Publications

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.

This guide provides advice and guidance on the publicity restrictions that should be observed by local authorities during the pre-election period.

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.

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’.

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.

Evidence shows that values-based recruitment (VBR) can improve the recruitment and retention of people who perform better and are more satisfied in their care roles. This guide showcases good practice, success factors and evidence of what works in council-led VBR campaigns in different local contexts, to support sector-led improvement. It provides practical insights and advice for organisations wishing to adopt VBR, and a framework to help capture the impact of VBR campaigns.

Every councillor has a role to play in embedding corporate parenting principles and doing all they can to support children in care to live meaningful and fulfilling lives. This resource pack helps provide an overview of this role and how they can fulfil it as effectively as possible.

This resource pack gives councillors an overview of the key legislative and policy issues regarding placements for children in care. The resource explores good practice, key issues and things to look at in local areas to try to improve the sufficiency and quality of placements, so that every child can live in the best possible home.

This document is designed to support councils as they prepare for assurance of Adult Social Care (ASC) through assessment by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). This document is designed to support councils as they prepare for assurance of adult social care (ASC) through assessment by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). This guide was updated in March 2024 to reflect learning from the CQC pilot inspections and the most recent assessment framework for local authority assurance.