Local Authority round-up: 17/01/25
17th January, 2025
Our Local Authority round up provides brief summaries of topical information on a weekly basis, to keep you aware of the changes and updates relevant to you.
Regulatory
New scheme to help offenders return to work
The new regional Employment Councils will expand on Employment Advisory Boards, which were created to provide a forum for local business leaders to improve education and the ability for prisoners to access work.
Employment Councils will provide support to the Probation Service to provide a greater understanding of the local labour market and help build relationships with suitable employers. Each Council will also have a representative from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to help improve links with local job centres.
The DWP will link offenders with work coaches who will be able to provide CV advice and conduct mock interviews.
It is hoped that the initiative will tackle reoffending, build businesses, plug skill gaps and boost the UK economy.
For more information please click here.
Health and Social Care
Government invests £126 million in early years support
The Government has announced that £57 million will be made available to 75 local authorities with high levels of deprivation in 2025 to 2026. This will provide a raft of support through Start for Life services such as:
- £36.5 million to improve mental health support for families and promote positive early relationships between babies and caregivers;
- £18.5 million to improve infant feeding services and provide support with breastfeeding; and
- £2 million to ensure families can access and understand their local Start for Life services and support parents and carers to bring their insight into service design.
This investment supplements the £69 million to create a network of ‘family hubs’, which are to act as a central support unit for families to seek advice regarding infant feeding, parenting classes and perinatal mental health guidance.
By delivering accessible, integrated maternity, baby and family support services, and high-quality early education and childcare, the Government’s aims to break down barriers to opportunity for children.
Furthermore, the Government states that by offering parents extra support, including access to midwifery in their communities, pressure on the NHS will be elevated and waiting lists will be reduced.
For more information please click here.
Housing
Homes England increases support for small housebuilders
Homes England and Invest & Fund have announced an expansion of their Lending Alliance to reinforce their commitment to supporting small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) developers.
In 2020, Homes England announced a seven-year partnership with Invest & Fund, to increase the amount of finance available to SME developers to allow them to deliver more homes at pace. The collaboration created a £25 million revolving fund to enable the support of small builders with construction loans of up to £2.5 million.
The expanded partnership will now offer development loans up to £4 million, at a maximum 70% Loan to Gross Development Value and maximum 85% Loan-to-Cost. The partnership is projected to facilitate the construction of an additional 600 new homes, building on the 107 homes already supported through the original lending alliance.
The initiative forms part of the Government’s plans to deliver 1.5 million new homes over the next five years.
For more information please click here.
Upcoming events
Essential HR Training
Join our expert Business Immigration team on Tuesday 25th February at 10am for our online ‘Essential HR Training’.
This training will focus on the new Electronic Travel Authorisation (“ETA”) scheme which will be fully rolled out in the UK by 2 April 2025. We will provide in-depth guidance on the new scheme during the webinar, addressing potential issues that businesses need to be aware.
This session is aimed at HR professionals, business owners and business leaders. It will be of particular interest for businesses with a global workforce who regularly travel to the UK for work related activities.
To book your place please click here.
For further information please contact Tim Care in our Public Sector Team
Please note that this briefing is designed to be informative, not advisory and represents our understanding of English law and practice as at the date indicated. We would always recommend that you should seek specific guidance on any particular legal issue.
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