Brent launches homelessness social impact bond
London Borough of Brent has created a social impact bond aimed at tackling homelessness. The council is working with charities Crisis and Thames Reach and social investor Bridges on the initiative. The council will only pay if the service achieves pre-defined outcomes for single homeless people, with Bridges bearing the risk of failure.
Burns joins LGPS pool
LGPS Central, the pool of Midlands funds has appointed former Baring Asset Management global chief operating officer (COO) John Burns as its chief financial officer. Burns, who will also act as Central’s COO, joins other high profile appointments to the management team. Former Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association chief executive Joanne Segars is chair, and The Pensions Regulator’s former executive director for regulatory policy, Andrew Warwick-Thompson, is chief executive.
Minister castigates councils over business rate reliefs
Local government minister Marcus Jones has criticised councils for failing to implement three business rate relief schemes introduced in the Spring Budget. In a written ministerial statement, he said: “Overall … despite various examples of good practice, the pace of providing relief to ratepayers has not been acceptable. I have written today to those authorities that have not fully implemented all three schemes asking them to rebill businesses that are set to benefit from relief as soon as possible.”
NHS and council collaboration ‘limited’
Collaboration is working poorly between councils and NHS bodies on sustainability and transformation (STP) plans, according to new research. A survey, conducted by CIPFA and consultancy iMPOWER, found that a quarter of respondents (25%) believe relationships are currently “limited”, while 54% believe them to be reasonable and only 21% very strong. CIPFA chief executive, Rob Whiteman, said: “While it is now clear what the overall ambitions are for STPs, the survey released today highlights there may be major barriers to achieving these.”
Council property firm makes first purchase
A property investment company created to raise revenue for Tandridge District Council has completed its first purchase. The Kent authority’s property vehicle, Gryllus, paid £3.25m for a building in Maidstone’s retail core, occupied by Marks & Spencer. The purchase is set to raise £226,000 annual revenue for the council.
Financial crisis ‘hit senior officers hardest’
The financial crisis has hit senior council staff harder than less skilled employees, according to new research. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said that compared to 2007/08, highly-paid and highly skilled workers are the worst-off segment in the public sector in comparison to the private sector. It said that further public pay restraint risks skills shortages at the top levels in councils and other public sector organisations. Jonathan Cribb, a senior research economist at the IFS, and author of the report, said: “Increasing pay for these workers implies substantial extra costs to public sector employers. The Treasury could provide extra funds for this by raising taxes, cutting other spending or borrowing more. Asking the NHS, for example, to fund higher pay increases from within existing budgets would be very challenging.”
