Innovation in local government is about improving the lives of the people in our
communities. Browse through our case studies to see the many innovative programmes councils are involved
in.
The Rochdale Flood Poverty Project, funded by the North West Regional Flood and Coastal Committee (NWRFCC) with support from Rochdale Borough Council (RBC), examined how socio‑economic disadvantage shapes local flood vulnerability. Introducing the concept of “flood poverty” (analogous to fuel poverty), it analysed flood literacy and home insurance uptake to identify barriers to community resilience.
The Suffolk Office of Data and Analytics (SODA), a collaboration between Suffolk’s Local Authorities, Suffolk Constabulary and local NHS Organisations, has developed a collaborative, analyst-led community to support the use of coding tools such as R and Python across local government and partner organisations.
Like many areas nationally, Hull has faced ongoing challenges with childhood vaccination uptake, particularly with Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccination.
Leeds has experienced a significant rise in vaccine-preventable diseases in recent years, including measles and pertussis. Between September 2024 and April 2025, there were over 100 confirmed measles cases across multiple schools and nurseries, resulting in a sustained community outbreak with no single source of transmission. This highlighted both the vulnerability of the local unvaccinated population and the urgent need for a more coordinated, intelligence-led response to improving vaccination uptake through targeted interventions.
In response to a measles outbreak declared by UKHSA in January 2024, Manchester delivered pop-up university vaccination clinics to rapidly protect its large student population.
Wiltshire has generally high vaccination coverage however, this masks pockets of lower uptake at a community level. As a large, predominantly rural county with diverse communities, there was a need to better understand the drivers influencing vaccination attitudes and uptake across population groups. In response, Wiltshire strengthened system working using a whole systems, insight led approach, commissioning research and using the Wiltshire Immunisation Group to coordinate action. This identified differences in access and attitudes and informed a targeted action plan to support more effective, place based interventions to improve uptake and reduce inequalities.
Walsall Council, in partnership with Walsall Manor Hospital's antenatal clinic, commissioned creative arts practitioners to engage pregnant women to explore attitudes to and encourage uptake of maternal vaccines.
Public health professionals from Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire (BNSSG) Councils engaged with young people (aged 16 to 24) at three local colleges through facilitating participatory workshops to enable them to express their own ideas for the best ways to raise awareness of the HPV vaccine. This resulted in development of a youth-led engagement plan outlining ways to encourage young people to engage with the HPV vaccination catch-up offer.
In Bristol, the uptake of all childhood immunisations is below safe levels and requires urgent attention; increasing coverage is a national and local priority. Over the last few years, there has been a particular focus on measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) nationally through the UK Measles and Rubella Elimination Strategy (2019) and the catch-up campaign (2022) due to a resurgence of measles, and because measles is one of the most contagious of all vaccination preventable diseases.