Building lasting futures locally

Communities across the country need to see government working in partnership to deliver in the places they live: on the streets they walk, through the services they rely on, and in the opportunities available to them.

Confidence in delivery – and in our democracy – depends on every resident feeling the benefit of decisions made closer to home. That requires a strong, financially resilient local government with the autonomy to make decisions locally and be accountable for them.

Devolution must reach every part of the country and it must be real devolution – power at the level as nearest as possible to the communities it affects. This means working with locally democratically elected representatives to put local places at the heart of any agreement, setting a clear route to that devolution of powers, ensuring every community has the investment, autonomy and collaborative leadership needed to shape its own future.

Local and Strategic Authorities want to work with the next Prime Minister to build a modern, mature partnership – one capable of shaping long-term change through the next general election and beyond. That means responding together to population change, new technology, climate pressures, further devolution and shifting public expectations.

Through this partnership, we can deliver the improvements all communities need across their high streets, local businesses, community and health centres, homes, parks, schools and transport networks, while harnessing the transformative power of public services in the hands of those who know their people and places best.

We want to work in partnership with the next Prime Minister to ensure that, by the time of the next General Election: 

Local government’s offer: We can help deliver a reset of the SEND system by bringing together schools, health partners, and families around earlier intervention, clear local inclusion plans and better commissioning of specialist support. With deficits addressed and reform backed by sustainable funding, councils can help restore parental confidence, reduce escalation and ensure children receive the right support closer to home.

Our ask: Bring forward legislation this year to deliver SEND reform and develop plans to write off all high-needs deficits before March 2028.

Local government’s offer: Councils know what is holding young people back. Working alongside mayors, they can bring together schools, colleges, universities, training providers, job centres, ICBs, employers and the voluntary and community sector. By joining up skills, careers advice, transport, housing and wider support, councils and mayors can create clearer local routes into learning and work – helping more young people into education, training and good jobs that reflect local economic needs and tackle in-work poverty.

Our ask: Rise to the challenge set out in Alan Milburn’s Review of Young People and Work by supporting the nearly 1 million young people who are not in education, employment or training, as well as those at risk. Government should provide local and strategic authorities across all parts of England with the powers and funding to create a dedicated, place-based Youth Pathways Service that connects 16- to 24-year-olds with the local jobs, learning and support they need.

Local government’s offer: We can use our planning, housing, land and place-shaping powers to accelerate delivery of genuinely affordable (affordable to buy and efficient to run) and social homes, improve standards in the rented sector and support regeneration that works for existing communities. We can also bring together key institutions and partners through a whole-society approach to help prevent and end homelessness and rough sleeping.

Our ask: Support councils with the rising cost of temporary accommodation so more resources can go towards preventing homelessness and delivering a groundbreaking council housebuilding renewal programme. Government should work with local and strategic authorities on a coordinated national and regional approach to securing accommodation, particularly for vulnerable groups, reducing competition for scarce homes, engaging with and obtaining the consent of councils to help ease community tensions and deliver better value for taxpayers.

Local government’s offer: We can help make communities safer by bringing together community safety, housing, youth services, police and voluntary partners around shared local plans that prevent crime, tackle anti-social behaviour, improve support for vulnerable groups and strengthen community cohesion.

Our ask: Invest in Community Safety Partnerships so councils can reduce pressure on local communities and deliver effective prevention to reduce demand on policing and the judiciary, and tackle discrimination and misinformation that can drive community tensions.

Local government’s offer: We can help move care towards prevention, independence and community-based support by joining up adult social care, public health, housing, the NHS and voluntary organisations around people’s lives. Councils are ready to be equal partners in neighbourhood health, helping to improve wellbeing, reduce inequalities, support independence and ease hospital pressures by investing earlier and closer to home.

Our ask: Secure cross-party agreement by Summer 2027 on the direction of a long-term settlement for adult social care, with clear principles on funding, reform and delivery. Put prevention at the heart of public service reform by giving local and strategic authorities the funding, freedoms and incentives to act earlier and improve outcomes. Enable councils to be equal partners in neighbourhood health, with the powers, representation, shared accountability and investment needed to build care and support around people and places, not institutions.

Communities need local government services backed by central government. The LGA brings the collective leadership, insight and convening power of a sector that touches on every aspect of life. Together, we can:

• Put local experience at the heart of policy – ensuring national policy learns from councils’ experience of joining up services around people and places, where councils can see pressures growing and bring services together around residents, building on their insights and experiences, rather than departmental boundaries.
• Shape solutions together – working cross-sector to design practical, locally deliverable reforms designed with local communities that can be adopted across different places and turn national priorities into visible improvements in neighbourhoods, high streets, schools, homes and community services.
• Provide trusted challenge and support – helping to strengthen policy design, anticipate risks, and rebuild trust by showing that government is delivering in partnership with local government.
• Strengthen local leadership – funding LGA support programmes and sector-led improvement to enhance peer learning and drive performance, innovation, and the digitisation of services.

All of this relies on a local government sector that has the powers and resources to deliver. We want to work with the next Prime Minister – and their team – to ensure public sector reform, including local government reorganisation protects and sustains vital public services. 

Our offer is to work with you to deliver visible change – because lasting futures are built with communities, through councils, and in every place.