Local Government Chronicle

5 days ago | lgcplus.com | Caitlin Webb

Association of Directors of Adult Social Care (Adass) president Jess McGregor talks to LGC about her masterplan to ensure the government's latest social care reform pledge gets 'over the line' Jess McGregor’s ambition as Adass president is to make it “a bit harder” for the government to kick social care policy reform “down the road”. Her tactic is to share stories of “hope and optimism” to "connect with people and help build the awareness and consensus" that social care "really matters".

5 days ago | lgcplus.com | Caitlin Webb

Sector leaders are calling for special educational needs deficits to be written off in light of the government extending the accountancy loophole that keeps them off the books for another two years. The government has confirmed an extension of the dedicated schools grant statutory override, which was due to end next year, to the end of 2027-28 as ministers launched a consultation on reforms to the funding formulas which determine councils' government funding.

1 week ago | lgcplus.com | Martin George

If the abstract phrase 'net zero' is costing support for climate action it is time to concentrate on selling the practical, local benefits, writes deputy editor Martin George. Do you remember the summer of 2019? It seems like a very long time ago: before the pandemic, before Ukraine, before the horrors of Hamas and Gaza. It was an era when, amid the bitter divides of Brexit, there was at least widespread agreement that we could and should tackle our biggest existential threat, climate change.

1 week ago | lgcplus.com | Caitlin Webb

Local government minister Jim McMahon is "minded to" extend the intervention at Thurrock Council for another three years as its financial recovery "remains fragile". This move comes in response to the latest report from the government-appointed commissioners, which Mr McMahon said "makes clear that the recovery remains fragile as the improvements still need to be embedded across the organisation".

1 week ago | lgcplus.com | Jonathan Werran

The government’s modern industrial strategy will soon be published. Jonathan Werran, chief executive of Localis, asks whether it will be as simple as an Angel Delight, or as complex as a layer cake. Of the dogs that didn’t quite bark in the Spending Review night, the absence of the modern industrial strategy was among the major canines. But worry not – before the month is out we can expect a full-throated woof from the Whitehall grid.