in a challenging funding context

    27 September 2023

    Public sector recovery and renewal, with limited fiscal headroom to fund more than stabilisation, will need consistency of purpose over time, and a funding and budgeting approach that supports this, says Jon Rowney.