The LGA is delighted to announce its updated sector support offer to councils.
Councils, as pillars of their local communities, have a critical role to play in delivering the best for residents, whether that is supporting the most vulnerable people, tackling climate change or driving economic growth.
The LGA’s sector support offer is here to make sure councils have the support they need to fulfil that role, to improve, and to respond to a wide range of challenges and opportunities.
Shaped through direct engagement with councils and funded by government, this year’s updated sector support offer will enable councils to continue providing critical services to communities, while helping to drive change and improvement across all regions.
It includes a wide range of tools and resources that all councils can access, both virtually and face to face, to drive improvements and respond to live issues.
This year’s programme remains guided by what councils say they need.
For example, our leadership programme identifies and shapes new and existing talent among councillors and officers, and supports councils to represent, and deliver for, the communities they serve.
Our expanded governance and finance offers help councils to enhance performance, systems and capacity, including through financial resilience and data-informed decision-making.
We also provide councils with comprehensive support to empower them to deliver their place-based visions for local priorities, such as climate change, housing, devolution, building safety and community engagement.
Additionally, our workforce and demand programmes enable councils to build capability and capacity to help manage demand pressures.
Our offer doesn’t stop there. We provide further improvement support through our children’s services programme and Care and Health Improvement Programme, alongside other improvement programmes, including cyber security, digital and technology, One Public Estate, and our Planning Advisory Service.
The LGA is also committed to giving councils support to respond to times of change, and is delivering member development opportunities, including councillor induction events and other forms of post-local elections support, following the 5 May elections.
Our changes in political leadership hub provides more details on the support and resources available.
The high levels of take-up and positive feedback from recipients of support have underlined the value of the LGA’s offer and the various ways in which sector support continues to help councils deliver on their priorities.
An independent review found that the vast majority of councils believe that sector-led improvement is the right approach, with ‘remarkably high’ levels of satisfaction with the sector support programme.
For example, our peer support offer – in particular, corporate peer challenges – provides a valuable opportunity for councils to review their position and look ahead to the future. Feedback from councils around this support continues to be highly positive.
As one council reflected: “We were really delighted with the effectiveness of the corporate peer challenge.
“The experience and expertise that the peers brought into our council were amazing, and the opportunity to work with them has been enormously valuable.
“The benefit of having an outside view on our council across a wide area has been very thought-provoking, and the ongoing engagement with the LGA has also been great.”
Snapshot of sector support
The LGA’s sector support offer covers a huge range of areas, spanning leadership, governance, finance, workforce, place-based vision and demand. Here are just a handful of ways it can help your council.
Peer challenge
Our highly valued peer challenge and remote peer support programme provides wide-ranging and flexible support to councils to improve, tackle live issues, and promote effective governance.
Peer challenges bring together political and managerial leadership from across the sector, using teams of senior member and officer peers who give up their time to help support and challenge councils other than their own.
Corporate peer challenges and finance peer challenges help councils improve across areas such as local priorities and outcomes, organisational and place leadership, governance and culture, financial planning and management, and capacity for improvement.
We also provide service-specific peer challenges – for example, in communications, equalities, housing and planning, and fire and rescue.
Devolution and levelling up
Following publication of the levelling up White Paper, we provide councils with the tools and support to understand and respond to the new devolution framework and governance implications.
This includes: bespoke support to councils; peer support and peer-to-peer knowledge-sharing opportunities for councils on similar devolution pathways; and webinars and events to support and inform councils considering, or negotiating, a devolution deal.
We also offer sector-wide devolution and levelling up resources through our devolution hub, levelling up hub and devolution e-bulletin.
There are combined authority officer networks, as well as support to combined authorities to carry out improvement self-assessments, and help for councils to develop and communicate an evidence base for devolution deals and to understand data available to them.
Financial resilience
Effective financial leadership and sustainable financial management, underpinned by timely and comprehensive audit and scrutiny, are integral to councils’ success and overall resilience.
Our expanded financial resilience programme offers councils bespoke and targeted support, provided through financial improvement and sustainability advisers and regional support teams, who often work collaboratively with other expert professionals and member peers. This offer also provides support and training to finance and audit chairs, and includes dedicated help for councils facing significant financial challenges, finance peer reviews, and financial governance training.
Political leadership
We offer comprehensive support to all councillors, whether they are new in post or looking for an opportunity to develop critical leadership skills, to help deliver more effective outcomes for communities and progress their careers.
This includes political leadership training, a new and comprehensive induction package for new councillors, and leadership development networking events, including for underrepresented groups such as BAME, LGBTQ+, women, and young councillors.
Post-elections support
Support is available to all councils following local elections, with targeted support for those that experience a change of control or leadership. Regional support teams and our expert network of peers help to smooth political transitions and ensure councillors and council officers can deliver effectively in their roles.
Climate change
Councils nationwide are taking urgent actions in their local areas, with partners and their local communities, to combat climate change and deliver net-zero carbon by 2050.
Our Climate Change Sector Support programme helps councils and residents to reach their local carbon-reduction and adaptation targets, and includes our greenhouse gas accounting tool, net-zero innovation programme, and our climate change hub.
Place-based vision
We provide councils with a range of support to deliver on their place-shaping ambitions, including devolution and priorities such as housing, climate change and local transformation. We give councils the additional tools and support to communicate effectively with the communities they serve, and enhance local pride in place.
Our Behavioural Insights programme pilots techniques to respond to local challenges and supports councils to manage demand locally by encouraging residents to take up preventative services and contribute to wider outcomes.