2023 in review: and looking forward….
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2023 in review: and looking forward….

As 2023 draws to a close, we wanted to share with you some highlights of Research for Action’s work. It has not been a great year for democracy - for example in local audit, which is one of the areas we work in, the UK Government has chosen not to deliver promised new legislation. But at the same time we are part of new and growing networks of people determined to do things differently. It has been a year of great collaboration with others who care about local democracy, be it project partners in Sheffield, Glasgow or Europe-wide, or the... [continues]
GUIDE: How To Read Your Council’s Accounts
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GUIDE: How To Read Your Council’s Accounts

Introduction Local authorities are required to publish accounts every year that show how they spend their money. These cover a financial year: for example 2019/20 accounts would cover the period from 1st April 2019 to 31st March 2020. They look back at spending that has already happened: the budget is a forward-looking plan for how to spend money.  Councils publish draft accounts usually in the early summer. Over 30 days, the public then has the right to inspect the accounts and in England residents have the right to ask questions about them to the auditor. They can also file an... [continues]
Grenfell Tower and RBKC – victims of austerity? or exponents of shock doctrine?
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Grenfell Tower and RBKC – victims of austerity? or exponents of shock doctrine?

Since 2010, when George Osborne introduced his program of savage 40% cuts to council funding ("austerity"), many councils facing budgetary and cost cutting pressures have peddled the line that due to the severity of the cuts - they have to make "tough choices" in deciding which services to protect, and which to cut. Councils, on average, receive around 75% of funding from Central Government, and only generate around 25% locally through council tax and business rates. Whilst Councils have no say over the rates of Central Government grant funding, set each year by the Treasury, councils do directly control the rates... [continues]