Insights archive
Malcolm Gardner, Visionary Network Ltd The local election results were not simply a bad night for some parties and a good night for others. They were a warning about the fragility of local government…
Read articleThe 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…
Read articleRecurring digital payments have quietly become a fixed feature of household finances across the UK, Europe and the United States. For revenues and benefits services, understanding their scale, their cross-national consistency — and their…
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 articlePurpose To set out a single, joined up view of the national economic and fiscal outlook, and the practical implications for council tax, council tax reduction (CTR), local welfare support (including DHP and crisis…
Read articleMeeting note for 9 February 2026 The slide pack is too large to send by email this week. Please download it from is page, alongside the recording and other related reports. The pack is…
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 article1. Council tax administration High Value Council Tax Surcharge (HVCTS) The main direct council tax change is the new High Value Council Tax Surcharge: Administrative implications for councils: There are no direct changes to…
Read articleSummary of participant views – 24 November 2025 This week’s Monday Discussion Group opened with a sense of déjà vu. With the Budget only days away, Malcolm Gardner remarked that most of its contents…
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