Analysis & Commentary
22 Apr 2025
Bishop of Newcastle appointed President of the Rural Coalition
The Rt Rev’d Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, Bishop of Newcastle, has been appointed President of the Rural Coalition, an alliance of twelve national organisations who work together to promote a shared...
Read more
20 Dec 2024
Rural Financial Crisis Deepens: RSN Analysis Exposes Stark Funding Inequities in Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement
The Rural Services Network (RSN) has conducted an initial analysis of the recent Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement and is deeply concerned about the implications for England’s rural communities. While...
Read more
18 Dec 2024
Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement: England, 2025 – 2026
The Rural Services Network is meticulously examining today’s statement concerning the Provisional Local Government Settlement. We are committed to fully assessing the implications for our rural member councils, especially with...
Read more
18 Nov 2024
Rural Local Authorities Unite to Demand Fair Funding in Upcoming Local Government Finance Settlement
Fifty-seven local authorities across England have united with the Rural Services Network (RSN) to address the unique financial challenges they face and to advocate for equitable funding in the forthcoming...
Read more
04 Nov 2024
Rural Services Network Urges Government to Rethink Bus Fare Increase in Rural Areas
The Rural Services Network (RSN) is expressing significant concern following the announcement by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to increase the national bus fare cap to £3 until the end of...
Read more
14 Oct 2024
Benefits Processing
The Benefits Processing analysis within the Performance Benchmarking section on the RSN website has now been updated to Quarter 4 2023/24. The speed of processing is a measure of the...
Read more
22 Jul 2024
Rural Lens Review: The King’s Speech 2024
At the opening of parliament on 17th July 2024, The King’s Speech highlighted a series of legislative priorities aimed at addressing critical national issues. A number of these new bills...
Read more
18 Jul 2024
RSN Chief Executive Kerry Booth Reacts to King’s Speech
It is always interesting to hear the policies outlined in the Kings Speech and see where the Government plans to focus its efforts in the coming months, however often it...
Read more
08 Jul 2024
Rural Services Network Welcomes New Government and Prime Minister
As the Rural Services Network (RSN), the national advocate for rural services and communities, we extend our congratulations to the new government and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. We eagerly...
Read more
21 May 2024
RO trend and proportion analysis
This analysis is taken from the final outturn estimates of local authority revenue expenditure and financing, and provides the expenditure per head for each service area, the corresponding percentage of...
Read more