Differences we've made to member authorities

Recently we've made a real difference to member authorities by securing:

• £200 million funding to help with winter weather
•  £10 million funding to help with the costs of concessionary fares
• a commitment that the Government will meet any extra costs caused by changes to personal search fees and charges
• £42 million for additional housing and council tax benefits
• a general power of competence for councils.

Our campaigns have helped:

• reduce the £2 billion burden of inspection on councils and has seen public service agreements (PSAs), Government Office monitoring and comprehensive area assessment (CAA) abolished
• transform housing finance through reform of the Housing Revenue Account
• reduce the number of quangos that can get in the way of local authorities meeting local people's needs
• support young people through working with the voluntary and private sector to increase the number of apprenticeships.

Through our improvement work we have:

• completed more than 1,000 peer reviews
• over 90,000 people using our online communities of practice (CoPs) to share best practice and new ideas
• more than 1,800 councillors completing the Leadership Academy since it started,10 of whom were elected as MPs in the 2010 General Election.