Auditors call for Welsh councils to make scrutiny ‘fit for the future’
Scottish council to cut 150 jobs
Union seeks injunction against Birmingham in long-running bin dispute
Birmingham's winter of discontent
With a series of one-day strikes to go ahead in Birmingham, Mark Whitehead explores what led to this long-running dispute over waste collection.
|
Birmingham's winter of discontent
15/02/2019 With a series of one-day strikes to go ahead in Birmingham, Mark Whitehead explores what led to this long-running dispute over waste collection. |
Half of councils failing to ensure care workers are paid travel time
30/01/2019 More than half of councils across England and Wales are failing to ensure homecare companies pay their staff for travel time, new research has revealed. |
County council pays out nearly £7m in redundancy packages
29/01/2019 Essex County Council has paid £8.6m on redundancies as part of its efforts to ‘streamline’ the local authority’s operations. |
Glasgow strike settlement: a bumpy road ahead
24/01/2019 Mark Whitehead explores the challenges facing Glasgow City Council following its agreement to settle the £500m equal pay deal. |
Newcastle named best council for LGBT staff
21/01/2019 Newcastle City Council is the best local authority for LGBT staff inclusion, according to Stonewall’s Top 100 Employers 2018. |
The confusing tale of a councillor, an escort agency and a licencing committee
18/01/2019 Mark Whitehead investigates why a councillor removed from a licensing committee over his connection to an escort agency was not reinstated when cleared of any wrong-doing. |
Glasgow agrees equal pay deal to end long-running dispute
17/01/2019 Glasgow City Council has struck an agreement in principle to resolve historical claims for unequal pay. |
Early years workers ‘struggling financially'
17/01/2019 Childcare workers are struggling financially and many are forced to claim state benefits, an education think tank has found. |
Ashford BC offers £3,000 bursary to undergraduates
14/01/2019 A Kent council has approved the introduction of an undergraduate work placement and bursary scheme - the first of its kind amongst local authorities in the county. |
Outsourced council workers to have pensions protected
10/01/2019 Local government staff who have had their roles outsourced will receive increased pensions protections under new proposals published today. |
Redundancy of Bournemouth council boss to cost £475,000
09/01/2019 The redundancy of Bournemouth Borough Council’s managing director will cost the council around £475,000 as part of the merger of Dorset’s councils. |
Hinds announces £45m to train children’s social workers
08/01/2019 The education secretary today announced the Government would fund the training of an extra 900 children’s social workers. |
New Homes England board member appointed
20/12/2018 Communities secretary James Brokenshire yesterday appointed a new member to the Homes England board. |
Anderson quits Northern Powerhouse Partnership in frustration
10/12/2018 Former chancellor George Osborne has voiced sympathy with Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson’s decision to quit the Northern Powerhouse Partnership. |
Shortage of social care workers to reach 290,000 by 2030, says report
06/12/2018 NHS figures show that in the last two years two million hospital beds were unnecessarily occupied because of a shortage of social care to support patients ready to be discharged, according to management consultants. |
A leading question
28/11/2018 Jayson Darby considers the traits of good leaders and the role people assessment tools can play in identifying if someone’s leadership material. |
Over 28,000 council jobs cut in Wales
27/11/2018 More than 28,000 local authority jobs have been lost in Wales as a result of Whitehall spending cuts, a union has revealed. |
Five million workers benefit from National Living Wage
27/11/2018 Up to five million workers benefited from the National Living Wage (NLW) this year, according to a new pay analysis. |
Council reduces workforce by 138 to balance budget
26/11/2018 Over 130 Bath and North East Somerset Council workers have been made redundant at a cost to the council of £4.75m. |
The rise of predictive analytics in local government recruitment
20/11/2018 Why does data have such an important role to play in improving recruiting practices within the local government? Charles Hipps reports. |
Council scraps plans to force staff to take unpaid leave
19/11/2018 Somerset County Council has backed down over a plan force staff to take two days unpaid leave over Christmas. |
Fighting for talent in local government
13/11/2018 How are councils transforming approaches to talent acquisition using tailored technology offerings? Charles Hipps reports. |
City council to cut 100 jobs to balance budget
12/11/2018 Newcastle City Council has announced the job loses as part of a series of measures to save £60m over the next three years. |
Shropshire Council staff told to work from home ‘one day a month’
09/11/2018 Staff at Shropshire Council have been told they must work from home one day a month as the authority struggles to get a grip on its finances. |
Council pay offer rejected as union moves towards strike action
09/11/2018 The 3% pay offer for council workers in Scotland has been rejected by members of Unison Scotland. |
Council signs £65m deal with Capita
08/11/2018 Westminster City Council has renewed its contract with Capita in a deal worth around £65m over a decade. |
Councillors of the year revealed
07/11/2018 Cllr Roger Lawrence of the City of Wolverhampton Council has been named leader of the year in the 2018 Councillor Achievement Awards. |
County invites staff to apply for voluntary redundancy
05/11/2018 Worcestershire County Council has has invited staff to apply for voluntary redundancy scheme in the midst of a crisis in spending on care. |
Glasgow - peace on the horizon?
05/11/2018 Mark Whitehead explores the complexities of an equal pay dispute that led to thousands of women striking last month in Glasgow. |
Greenwich council staff receive payouts after holiday pay ‘miscalculation’
01/11/2018 Around 5,000 women in schools and nurseries across Greenwich have received payouts from the council following a five year legal battle over holiday pay. |
Social workers face ‘chronically poor’ working conditions
30/10/2018 Almost half of carers responding to a poll report they want to leave their jobs due to ‘chronically poor’ working conditions. |
Council pension fund forum calls for Ryanair chair to step down
29/10/2018 An association of council pension funds has called for the replacement of Ryanair’s chair and has urged Michael O’Leary to set out his succession plans. |
Glasgow and unions agree meetings to resolve dispute
26/10/2018 Talks following the two-day strike by more than 8,000 women in Glasgow this week were described as positive and constructive by both sides. |
Council workers borrowing money to cope with low pay
25/10/2018 Council staff are being forced to rely on credit cards, pawn possessions and borrow money from friends and family due to low pay, a new survey has revealed. |
Hopes emerge as talks resume following Glasgow strike
25/10/2018 Mark Whitehead explores what led thousands of council staff to strike in Glasgow this week. |
Glasgow CC offers ‘olive branch’ in equal pay row
25/10/2018 Talks were taking place today in a bid to settle the equal pay row that led to a two-day strike by more than 8,000 women in Glasgow this week. |
Equal pay strike closes council facilities and hundreds of schools
24/10/2018 Unions were today claiming the strike by 8,000 women staff in Glasgow over equal pay was solid and council facilities had shut down as other workers refused to cross picket lines. |
Breaking: Council affected by secondary strike action
23/10/2018 The strike by 8,000 women staff in Glasgow over equal pay appeared to be escalating on day one as more workers downed tools to show their support. |
Council strike over equal pay goes ahead
23/10/2018 One of the biggest strikes in the UK over equal pay went ahead this morning as thousands of women walked out in the dispute with Glasgow City Council. |
Council staff to strike over equal pay claims
22/10/2018 Thousands of women at one of the UK's biggest councils are set to walk out on strike for two days this week over equal pay. |
Cambridge's remote-control councillor
22/10/2018 With Cambridge calling to ban councillors from moving too far away from their constituents, Mark Whitehead considers if long-distance communication can ever replace face-to-face communication? |
Local government workers: an uncertain future
19/10/2018 With some councils forcing staff to take unpaid holiday leave in an effort to save money, Mark Whitehead explores what impact this will have on the workforce. |
Number of social services staff in Wales drops for 11th year in a row
19/10/2018 The number of staff in council social services departments in Wales has fallen by almost a quarter in the last 11 years, according to the latest figures. |
Four in 10 council employees report ‘financial worries’
18/10/2018 Almost four in 10 central Government and county council employees have financial worries, a fact that affects their work performance and mental health. |
Council employee convicted of £1m pension fund fraud
16/10/2018 A former Westminster City Council employee has been convicted for defrauding the council pension fund of nearly £1m. |
Council chiefs warn of ‘threat’ to music lessons
11/10/2018 Local authority leaders have warned that music lessons will be ‘under threat’ unless the Government covers the cost of a pay rise for music teachers. |
Councils cheated out of £1m by housing benefit assessors
03/10/2018 Lambeth, Kingston, and Barking and Dagenham councils were cheated out of £1m by a group of housing benefit assessors who used dummy claimants, court has heard. |
Councillor charged with posting ‘indecent’ messages online
26/09/2018 A councillor has been charged for posting allegedly ‘obscene’ and ‘menacing’ messages on social media. |
Public sector workers doing '40 million hours of unpaid overtime'
24/09/2018 Support staff in the public sector are doing more than 40 million hours of unpaid overtime a year, according to local government union Unison. |
Counties launch joint venture to recruit temporary agency staff
21/09/2018 Hampshire has joined forces with a company set up by Kent County Council to recruit temporary agency workers. |
The December issue of Local Government News looks at the consequences a council may face if it is unable to provide statutory services, the launch of Liverpool’s housing company and how councils can best manage roles in local authority companies.
It also has a special section on green building and energy efficiency including what funding is available to enable councils to deliver heat networks and how councils can pay for ‘smart buildings’.
