The LGA’s new chief executive talks funding to first
The start of a new financial year can be a time for reflection and a reset in local government, according to Joanna Killian.
But the LGA’s new chief executive is the first to acknowledge that the mood in the sector this spring is “much more sombre than usual”.
“The world is really tough, demand is high, expectations are rising and there is not enough money in the system,” she says.
“I know from conversations with chief executives, leaders and officers in councils of all shapes and sizes that they are starting this financial year more tired, concerned and under pressure than ever before, after months of difficult discussions and tough choices to get 2024/25 budgets over the line.
“I’ve been a recent council chief executive, and I’ve worked very closely with a strong political administration. I feel the pain that many councillors and chief executives are experiencing now.
“I particularly recognise how hard it is being an elected member at this moment: the pressure on them as individuals, and the importance I know many of them attach to dealing with casework effectively and being in the shoes of their residents – that’s really tough when they can’t always instantly meet need.
“But it’s also much trickier now, given the amount of abuse and hostility that lots of publicly elected officials face.
“My job as LGA chief executive is about supporting councillors and officers to bear that strain.
“But it’s also to continue to lobby and influence to make sure that local government is seen as an equal partner with central government; that we can work together to think about the solutions that are needed to deliver strong public services; and that we can continue to campaign for local government as being the sector that knows its communities, knows its people and its economies, and is best placed to respond to the pressures and, importantly, the opportunities we face.”
With money likely to be tight into the future and “unmanageable” layers of function and expectation layered into local government, she feels the sector needs to “wind back” and help central government deliver change and reform in existing policies to “make sure that we can do what we have to do within the envelopes we’ve got”.
This need for a ‘grown-up’ relationship with central government – with councils empowered to deliver sustainable local solutions rather than viewed as just delivery agents for national policies – will be key to managing the pressures they face.
It will also be a key theme of the LGA’s Local Government White Paper, due out ahead of the general election, which will set out the sector’s blueprint for securing a national-local partnership – a new local deal – in which local government can work to its full potential for our people, places and planet.
Despite the financial doom and gloom, Ms Killian remains optimistic.
“I’m optimistic because I know there are brilliant councillors and brilliant officers with great ideas, in local government and the LGA, who go above and beyond every day under extreme pressure, because they are so dedicated.
“That sort of drive and resilience is extraordinary, and I feel really optimistic about that.”
It’s the kind of drive she has demonstrated in her own varied career. A graduate of Keele University (geography and politics), she first went into investment banking but “hated it”.
“My job… is to make sure that local government is seen as an equal partner with central government”
She went travelling and, on her return, took a temporary job in a housing department, working with homeless people and estate management – and was hooked by the public sector.
She worked in housing and regeneration in the London boroughs of Redbridge, Tower Hamlets and Croydon, before moving in 2000 to the Audit Commission.
There, she helped set up the housing inspectorate and delivered the first round of corporate assessments for local government in 2002.
In 2005, Ms Killian returned to local government as Director for Finance and Performance at Essex County Council, becoming its first woman chief executive the following year at the age of 41.
In 2007, she also became Chief Executive of Brentwood District Council – believed to be the first such arrangement in the country.
She left Essex in 2015 to become Partner and Head of Local Government at consultants and accountants KPMG, returning to the sector as Chief Executive of Surrey County Council in 2018.
In 2021, she was appointed Local Government Commissioner at Liverpool City Council and also became Chair of Trustees at the homeless charity St Mungo’s.
Every part of her career has brought something that will help at the LGA, says Ms Killian – from the “very strong frontline practical experience of working with elected members and communities, doing housing, homelessness and regeneration”, to her experience as a regulator.
“I learned very positively some of the benefits that really good, focused, high-quality regulation can bring to lifting standards and improving outcomes, and about the importance of leadership and good governance as the foundations for brilliant public services,” she says.
“But I also know that the dead hand of regulation can be time-consuming and destructive.”
“I feel the pain that many councillors and chief executives are experiencing now”
KPMG gave her a “glimpse into very good private sector commercial activity and the importance of relationship management” – but the most profound thing there was being able to see how public services operate across the UK, Europe and the United States.
“Powerfully, in many sorts of countries in Europe, there is a much more acknowledged, balanced relationship between central and local government, some of it constitutionally defined,” she notes.
And while she is standing down from St Mungo’s, it’s clear that housing remains a passion from first to last.
“That role has been important, because in a county you don’t have strategic housing responsibility (although we did create an ambitious plan!), so it’s like a passion for me, and has given me great joy.
“Part of my values is about trying to give back. I think about the vulnerable children I used to have responsibility for, or young people with learning disabilities, or the frustration that residents have about potholes not being filled, and flooding, and air quality – all of those things genuinely inspired me to do things for them in a really responsive and caring and thoughtful way.
“For me, it’s always been about having residents as taxpayers and service users in my mind. We exist to deliver really good services with our communities, support growth, deliver infrastructure, and enable people to thrive, and that’s what drives me, every day.”