A worker co-op producing research, focusing on accountability, information rights & local democracy. Moving to @research-for-act.bsky.social .
UK
Joined December 2016
- Tweets2.8K
- Following1.3K
- Followers1.3K
- Likes1.4K
Pinned Tweet
**** Research for Action is no longer using this platform. Please follow us on Blue Sky and sign up to our newsletter to stay in touch **** - researchforaction.us17.list-…
Research for Action retweeted
Will selling off community centres, sports clubs and nurseries fix the local government funding crisis? No.
Will giving more councils the power to borrow in the short-term to fund everyday services fix the local government funding crisis? Also no.
Here's the real issue🔽
Schools, care homes and sports clubs sold off to pay spiralling council debt bbc.in/4oTQXAl
Research for Action retweeted
Disastrous. After decades of austerity, our communities cannot afford to lose any more.
We need investment in public homes and public services - not the further plundering of our shared resources.
Schools, care homes and sports clubs sold off to pay spiralling council debt bbc.in/4oTQXAl
Research for Action retweeted
No.
But I do want to hear why it won't from the "senior leaders" who have let us reach the breaking point where the question even needs asking.
Can the Autumn Budget save local government finances?
At Future Forum North, senior leaders will examine whether funding reform and new economic strategies can create real stability in the public sector.
Book your place: eu1.hubs.ly/H0mfrGY0
#LocalGov #FutureForumNorth
Next week, Parliament will debate the English Devolution Bill that suggests the biggest upheaval of #localgov in decades.
The bill also tries to fix the local audit crisis - welcome start but more is needed, we say:
👉👉 researchforaction.uk/local-a…
"Financial reporting ‘hit by austerity and lack of standard requirements'"
Coverage of our recent report on Room 151: room151.co.uk/news-in-brief/…
Read full report on our website: researchforaction.uk/new-rep…
📣 NEW REPORT!
👀 Scrutiny of #localgov finances is more important than ever, yet financial information is too obscure. Our new report (with @paulrgilbert from @UniSussex) makes the case for changing that.
Read it here➡️researchforaction.uk/new-rep…
Research for Action retweeted
The key reason why so many councils are effectively bankrupt - the scrapping of the audit commission in 2015 removed the last check-and-balance to "market chaos". Not all quango red tape was bad...some saved us fortunes.
theguardian.com/business/202…
📯*** From August, Research for Action will no longer use this platform*** Please follow us on B*ueS*y and Ma*tod*n🙌
⁉️NEW: A guide to councils in crisis & Westminster interventions👀 Everything you need to know about councils getting taken over by the government. What’s a section 114? Who are commissioners & what do they do? What are different types of intervention? researchforaction.uk/guide-l…
🔑We wrote this no-nonsense guide for campaigners, community groups, journalists, and anyone curious to find out more about the local state right now researchforaction.uk/guide-l…... #LocalGov #LocalDemocracy #CouncilsInCrisis #Accountability #Governance #Devolution #Councils
We are currently researching Westminster interventions in councils in crisis. We're looking to talk to councillors, officers, grassroots campaigners, journalists & trade unions in Woking, Slough & Croydon. If that's you, get in touch! #LocalGov #LocalDemocracy #CouncilsInCrisi
Research for Action retweeted
👀 Just a reminder we are not here much - mostly posting at bsky.app/profile/research-fo… !
Research for Action retweeted
Fifty years ago public investment in local authority housing “peaked in 1974/5 at £2.2 bn — £23.3 bn in 2023/4 prices.”
£2 bn for “affordable” housing is a smaller investment than in recent years. Compared to historic levels, it's a *tiny* fraction.
ft.com/content/c4a305b7-468e…
👀 Just a reminder we are not here much - mostly posting at bsky.app/profile/research-fo… !
Research for Action retweeted
Really pleased to publish this piece in Public Money & Management this week on the devestating case of the Birmingham City Council "bankruptcy". The Birmingham case is the result of a decade of bad policy, underfunding, and a lack of oversight:
tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.…
