Local government funding and financial management.
This briefing uses two recent reports to look at how devolution has developed over the past decade and how Scottish Government funding has changed over the same period. It examines some of the challenges faced regarding implications of Brexit, Covid-19 recovery, and the way government is funded, including the Barnett formula.
This briefing explores the requirement for local governments in all states to report past and projected future financial performance using financial sustainability indicators, suggesting that while this is a good thing in principle, we need to ensure that the indicators and any associated targets are appropriate.
This briefing examines the rationale for transitioning from stamp duty to land taxes and highlights the issues for local government. It draws on the experience of the ACT which, in 2012, embarked on a 20-year tax reform program, abolishing stamp duties and insurance taxes, and replacing the revenue by increasing general rates for all landowners.
The recent NAO report on local government finance during the pandemic is sobering but not unexpected. It calls on the government to focus on service sustainability, to continue to provide additional financial support and warns of the risks of financial failure should that support not be forthcoming.
In this briefing, SGS Economics & Planning’s Luke Nicholls provides an outline of the key changes to the development contributions system in NSW as a result of the State government accepting all 29 recommendations for significant reforms to the infrastructure contributions system made by the NSW Productivity Commissioner. This briefing is intended as a high-level…
Of the various aspects of Budget 2021, this briefing focuses on the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) March 2021 Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO) report, but there is also brief commentary on major tax announcements and the extension of Covid-related crisis measures into late 2021.
Jonathan Carr-West shares his thoughts on where the Chancellor’s Budget fell short in its support for local government in his latest column for the Municipal Journal.
This swift read looks at the March 2021 Budget from the perspective of local government in England and questions the impact the Chancellor’s announcements will have on the sector.
Scottish Government agreed with COSLA in January 2021 to be “flexible” in the implementation of the 1% Participatory Budgeting mainstreaming target, with postponement providing relief. Before we travel further down the PB road, the hiatus offers an opportunity to ask a few pertinent questions.
“Adult social care has been ‘unfinished business’ for what now seems forever”, writes LGIU’s head of briefings, Janet Sillett. This blog addresses the chronic problems that undermine adult social care and discusses how the pandemic represents a pivotal moment for reform.