Unprecedented level of joint working is transforming lives of older people
An alliance involving Croydon’s council, NHS and charities is to develop its work after demonstrating early benefits
March 2018
Public servant: my letter to the public
Vulnerable people won't get a fair hearing without support in court
Esther Rumble
Civil servants aren't lazy. They show extraordinary commitment to the job
Peter Smith
July 2016
Has government learned the vital lessons of public service failures?
Terrible examples like Mid Staffs, Rotherham and Doncaster can give clear pointers on how to respond when public services go wrong
May 2016
Empowering communities
Parish councils suit city dwellers too, not just rural Britain
British voters unaware of EU benefits for public services, report finds
April 2016
Without clarity and local scrutiny we risk the prize of devolution
Tens, even hundreds, of billions of pounds are being handed over to regions with little obvious accountability or a coherent sense of what it’s meant to achieve
March 2016
Local government and the budget 2016: views from the sector
New devolution deals, business rates reform and stripping councils of their hold on education – here’s what you need to know about Osborne’s announcement
February 2016
The cost of cuts
Fixing the UK's mental health crisis will need both police and health
Mary O'Hara
People in need deserve better than a few patchy pilot schemes. It’s time to fill the gaps in our over-stretched police and mental health services
Manchester's grand ambition to turn a £7bn deficit into a surplus
Trafford council’s chief executive Theresa Grant has a daunting to-do list to help make devolution work for everybody in Greater Manchester
I had to escape the town hall to see the people behind the statistics
Those of us working on policy in local government are in danger of losing touch with frontline staff and the public – we must get out in the field more
January 2016
The cost of cuts
The loss of libraries is another surefire way to entrench inequality
Mary O'Hara
I still have my first library card from when I was a girl from a poor family in west Belfast. Every time I hear of a library closure it hits a nerve
The cost of cuts
Our collective shame: the treatment of children in custody
Mary O'Hara
Despite cuts to the youth justice system and reports of abuse by G4S staff, young people in prisons remain shockingly low on the empathy scale
Public servant: my letter to the public
You would never know I'm crying after I answer your 999 call
Anonymous
Emergency medical dispatchers are trained to stay calm so you can’t tell how much we care when your baby stops breathing or you swear at us down the phone
December 2015
Don't be suspicious of faith-based charities – let us speak truth to power
Angus Ritchie and Shana Cohen
The cost of cuts
Why it matters that the chancellor won't fund council technology
Mary O'Hara
November 2015
Views from local government on George Osborne's spending review
There’s a permanent pothole fund and 2% council tax precept for social care, but the chancellor’s measures do not ensure long term sustainability, experts say
Spending more on prevention will improve public services
Rob Owen
We are calling on the government to allocate 5% of spending to prevention, rather than allow for problems that will become costly failures
The cost of cuts
More cuts will cement poverty in UK’s most deprived areas
Mary O'Hara
The LGA’s #OurDay campaign is a reminder of our councils’ resilience – but the spending review may yet impose a level of austerity few will be able to cope with
October 2015
I started making fire when I fell out of love with firefighting
Jamie Newell
Ten years into my career putting out fires, I started creating them by hand to clock off from the stresses of brigade life
