21 February 2019

As we approach the end of the financial year senior managers anxiously request projections. Will the budget be overspent or underspent? It will be one or the other, says Blair Mcpherson.

04 February 2019

Councils are not doing enough to prepare for Brexit and need to step up their game, the concerned Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has told sector figures.

31 January 2019

Chief executives have told communities secretary James Brokenshire Whitehall needs to be more joined up between departments and in its communications with councils over Brexit.

16 January 2019

Councils this week started to formally inform Whitehall about their Brexit risk assessments amid fears of crime spikes, public demonstrations and food bottlenecks.

23 November 2018

A major care services provider is winding up all its contracts with local authorities after the regulator warned it was about to go bust.

21 November 2018

Research by The MJ and the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives shows approximately seven out of 10 council bosses use Twitter for work – but Dan Peters wonders if they are making the most of the ‘huge benefits’ social media can offer

19 November 2018

Harrow LBC has appointed Sean Harriss to be its new chief executive, taking over from interim boss Tom Whiting next year.

13 November 2018

How can councils embrace emerging technologies to foster a new relationship with the people and communities they serve? Paul Deegan, local public services lead partner at PwC, explores the issue.

07 November 2018

The Local Democracy Reporting Service – the new BBC scheme that attempts to fill the gap in the reporting of local democracy issues – is already having an impact, reports Dan Peters

31 October 2018

Managing perceptions and changing behaviour are set to become critical for councils – and Mark Fletcher-Brown says what works in commerce could also be usefully applied in public services

11 September 2018

One of local government’s most active Twitter users has urged social media sites to act to eradicate abuse aimed at public figures.

04 September 2018

Our ability to communicate in different ways with residents is something we are aware of but in today’s financial climate we don’t seek to enrich our conversations with customers, writes Tony Kirkham.

16 August 2018

We must be grateful in these quiet days of August that many hard-working folk in local government continue to slave away at their desks.

16 August 2018

Diary has often been known to crack a fair few bad jokes in its time.

29 June 2018

‘Crucial issues’ with the running of Birmingham City Council raised by Lord Kerslake in a report four years ago have ‘not been tackled quickly enough,’ the authority has been told.

27 June 2018

Effective communication and engagement is a big challenge in an era of instant, accessible news. Jo Miller explains how proactivity and actually listening to people is a massive step in achieving this feat.

25 May 2018

Everybody’s inboxes are currently packed with emails urging them to opt in, sign up or re-register, spurred by the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

16 May 2018

Allen Graham argues it is important to maintain a focused communication presence within an organisation while being sure not to get stuck on fads or fashions.

23 April 2018

Council press teams are used to being reactive on Twitter, but how would your local authority respond to a mysterious suitor asking if it wanted to ‘hook up’?

13 February 2018

Maldon DC has vowed to improve ‘volatile’ relations between members and senior officers after a second peer challenge review identified concerns.