b'taxed. Alongside the general increase in adverse publicity and public backlash over charging for services comes an increase in legal challenges to individual council policies and practices over charging.This expanded, renamed and updated handbook for charging, trading and so called shared services initiatives (ie public sector to public sector trading) seeks to help local authorities with these tasks by identifying and clarifying what the law does or does not permit in this regard and by providing templates and practical tips on setting up trading entities for either commercial trading or shared service initiatives.The introduction of the General Power of Competence (GPOC) through the Localism Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) has helped to unlock latent entrepreneurial flair within many local authorities since the new powers were introduced. However, in view of the caveats contained in the general competence powers, particularly in the context of charging and trading, a thorough understanding of the law remains a necessity for all who contemplate new ventures of this sort. The reasons for this are explained in Chapter 6 which discusses the 2011 Act. The 2020 edition of the guide has been strengthened by a new Chapter 1 which provides practical tips and methodologies for local authorities seeking to maximise income generation within the confines of the still complex legal environment.The law in this area is in a continuous state of change and it is essential to take appropriate legal advice on charging and trading issues. Readers should not place exclusive reliance on anything contained herein. The information contained herein should be used as a starting point and perhaps as a prompt for ideas and initiatives on possible charging, trading or income generating activities. I am sure more charging powers may exist but it is the nature of local government that successive governments have introduced more and more legislation catering for different aspects of local authority activity making it very difficult to be sure that all such powers have been identified. My sincere wish is that this guidance will help hard-pressed local authority officers and other practitioners with their researches and will generally help to explain the complexities of the law on charging and trading. I want to acknowledge the contribution and assistance of Sharpe Pritchard LLP with the research into the updating of charging powers and tips from practical experience of dealing with local authority charging and trading initiatives. Their contribution is gratefully acknowledged by the author. Contributions and suggestions from practitioners in local government for income generating initiatives from services or assets are also welcomed to further expand the content in due course. The author can be contacted via Sharpe Edge. Rob Hann Author, Solicitor, head of local government, Sharpe Pritchard LLP, January 202110'