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.
To help lower-income residents with the rising cost of living and food inflation, Kirklees Council is working with charity ‘The Bread and Butter Thing’, a mobile food pantry that increases access to affordable, healthy, and nutritious food.
The Employment and Skills Hub team connect with employers to source both short term and long-term work experience placements and engagement at careers, information advice and guidance events. The Hub also links with construction employers to create Employment and Skills Plans. The ESH has been vital in ensuring coherent employer engagement around incentives for Apprenticeships, Levy transfers, Traineeship bonuses, and the Kickstart Scheme in order to secure physical and virtual work experience-based pathways into businesses for young people in Hampshire.
The Women’s Health Network in Bradford has been at the forefront of tackling the health inequalities women face for the past five years. It holds regular meetings, hosts talks, events, focus groups and workshops to influence service design and engage women from all communities.
A drop-in clinic has been established for street-based sex workers in Southend, providing them with access to mental health and sexual health workers and a nurse prescriber. It is part of a wider strategy that has been developed to provide better support to this community of women.
In Southampton the substance misuse provider Change Grow Live has worked hard to tailor its services to women. This includes setting up women-only groups and offering support and treatment in different locations around the city.
A partnership between Surrey County Council and Woking Borough Council’s Women’s Support Centre is ensuring women who are involved in or at risk of becoming involved in the criminal justice system get the support they need for drug and alcohol problems.
Lancashire County Council has taken a range of steps to improve the way it supports menopause in the workplace. Workshops, peer support groups and an online chat channel have been provided, creating a much more friendly and supportive environment for staff going through the transition.
A bespoke social media campaign was developed in Newcastle to target ethnically-minoritised and trans/non-binary communities when the government launched its national cervical screening campaign early 2022.
Norfolk County Council has worked with a voluntary sector group to run a project aimed at tackling obesity among pregnant women and new mothers. It is a bottom-up community-driven approach which has seen women in one of the county’s most deprived areas given training to help create sustainable change.
Liverpool City Council has worked with the local NHS to set up a network of women’s health hubs in GP surgeries. The hubs offer both NHS and council-commissioned services from cervical screening to long-acting reversible contraception (LARC).