Governance

Maximising ROI in renewable energy: Legal, technical, and financial strategies for net-zero success

The Hugh James Energy and Renewables team share their expertise on achieving net-zero, and emphasise that it doesn’t have to come at the cost of return on investment (ROI).

July 17, 2025

Maximising ROI in renewable energy: Legal, technical, and financial strategies for net-zero success

News

Government appoints Croydon commissioners, despite protestations from London borough

July 18, 2025

Metropolitan borough hit with best value notice

July 18, 2025

City council sets up Improvement Committee as minister hails progress made since end of best value intervention

Jul 17, 2025

Thurrock intervention extended for further three years

Jul 17, 2025

Government promises “seismic” changes in electoral reform programme

Jul 17, 2025

Best value inspection launched at fire authority with specific focus on governance

Jul 16, 2025

Complaints to Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman about housing overtake adult services, but children's services and education complaints “still dominate”

Jul 16, 2025

Councils row over boundary changes proposed in local government reorganisation plans

Jul 15, 2025

Campaign group threatens legal action against City of London over policy on bathing in Ladies’ Pond at Hampstead Heath

Jul 14, 2025

New “neighbourhood governance” obligations and plans for strategic authorities detailed in English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill

Jul 11, 2025

Reform unveils first DOGE-led cuts targeting net zero projects and office move at Kent

Jul 10, 2025

Financial position, political instability, and still-developing cultural change programme pose risk to recovery: Slough Commissioners

Jul 10, 2025

Ministerial envoys sent into North West council as part of five-year intervention

Jul 09, 2025

Envoys highlight “problematic” member behaviour at London borough, call for greater buy-in to improvement journey

Jul 09, 2025

Government to review local authority legislation and statutory duties in bid to reduce bureaucracy

Jul 03, 2025

Warwickshire Chief Exec defies Reform council leader's request to remove Pride flag

Jul 02, 2025

Court of Appeal refuses permission to bring legal challenge against EHRC over consultation period

Jul 02, 2025

Borough council consults on creating new parish councils ahead of local government reorganisation

Jul 01, 2025

Half of all councillors have had untrue information about them published, LGA survey finds

Jun 30, 2025

Government should tailor governance and audit requirements for small public bodies, says spending watchdog

Jun 26, 2025

EHRC adds “clarification” to interim guidance on practical implications of Supreme Court judgment on definition of sex in Equality Act

Jun 25, 2025

Local government reform to create “empowered frontline local councillors” with clear accountability, minister insists

Jun 25, 2025

Local government “unsustainable” in Wales without significant further investment, working group warns

Jun 25, 2025

Government to abolish committee system in drive to simplify governance for councils in England

Jun 25, 2025

Nine out of ten councillors may be “culled” in reorganisation, local government academics warn

Jun 25, 2025

Borough advertises 11 vacancies after town council left without councillors or clerk

Jun 24, 2025

Welsh Government and local councils ink strategic partnership agreement

Jun 23, 2025

District councils should seize local government reorganisation as opportunity to redesign adult social care services: report

Jun 23, 2025

Mayor of London cleared of breach of code of conduct over Taylor Swift concert tickets

Jun 20, 2025

Government to overhaul funding methodology for local government

Jun 20, 2025

Council finances "fast approaching a cliff-edge", says chair of Public Accounts Committee

Jun 20, 2025

Minister set to extend Thurrock intervention for further three years

Jun 19, 2025

Consultation on Surrey reorganisation kicks off

Jun 18, 2025

Government accepts all 12 recommendations in “damning” report from Baroness Casey on group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse

Jun 17, 2025

NALC publishes revamped governance guide for town and parish councils

Jun 16, 2025

Council to refer to police failure by former cabinet member to register disclosable pecuniary interest correctly

Jun 13, 2025

Government minded to send Commissioners into Croydon

Jun 13, 2025

Ombudsman open to running national appeals body for standards complaints, says chief executive

Jun 12, 2025

Spending Review 2025: Reaction from the sector

Jun 11, 2025

Local authority core spending power to increase by 3.1% under Spending Review plans

Jun 11, 2025

Law Commission consults on framework for future regulation of new funerary methods

Jun 09, 2025

Judge refuses Liberty permission to challenge length of consultation by equalities watchdog on updates to code of practice

Jun 09, 2025

Must read

Families refusing access to support

Is home a suitable option for residence and care for a vulnerable adult if their family refuses access to support? Sophie Holmes analyses a recent ruling.

Families refusing access to support

Features

July 11, 2025

Early insights into the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill

David Kitson offers some initial thoughts on the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill.

Jun 25, 2025

Public law case update Q1 2025

Kieran Laird and Sophie O’Mahoney offer a straightforward and concise overview of six public law and regulation cases from the first quarter of 2025 which highlight important points of principle and procedure.

Jun 25, 2025

Local government reorganisation: the impact on procurement and contracts

Craig Athorn and Stephen Dorrian look at the opportunities and challenges for public procurement and commercial contracts presented by local government reorganisation.

Jun 25, 2025

Recording and publishing officer decisions

Geoff Wild considers the much-misunderstood law governing the recording and publishing of officer decisions.

May 29, 2025

Who runs councils in no overall control?

Geoff Wild looks at the key considerations where elections see local authorities left in ‘no overall control’.

May 21, 2025

Local inquiries into Child Sexual Exploitation are merely pins on a map; a national inquiry is needed to string them together

With Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s audit of child sexual exploitation underway, and the government backing local inquiries, the controversy remains. Henry Bermingham argues that whilst these local inquiries can drive change on a small scale, they will fail to address the full causes of child sexual exploitation.

May 09, 2025

A New Kind of Local Government Reform?

Simon Goacher, Head of Local Government at national law firm Weightmans, explores the legal and governance challenges facing newly elected Reform UK councils as they transition from opposition to administration across ten local authorities in England.

Webinars

Avoiding local government failure – the changes needed by the sector to safeguard against failure

In the final episode in our three-part series looking into local government governance, Partners Amardeep Gill and Scott Dorling conclude their conversation with Professor Catherine Staite, Professor of Public Management at the University of Birmingham, by discussing the changes that need to happen in order to better protect the sector from future failures.

Avoiding local government failure – the tools and resources often overlooked by councils in trouble

Avoiding local government governance failure – the lessons that can be learnt by others from current failures in the sector

The Key Reforms of the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 - Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard

Drafting local authority constitutions

Local Authority Insight Series: Local Authority Companies – How to Make Them Work

Local Authority Insight Series: Monitoring Officers

More features

May 09, 2025

Time to rethink statutory roles: the key to better performance in Local Government

Pam Parkes, President of the PPMA, calls for a review of the statutory roles in local government to assess whether they remain fit for purpose.

May 09, 2025

LGPS contribution rate adjustments – what is the actuary’s role?

Earlier this year the Kensington & Chelsea Borough Pension Fund caused something of a stir by setting a zero employer contribution rate against the advice of its actuary. But what exactly is the role of the actuary when it comes to contribution rate adjustments between valuations?

May 01, 2025

Election challenges

Emyr Thomas dives into the details of how election results can be challenged and what those who wish to challenge a result can expect.

Apr 25, 2025

The Supreme Court decision in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers

Last week the UK Supreme Court delivered its unanimous judgment in the case of For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers, allowing the appeal and addressing the interpretation of the Equality Act 2010 in relation to gender reassignment and sex discrimination. David Welsh considers the outcome.

Apr 23, 2025

Honouring the Armed Forces Covenant

Geoff Wild examines the purpose of the Armed Forces Covenant and offers suggestions as to how local authorities can put it into practice.

Apr 22, 2025

Cross-examination in judicial review

The High Court has rejected a parish council’s claim of legitimate expectation in a dispute over whether a district’s leader made a binding promise in a local meeting about the route of a ‘greenway’. Charles Streeten and Michael Feeney analyse the ruling.

Apr 09, 2025

Local authority constitutions and the right of councillors to vote

The Supreme Court has handed down a landmark ruling on the lawfulness of a provision in a local authority's constitution which restricted voting by members on deferred applications for planning permission to those who had been present at the meeting or meetings at which the application had previously been considered. Philip McCourt set out the key points from the judgment.