William Eichler
Seven areas across England set to receive nearly £180m investment
Communities in seven areas across England are set to benefit from up to £178.7m in new Town Deals, communities secretary Robert Jenrick has announced.
Council leaders welcome £7bn care investment call
Local government leaders have welcomed a call from MPs for a £7bn annual increase in social care funding as a first step towards fixing the ongoing crisis.
Planning reforms risk delivery of affordable homes, council leaders warn
Communities could have missed out on 30,000 affordable homes in the past five years if proposed government planning reforms were in place, local leaders have warned.
Government ‘effectively abandoned’ care home residents to COVID-19, Amnesty says
Care home residents in England were ‘effectively abandoned’ by the Government in the early stages of the pandemic, a human rights organisation has said.
Committee condemns ‘pie-in-the-sky’ cladding promises
Thousands of people are at risk because of ‘serious shortcomings’ in the Government’s long-term response to the Grenfell Tower fire, MPs have said.
Council leaders welcome £12bn affordable housing fund
Local authority leaders have welcomed the Government’s affordable housing funding announcement, but called for more powers to deliver social homes in their areas.
Tribunal rules foster care workers entitled to employee rights
A UK tribunal has ruled that foster care workers are council employees and therefore entitled to employment rights.
New scheme to support self-isolating workers does not go ‘far enough’, Burnham says
Mayor Andy Burnham has criticised the Government’s announcement of a new payment for people who are self-isolating, arguing it ‘goes nowhere near far enough’.
Local authority pension fund invests £150m in rental housing
An investment manager for local authority pension funds has invested £150m in private rental housing provider Get Living.
Government tells councils to ‘do their bit’ for child asylum seekers
The Home Office has called on local authorities to do more to support vulnerable children seeking asylum in the UK.
Extra £40m to tackle homelessness
The Welsh Government has announced extra cash aimed to provide people with safe and secure homes.
Care home deaths drop but council chiefs still ‘seriously’ concerned
Council chiefs welcome decrease in the number of Covid-related care home deaths but warn that it is ‘seriously concerning’ that the death rate remains so high.
Council chiefs call for action to resolve £6bn Covid-19 crisis
Local authority leaders have urged the Government to provide detailed plans on how to ensure the financial stability of cash-strapped councils.
Government appoints Arup-led consortium for £3.6bn Towns Fund delivery
The engineering company Arup has been appointed to lead a consortium to help local authorities access the £3.6bn Towns Fund.
Grenfell taskforce to ‘stand down’
The Government has announced that the taskforce formed to help Kensington & Chelsea LBC respond to the Grenfell tragedy is to stand down at the end of the month.
‘Social care needs you’, retired care workers told
Council chiefs urge retired care workers to return to work in order to boost an over-stretched social care workforce in the face of the ongoing pandemic.
Glasgow seeks 1,500 voluntary redundancies
Glasgow City Council has announced that it is offering voluntary redundancies to its staff in order to reduce its wage bill in the face of heavy budgetary pressures, including a £500m equal pay bill.
Homeless families need more coronavirus protection, charity says
Families in temporary accommodation should be provided with better protection against coronavirus, a housing charity has said.
Devon CC’s children’s services criticised for ‘serious failures’
Ofsted has found ‘serious failures’ in services for young people in Devon.
Yorkshire council criticises Ofsted rating based on ‘short inspection visit’
A local authority in Yorkshire has said it is ‘disappointed’ by an Ofsted rating of its children’s social care services.
