Insights archive
From firefighting to reform Revenues and benefits at the edge of another year of change At the final Independent R&B Monday Discussion Group before the summer break, practitioners reflected on tight budgets, difficult system…
Read articleHousing pressure, local government reorganisation and public trust A narrative account of the discussion held on 20 July 2026, chaired by Malcolm Gardner A discussion that began with homeless households being placed hundreds of…
Read articleIs history trying to repeat itself? The names and boundaries may be changing, but the struggle to balance strategic scale with local identity is remarkably familiar. The short version: 2026 is not simply 1974…
Read articleThe Monday Discussion Group considers what a Burnham government might mean for local taxation, welfare delivery and local government reform The prospect of an Andy Burnham-led government presents an intriguing question for local government:…
Read articleThe latest Monday Independent Revenues and Benefits Discussion Group opened in familiar style, with Malcolm Gardner easing the group into the session through light conversation about the recent heatwave and the programme of conferences…
Read articleThe Independent Revenues and Benefits Monday Discussion Group on 30 March ranged across three familiar but connected themes: supported housing, local government reorganisation and the latest poverty figures. What tied the conversation together was…
Read articleThe latest Independent Revenues and Benefits Monday Discussion Group took the Chancellor’s Spring Statement as its starting point and asked a simple question: what does it really mean when viewed from the frontline of…
Read articleThe Independent Revenues and Benefits Monday Discussion Group spent much of its 2 March session exploring a question that is rapidly moving from policy theory into operational reality: what does the changing world of…
Read article19 January 2026 (12:02pm) The group marked “Blue Monday” with a mixture of humour and hard reality: policy change arriving at speed, year-end pressures stacking up, and councils trying to keep services stable while…
Read articleWe reconvened for the first session of 2026 with Malcolm Gardner in the chair, supported by Nicki Duckworth, and a familiar cast of local government finance, revenues and welfare experts, including Naomi Armstrong, Paul…
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