11 August 2020

An improvement model that has helped turn around Birmingham City Council could be rolled out to other struggling local authorities.

10 August 2020

Council chief executives can sometimes struggle to illustrate the practical implications of theoretical scenarios when talking about their jobs.

03 August 2020

A decade of spending cuts, staff shortages and poor contacts with Whitehall meant local government was poorly prepared to cope with the coronavirus pandemic, a report from the Institute for Government think-tank has said.

31 July 2020

Legislation governing the rules on council borrowing should be strengthened, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) said today.

29 July 2020

Plans to hand social care to the NHS are being mooted for ‘all the wrong reasons,’ local government finance expert Rob Whiteman has said.

23 July 2020

MPs have slated ministers for failing to give local government sufficient funding and urged them to ensure a 'clear and timely financial settlement’ in readiness for the next phase of the pandemic.

23 July 2020

Many councils could be pushed over the ‘financial cliff edge’ if the £500m of high-needs deficit faced by the sector is not written off, the Government has been warned.

20 July 2020

A £3bn winter funding boost for the NHS has highlighted a lack of focus on an adult social care sector that's been under pressure long before the COVID pandemic. Ann McGauran looks at the growing need for a joined up approach.

29 June 2020

The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) has put aside £500,000 to fund potential legal action against Ealing LBC over a contract dispute.

29 June 2020

Windsor & Maidenhead RBC may not be able to set a legal budget in future years and may have to issue a Section 114 notice, finance experts have warned.

25 June 2020

Rob Whiteman hopes the ‘sorry episode’ of the Westferry Printworks application ‘once and for all stops the periodic demands from developers to erode councils’ planning powers’

24 June 2020

The suggestion that a 'protective ring' was cast around care homes is difficult to swallow, writes Rob Whiteman. The sector was 'certainly not given the tools to cope with any kind of financial shock ahead of time', he adds.

22 June 2020

Finance experts have called on the Government to temporarily relax rules that prevent councils borrowing to cover day-to-day spending as they deal with the coronavirus crisis.

18 June 2020

As it is revealed that just 4% of social care directors are confident they can deliver their statutory duties with the budgets available, Dr Eleanor Roy says now is the time to take action on social care reform

11 June 2020

Council finance chiefs have been given new guidelines for dealing with financial collapse during the coronavirus crisis.

01 June 2020

CIPFA and Xantura have set up a data partnership to support the local authority fight against COVID-19.The key aim is to find and protect those in immediate need, say Rob Whiteman and Wajid Shafiq.

29 May 2020

Senior Whitehall officials were not told about a second major error in the administration of business rate pilots until four months after it was flagged, The MJ has learnt.

22 May 2020

Plans to bail out councils struggling with their finances could vary between authorities - but they will not cover commercial investments, The MJ understands.

21 May 2020

Finance directors would need to warn the government before they issued a Section 114 notice during the coronavirus pandemic, if new rules get the go-ahead.

13 May 2020

Woking, South Norfolk and Craven DCs are likely to be the hardest hit when it comes to lost income.