The latest Monday Discussion Group opened with Malcolm Gardner posing a stark question: is the temporary accommodation crisis mainly a housing supply problem or a financial systems problem? The answer from the panel was clear. It is both, and councils are being left to manage the consequences of failures far beyond their control. Kirsty Brooksmith…
Category: Staffing
When Systems Collide: Supported Housing, Reorganisation and Poverty in Local Government
The 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 a persistent sense that national systems are still passing risk, cost and confusion down to councils, while expecting local services to…
Youth jobs, council tax support and the case for deeper reform
Reflections from the Independent Revenues and Benefits Monday Discussion Group This week’s Independent Revenues and Benefits Monday Discussion Group ranged widely, but two themes dominated the discussion: the government’s latest youth employment package, and the continuing argument over council tax support, Universal Credit and the wider future of local taxation. As ever, the session brought…
Independent R&B Monday Discussion Group: Spring Statement review: what revenues and benefits practitioners heard beneath the headlines
The 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 local government? The answer from practitioners was clear enough. However upbeat the national presentation may have sounded, the local picture still…
The future of work, and what it means for revenues and benefits teams
The 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 work mean for local authority services, especially revenues, benefits, council tax support, customer services and fraud? The discussion ranged across labour…
Pension Credit Take-Up, Notional Income, and the Real Value of Minimum Wage
Independent Revenues & Benefits Monday Discussion Group10 November 2025 The latest Monday Discussion Group, chaired by Malcolm Gardner, explored pension credit take-up, changes to notional pension income rules, and the real impact of the new national minimum wage. Pension Credit Take-Up Gareth Morgan (Dangos Training) opened the session with analysis of new DWP data showing…
Independent R&B Discussion Group: Benefits, Work and the Future Workforce
At the latest Independent R&B Monday Discussion Group, chaired by Malcolm Gardner, members took a deep dive into the stubborn issue of unclaimed benefits, the challenges of Universal Credit, and the shifting dynamics of the local government workforce. Billions Unclaimed Malcolm opened with the headline finding from Policy in Practice: £24 billion in benefits goes…
Monday Discussion Group Returns: From Reshuffles to Rents and AI
The Independent Revenues & Benefits Monday Discussion Group was back on 8 September, with Malcolm Gardner welcoming everyone after the summer break. Smiles all round, though the mood paused for a moment as Malcolm paid tribute to Leigh Barber from NEC, who recently passed away after a long battle with cancer. Leigh’s determination and his…
Mid-Break Highlights from the Independent Revenues & Benefits Discussion Group
1 September 2025 We’re on our summer pause, so instead of a live session this week we’ve shared the second mid-break slide pack. It’s a chance to catch up on what’s happening across revenues and benefits while we recharge. We’ll be back together on Monday 8 September. So, what’s inside this week’s pack? Plenty to…
Revenues and Benefits Discussion Group – August 2025 Highlights
There is no session this week as the summer break continues on the meantime here is a summary of what has been happening over the last two weeks. The group will return on Monday 8 September. Welfare and Sickness Trends Nearly 2.8 million people are now out of work due to long-term sickness, pushing the…