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.
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Wirral has a large number of care homes and had a significant number of non-elective admissions from care home residents. It was a priority to ensure that care was provided in the patient’s place of residence wherever possible, as a non-elective admission can have a detrimental effect on frail older people. This example of a local initiative forms part of our managing transfers of care resource.
Wirral Council runs its own sport and leisure provision and has an ambition for the service to be selfsufficient by 2020. Ahead of that, investment is underway to improve the facilities, increase participation, improve the health of local people and generate greater income from the sports facilities.
Our 'Public-Private Partnerships: Driving Growth, Building Resilience' good practice guide supports councils to establish more effective public-private partnerships, with case studies of partnerships which have delivered high impact outcomes.
In January 2023, Active Wirral, facing soaring energy costs and a commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030, initiated a comprehensive energy efficiency project. Through delivering a range of interventions, the project exceeded its targets, avoiding £231K in costs and saving 335 tonnes CO2e, equivalent to driving around the globe 10 times in an SUV. Lessons learned included the importance of planned preventative maintenance, engaging operational staff, showcasing quick returns on investment, leveraging diverse expertise, and utilising automated project management tools. The initiative's success has prompted plans for a second round of interventions across the Council's assets.
When Mayor of London Sadiq Khan announced the opportunity for London boroughs to compete for £1.35m of funding and the prize to be named the very first London Borough of Culture, Waltham Forest had their sights set on success. Lorna Lee, Director of London Borough of Culture 2019, explains how extensive digital campaigning and community engagement won them the title and a gold public service communications award.
Shepway District Council (now Folkestone and Hythe District Council) transformed its revenues and benefits service by reinventing the way that the service operated for both the customer and the council. It received recognition for its work when it won the 2018 iESE Award for transforming through technology.
View all Efficiency and income generation articles
Hackney Council’s Windrush Generations programme has transformed the Council’s engagement with elders, and others, from our African-Caribbean communities. The programme directly engaged 3000 Windrush elders and their descendants across 25 activities.
Following a tragic accident in 2019 and the subsequent Inquest, Homes for Haringey has implemented changes to the way we deal with window maintenance to prevent such an accident happening again. The purpose of this briefing is to tell as many landlords as possible what happened, so they can take steps to avoid a similar tragedy in their own stock.