Nick Hope, eGov monitor
The New Local Government Network (NLGN) has just completed a major project that forecasts the overall decline in local authority income, highlights the vulnerability of different service areas to cuts and considers how the impact of funding reductions on services can be managed and minimised.

Simon Parker, guardian.co.uk
With the demise of the commission, councils now need to develop their own systems for improving services, particularly by empowering local people to challenge underperformance.

Tom Symons, Public Finance
The unique structure of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) presents an important choice to councils: reduce deficit recovery contributions to pay for front-line services now, or preserve greater inter-generational equity in the repayment of the LGPS’s historic deficit?

Olivier Roth, The MJ
Following the abolition of the CAA, a new study from the New Local Government Network now argues for area-wide assessments, overseen by the sector itself through the Local Government Group. Its author, Oliver Roth, presents the case.

Olivier Roth, Public Finance
With the abolition of the CAA, how should we assess the £150bn spent by local authorities each year? How do we ensure that this money is spent ethically, productively and efficiently? How do we guarantee that schools are not deficient, that hospitals are clean and that children in care are looked after?

Anna Turley, LGC
The true threat of this Budget is what’s yet to come – the 25 per cent axe that hangs menacingly over public services like the sword of Damocles. We have until October to prepare for its descent.

Anna Turley, LGC
This kind of consultation can be costly and take time, but will be crucial in bringing the public with us in the difficult times ahead. Difficult and honest conversations with the public will be tough, but could just lead to a new era of more realistic public expectation, greater trust, and a more mature relationship between the citizen and the state.

NLGN’s forthcoming financial horizons research will outline approaches to how councils can adapt to a new era of service design and mitigate for substantial spending reductions. The flood will take time to clean up, but at least there is now a clear policy direction from the government. Local authorities must rise to the challenge of making sure they don’t drown. James Hulme, LGC