Following the Spending Round confirming that councils will receive the biggest year-on-year real terms increase in funding for almost a decade, the government has published a consultation document setting out in greater detail its proposals for how to fund local government in 2020 to 2021.

Local authorities across England will be encouraged to submit views to the government’s funding proposals for the sector in the next financial year.

The consultation confirms that the Core Spending Power of local authorities is estimated to rise in real terms by 4.3% to £49.1 billion in 2020 to 2021, an increase of £2.9 billion.

As part of this local authorities will be able to access an additional £1.5 billion of funding for adult and children’s social care. This is in recognition of rising demand and the vital role that social care plays in supporting the most vulnerable people in society.

Councils will additionally be provided with increases from wider resources made available from the Spending Round, including High Needs funding for schools and colleges which will increase by over £700 million.

There will also be a real-terms increase in the Public Health Grant and the NHS contribution to the Better Care Fund will grow in line with the planned additional investment in the NHS.

Local Government Secretary Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP said:

Local authorities have worked hard over the past decade to deliver efficiencies and savings, while continuing to support the running of our vital public services.

This year’s settlement sets the sector on a strong and sustainable footing for the future as we look to next year’s Spending Review and a fresh multi-year settlement.

The government has been listening to local authorities across the country, and the £49 billion funding boost that will come into force from next year is the biggest increase for nearly a decade.

It will allow us to provide more support for areas such as adult and children’s social care and make sure that we are supporting the most vulnerable people in our local communities.

I look forward to working with local authorities throughout this consultation process and want to ensure that local communities have access to the highest possible levels of service, delivered in an efficient and cost effective way.

The consultation will last for 4 weeks from 3 October 2019 to 31 October 2019 and covers proposals for the local government finance settlement 2020 to 2021.

The proposed approach to the settlement includes:

• £1.5 billion for adult and children’s social care services, including £1 billion of new money. Councils will have the option to raise up to half a billion pounds more for adult social care, where needed, through additional Council Tax flexibilities

• powers for local authorities to raise Council Tax by up to 2% plus an additional 2% of adult social care tax before a local referendum has to take place

• £900 million for the New Homes Bonus in 2020 to 2021

• maintaining Improved Better Care Fund funding at 2019 to 2020 levels (£1.837 billion), as well as rolling in the £240 million which was allocated as Winter Pressures Grant this year

• continuing Rural Services Delivery Grant at £81 million, with all recipients receiving the same amount as in 2019 to 2020

• confirmation that business rates retention pilots agreed for 2019 to 2020 will finish at the end of the financial year. No further pilots will run in 2020 to 2021

• confirmation of the decision to delay the funding distribution and business rates retention reforms until 2021 to 2022

See the full technical consultation document and how to respond to the proposals contained within it.

The provisional local government finance settlement for 2020 to 2021 will be published later this year.

Vehicles carrying waste illegally around north London have been the focus for the latest clampdown operation by the Environment Agency and Metropolitan Police.

Crime officers targeted waste carriers on roads across Brent as part of Operation Angola – a collaboration of various agencies led by the Environment Agency to target criminals dumping significant amounts of waste across the south east.

Small tipper trucks were the target of the patrol, as intelligence gathered from Operation Angola identified them most likely to be used by illegal waste operators.

During the day, 45 vehicles were stopped and together with officers from the Metropolitan Police, checks were made to identify compliance with the law on waste management. Environment officers also checked whether waste carriers were transporting waste to authorised and legitimate sites where it would be handled properly. On this occasion, no vehicle was seized but advice and guidance given.

Intelligence gathered throughout the day will help the Environment Agency’s waste crime team home in on illegal waste operators in the future.

Daniel Kettridge, an enforcement manager for the Environment Agency, said:

Through the persistent intervention of our officers and by working together with other agencies like the police, we are disrupting organised waste crime and bringing those responsible to justice. Over the last 18 months, the Environment Agency has seized and destroyed 4 vehicles linked to waste crime.

Operations like this provide a brilliant opportunity to remind carriers about their responsibilities, enhance our intelligence around such practices and take action against those who flout the rules.

The Environment Agency wants to make sure businesses carrying waste have the proper authorisations to allow them to transport and transfer rubbish – a waste carrier’s registration from the Environment Agency and waste transfer note from the waste producer.

We also want to make it very clear to the general public that everyone has a duty of care to ensure their waste is managed and disposed of correctly by the people they give it to. If you use illegal waste carriers to take your rubbish, you risk being fined up to £5,000.

The life-changing contribution of teachers is to be celebrated with a new campaign to align with UNESCO’s World Teachers’ Day.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson is encouraging teachers, heads and school leaders to take part in the day’s celebrations by posting their own videos across social media about why they are #ProudToTeach.

World Teachers’ Day, to be held on Saturday 5 October, provides an occasion to take stock of teachers’ achievements, with this year’s theme focusing on ‘Young Teachers: The future of the Profession’.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said:

Teachers here in England, and around the world, have a truly life-changing impact on their students, acting as inspirational educators, role-models and mentors.

I will always have fond memories of the teachers who guided and encouraged me through my school life, and today I want to celebrate the same role that all teachers have in young people’s lives. And I want all those at the front of our classrooms, inspiring our young people, to feel valued in the profession and to use today’s celebration to mark the variety of reasons they are proud to teach.

Minister Gibb today met Peter Tabichi, winner of the Global Teacher Prize 2019. He donates 80% of his monthly income to help pupils from poor families in the Kenyan village where he works.

In the next academic year, school teachers and leaders are set to receive an above inflation pay rise, after the Education Secretary accepted all the recommendations from the independent School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB), to raise the upper and lower boundaries of all pay ranges by 2.75 per cent.

The increase in pay will be supported by an additional £105 million to be paid through the teachers’ pay grant, on top of the £321 million already committed for the 2019-20 financial year, and is equivalent to a £1,000 increase to average classroom teacher pay and a £1,620 increase in the average pay of school leaders.

Teachers’ starting salaries are also set to rise to £30,000 by 2022-23, under government plans for the biggest reform to teacher pay in a generation.

The move would make starting salaries for teachers among the most competitive in the graduate labour market, building on the above-inflation average pay increases for teachers in the last two years.

The Teacher’s Pension Scheme is also one of the most generous on offer. From September, the government will be fully funding increased contributions into the scheme, so that school leaders can focus as much of their resources as possible on the front line. It means teachers will get an employer contribution of 23.6% on top their salary towards their pension every year to ensure the scheme is fully funded.

Teachers can get involved with the campaign by posting videos to social media with the reasons they are #ProudToTeach.

Aviation has a long history of learning from accidents; the first recorded air accident investigation in the UK was carried out in 1912 involving a Flanders F4 Monoplane. The aircraft took off from Brooklands Aerodrome with the pilot and a passenger onboard, it flew two circuits of the aerodrome before the aircraft was seen to side-slip, stall and crash from an altitude of 200 feet. Both pilot and passenger were killed. The incident was investigated by the Public Safety and Accidents Investigation Committee of the Royal Aero Club who determined the cause to be pilot error.

To read the full article click on the pdf document below.

After Brexit there will be changes that affect businesses and hauliers across the UK.

Make sure you are prepared for them, particularly if your business:

• imports goods
• exports goods
• receives personal data
• exports services

Local business readiness events

The Department for Business held a series of free face-to-face Business Readiness Events across the UK, to help businesses find out what actions they need to take to prepare for Brexit. The events included support and advice stands, with in-depth sessions led by subject matter experts from across government, including Defra, HMRC, Home Office and DCMS.

More information could be found about a range of issues, including:

• the importing and exporting of goods and services
• transferring data
• employing EU citizens

The Brexit Business Readiness Events events have now ended but if you were unable to attend one, you can view our online event which features recordings of the sessions held at the events.

Helping hauliers prepare for Brexit

The Department for Transport is setting up information pop-up stands across the UK and Europe to help hauliers and businesses prepare for Brexit, so that goods can continue to flow smoothly through ports.

The pop-ups will be located at ports, service stations and on ferries to provide easily accessible advice, helping hauliers understand the documentation they need for themselves, their vehicles and their goods after Brexit.

All stands will be staffed by multilingual advisors.

Further advice for hauliers is available on GOV.UK.

Brexit preparedness workshops for businesses that export

Businesses will leave these workshops with a personalised action plan for Brexit preparedness. The workshops will provide advice on:

• impact to supply chains
• changes to regulations and contracts
• where to find tariff information
• what businesses might need to speak to customers and employees about

Find your nearest event and sign up: please note that locations are still being added.

HMRC webinars to help customers get ready for Brexit

HMRC is running Get Ready for Brexit webinars during October, which provide an overview of everything UK businesses involved in the movement of goods between the EU and the UK need to know to keep goods moving after 31 October.

Sign up for one of the webinars at Get Ready for Brexit.

For those unable to make any of the sessions, the webinar has been recorded on GOV.UK.