Our sector support offer for councils continues to be shaped through direct engagement with councils to ensure that they have the support they most need to respond to a wide range of challenges and opportunities.
Our Sector Support programme for 2024/25, funded by the UK Government, provides local authorities with vital tools and support to deliver critical services to communities while helping drive change and improvement across all regions.
The sector support programme builds on five key themes:
- governance
- leadership
- finance
- workforce, and
- transformation.
Insights from the improvement and assurance framework consultation have informed and shaped this year’s support, helping to ensure that councils are in a better position to improve and address any challenges which emerge.
Each year, councils benefit from this offer in many ways – including through providing councillors and officers with access to a range of learning and development opportunities, peer support, tools and resources and more.
Our strengthened Corporate Peer Challenge, governance and finance offers support local authorities to improve financial management practice, governance and assurance activities, through peer challenge and support, financial resilience support, and data-informed decision making.
Our Leadership programme attracts and develops new and existing talent, strengthening capacity and skills across the sector, and supporting councils to deliver for the communities they serve.
We also provide local authorities with comprehensive workforce support to build capability and address workforce challenges; alongside our transformation offer, which provides councils with direct support, tools and resources that empower councils to achieve their transformation goals and deliver their best value duty.
Local authorities interested in accessing any aspects of this support should contact the principal adviser for their region to find out more (note: this offer is primarily available to English local authorities).
We also offer several wider improvement programmes, including children’s services, Partners in Care and Health (adult social care), cyber, digital and technology, One Public Estate (OPE), planning (PAS and Pathways to Planning), procurement, and sustainability, which are also funded by UK Government departments, and culture, tourism and sport, which is funded by Sport England.
