Local Government Chronicle
26 January 2012
View all stories from this issue.
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Benefit system reforms and the risks to councils
Director, Greater London Group, London School of Economics -
Councils are spotting in-house talent
LGC’s Salary Tracker shows councils have been talent spotting within their own organisations and going to the market on reduced salaries - and still finding good people despite the pay cut. -
Delivering on housing
Housing is central to everything we do as councillors. From delivering economic growth to supporting people to live independent and healthier lives, there are huge economic and social returns to be gained from building more and better homes where people want to live and in a way that is sustainable. -
First signs of councils’ pay stance emerge
Union hopes of achieving a pay rise in line with inflation next year were dealt a blow by the first indications of what councils outside the national pay bargaining structure are prepared to offer. -
Inside Out - On casualties and committees
Two more high-profile victims, one chief executive and one leader, show that Shakespearian court intrigues are alive and well. -
Lead member should be children's advocate
Sir Michael Wilshaw, Ofsted’s Chief Inspector, has proposed the employment of a team of commissioners to tackle failing academies. His comments are a welcome contribution to the, as yet incomplete, thinking about how to ensure excellence in an increasingly autonomous school system. -
LGC Awards 2012 Shortlist
The LGC Awards 2012 shortlist is released, find out how your authority did and what awards you will be up for. -
LGC Salary Tracker: latest findings
Newly appointed chief executives continue to be paid less than their predecessors - by an average of 10%, according to the third LGC Salary Tracker. -
LGC view 26 January 2012: Senior pay
There has been much talk about the risks inherent in the sensational deletion of chief executive posts at a time when local government continues to face huge challenges. -
Link the policy to the figures
There has been a significant drop in the pay of local government chief executives according to our Hay Group PayNet database. Our data, covering organisations which have introduced pay freezes as well as those which have made new appointments on a lower salary band, shows a 12% drop over the last 12 months and this trend is well supported by other sources and anecdotal information. -
Making integrated commissioning work
These are difficult times for the NHS and local government. The NHS reforms continue to make headlines against a backdrop of public sector cuts. Meanwhile, public health will have a key role to mobilise both NHS and non health sector investment against shared aspirations for health improvement. -
Manchester councils seek troubled families investment
Councils in Greater Manchester are seeking to persuade the government to make funding to tackle the city’s thousands of troubled families available upfront. -
Mayors needs fighting for – or we won’t get them
In May, voters in the 11 largest English cities will go to the polls to decide if they want their council to be run by an elected mayor. -
Neill defends continuing Treasury cash grab
Ministers have dismissed as “unrealistic” calls for Whitehall to relinquish control of the local government funding system. -
Our workforce can shape our future
As local authorities work their way - painfully - through the government’s cuts and efficiencies agenda, the difficulty many are now facing is they are reaching a point where all the obvious “fat” has already been cut. -
The public health skeleton needs fleshing out
Andrew Lansley’s long awaited framework transfer of public health is exactly that – a skeleton. Now local government needs the crucial detail -
We've seen the chief executive problem before
2011 ended on a particularly sour note for a number of chief executives who found themselves unwanted by their political bosses. -
Whitehall ‘mean-median muddle’ poses data difficulty for councils
Whitehall confusion over which measure of average salary councils should use has caused confusion in how they present their pay multiples in the latest transparency drive.
