Local government is the key to solving some of our biggest national challenges. With the General Election taking place in July, now must be a time for change and new hope.
This toolkit is a resource designed to aid local councils in tackling and mitigating the impact and risks of abuse and intimidation that councillors may encounter as part of their role, supporting them to be safe.
The resource has been developed in response to conversations with, and feedback from principal social workers (PSWs), chairs of national and regional PSW networks and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services regional leads. It has also been informed by learning from the pilot sites, and tools and techniques from the worlds of coaching and learning and development.
In March and April 2024, the LGA sent an online survey to lead members for adult social care at English single-tier and county councils, to gather their insights on the impact of the 2014 Care Act a decade after receiving royal assent.
The local government sector has been grappling with sustained financial pressures since 2010, encountering a myriad challenges that complicate the task of budgeting and planning for the medium-term. This guide focuses on helping local authorities’ finance functions to plan and manage in these challenging times.
Each council must take appropriate measures to gain assurance both of the performance of its services and of its corporate governance. This framework is designed to support local authorities to understand the various components of assurance and accountability in local government, and to access guidance and support to increase the effectiveness of assurance activities in the sector.
Councils have a statutory duty to “secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient provision of educational and recreational leisure-time activities for young people” and to make sure young people have a say in the local offer. This is often referred to as the ’youth services duty’.
A decade on since the Care Act received Royal Assent, our publication reflects on the extent to which the aims of the legislation have been achieved and, where they have not, what changes are needed to deliver fully on the Act’s ambitions.
The findings of our adult mental health social care insight survey carried out in September 2023. The survey aimed to find out about current practices in mental health social care in order to help shape and inform our future support to councils as partners in integrated care boards.
