Sector support offer for local authorities 2024/25

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. 

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 offer of transformation support, which provides councils tools, resources, and a range of learning and development opportunities to empower councils to achieve their transformation goals and deliver best value.

Local authorities interested in accessing any aspects of this support should contact the principal adviser for their region to find out more (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.

Good and effective governance is integral to local authority performance. Our Governance offer will continue to provide access to a range of support and rich data and intelligence, to provide the sector with greater assurance and ensure that authorities are in a better position to improve and address any challenges that emerge.

Our sector support programme provides varied tools and support through programmes including our peer support, regional support programme and performance management, data and research offers.

Further support is provided through workstreams including support for good governance skills and knowledge, and support for overview and scrutiny which is commissioned from the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny (CfGS), providing targeted support, resources and training to improve knowledge and skills.

Peer Challenge Programme

Our highly valued peer challenge programme provides effective insight, guidance and challenge to enable continuous improvement, as well as assurance to local leaders and residents.

The offer includes access to our newly-strengthened Corporate Peer Challenge – which provides an even more robust focus on finance, data and evidence and delivers a strong assessment of council performance and productivity.

Corporate Peer Challenges undertake a focused look across the key building blocks of what makes a good council, including: local priorities and outcomes, governance and culture, organisational and place leadership, financial planning and management and capacity for improvement.

The approach fully reflects the work on the LGA’s improvement and assurance framework for local government and considers the current challenges to the sector and the draft statutory guidance for best value authorities, ‘Best value standards and intervention’ with all councils expected to have a Corporate Peer Challenge every five years, as part of the refreshed government grant-funded offer to the sector.

The peer challenge offer also includes:

• Finance Peer Challenges, which provide a focused look at financial planning, management and capacity for improvement, with support from specialist peers
• Governance Peer Challenges, which provides a focused look at governance and leadership, with support from specialist peers.

All peer challenges are delivered by accredited councillor and officer peers and supported by our experienced regional support teams.

For more information on Corporate Peer Challenges speak to your principal adviser.

Change in political leadership or control

Our change in political leadership or control support offer is provided by our regional support teams and expert peers to help smooth political transitions and ensure that members and officers have access to resources and support they need to deliver effectively in their roles.

In 2024/25, the offer will include:

• bespoke support and advice tailored to councillor and officer support needs across areas including governance, organisational leadership and more
• mentoring by expert peers, providing councillors and officers support to carry out their roles
• top team development available for senior political leadership teams to enhance decision-making and leadership capacity
• officer and / or councillor development sessions on topics including chairing skills and scrutiny as well as induction events for new members
• mediation to address challenges in relationships between senior councillors and / or officers
• our changes in political leadership hub, which links to the complete range of post local election tools and support available.

Regional support programme

Our regional support programme utilises expert peers and regional support teams to provide councils with a suite of options, with tailored and bespoke offers including:

• councillor and officer peer support to build greater resilience and managerial capacity
• mentoring by expert peers, providing councillors and officers with support to carry out their roles
• support to councils to address severe performance and / or financial issues, including guidance and direct support
• advice and assurance regarding organisational leadership, governance and risk management
• mediation to support relationships between senior councillors and / or officers
• top team development available for senior political leadership teams to enhance decision-making and leadership capacity
• political awareness support for officers including monitoring officers
• bespoke finance support, including access to finance associates
• councillor and / or officer development sessions
• access to networks and wider knowledge-sharing opportunities.

Good governance, skills and knowledge

We offer training, development opportunities and tools for councillors and officers to support good governance and assurance.

In 2024/25, the offer will include:

• a new hub for governance and assurance, with tools and frameworks
• good governance and assurance training for councillors
• a monitoring officer sounding board to share learning and inform future offers.

Support for overview and scrutiny

We offer councils further governance support through our partnership with the CfGS, which supports councils in delivering improvements across their overview and scrutiny functions.

In 2024/25, the offer will include:

• direct and bespoke scrutiny/governance support to councils, including those facing enhanced challenges
• national learning events to support scrutiny of policy issues, finance scrutiny and learning from practice guidance
• learning events delivered to regional scrutiny networks 

LG Inform – data benchmarking platform

LG Inform is our award-winning data platform, which uniquely integrates thousands of data items about a council in a single system for benchmarking. It is available free for all local authorities, and allows local authorities and residents to compare their council’s performance against other authorities, including Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) 'nearest neighbours'.

The data in LG Inform is always kept up to date, and supports informed decision-making by providing comparative data and themed data reports in response to live issues (for example, settlement of refugees in England, homelessness, health and education) and relevant to a wide range of service areas, including planning, children’s and adults’ services. Further reports will be added throughout the year. 

Data skills and capability (performance management and transparency)

Further tools and opportunities are available to support local authorities to develop an evidence-based culture to enable well-informed decisions and improve performance management, service design, accountability and transparency.

In 2024/25, the offer will include:

• tools and resources, including an updated data maturity tool to assist councils in assessing their management and use of data, with accompanying data maturity panels that bring together heads of data to share learning, as well as data maturity webinars
• performance management support, including councillor training courses, an e-learning module for councillors, performance management panels and action learning sets that bring together performance managers to share learning, and practical masterclasses
• support for analysts in local government, through our Advanced and Predictive Analytics Network, including a regular virtual meeting of our AI Network, access to Office for National Statistics (ONS) Data Science Campus e-learning training on advanced data skills, and data masterclasses for their senior officers and councillors to help them understand the importance of investing in data.
• co-ordination of the sector’s input into and use of data by the Office for Local Government (Oflog).

Our leadership offer supports councils to attract new talent and develop greater skills and capability to deliver impact and change. The programmes reflect and respond to the strategic issues facing local government – supporting councillors and officers to build the knowledge and experience needed to deliver the outcomes that their communities deserve.

Attracting new talent 

Our attracting new talent programmes identify and support diverse talent, both councillors and officers, into the sector through programmes including:

• the National Graduate Development Programme (NGDP) which supports councils to build capacity by placing an annual cohort of high calibre graduates within local authorities each year, helping councils to meet strategic goals and building a pipeline of future talent
• our ‘Be a Councillor’ campaign which promotes the role of councillor to encourage more people to consider standing for election. This year will include an expanded toolkit with the introduction of resources for employers, which helps to demonstrate the transferable skills of being a councillor
• our new flagship National Recruitment Campaign, co-produced with Solace and the sector, will be launched at a national level, following a successful pilot in 2023-24.

Officer leadership programme

Delivered with specialist partners, the officer leadership offer has been expanded to help build crucial capacity and resilience through development opportunities that increase skills and help develop and enable our brightest talent to deliver positive change for the sector.

• For chief executives: delivered in partnership with Solace, our new Chief Executive Foundation Programme which will deliver core training for local government chief executives on the seven foundational themes set out in the chief executive curriculum, including the key knowledge, skills and behaviours for leadership excellence. Designed with direct input from experienced chief executives, this programme forms the training element of a wider support package to help new chief executives from day one of their appointment and beyond, covering the building blocks of running a council well – from their role as head of paid service, statutory responsibilities, governance and working as a chief executive in a political environment.
• For senior officers: the Solace Total Leadership programme is aimed at senior-level executives preparing to step into their first role as chief executives within the next few years. This year, we will also review future training options to provide a foundation programme for senior officers who are active candidates for chief executive roles, to help them hit the ground running with the core skills and knowledge needed to manage their organisation.
• For pipeline leaders and rising stars: spotting talent and nurturing it to secure strong leadership of the future through the DCN Staff Development Programme, the Solace Springboard programme, and the Solace AMPlify programme.
• For statutory officers: working with specialist partners including CIPFA, Lawyers in Local Government (LLG) and Association of Democratic Services Officers (ADSO), there will be new and enhanced training for statutory officers. The offer will also bring together the ‘golden triangle’ roles (chief executives, S151 and monitoring officers) to create opportunities for statutory officers to learn, develop and increase their understanding of interdependencies of their roles. 

Political leadership training and development 

Whether councillors are new in post, or experienced and looking to develop critical leadership skills, this extensive and established programme offers comprehensive development opportunities for all councillors to deliver more effective outcomes for communities. It includes: 

• a political leadership training offer to support councils to build greater leadership capacity and develop local politicians – this covers our flagship leadership offers to councillors, including face-to-face training opportunities such as Leadership Essentials, Next Generation and Leadership Academy 
• leadership development networking events, including for underrepresented groups.

Following feedback from the sector, this year sees a refreshed and expanded democracy and community leadership offer, supporting councillors in their local leadership role. This includes:

• our councillor e-learning platform and accompanying resources for all new and returning councillors, including e-learning modules, induction packs and virtual training sessions
• a focused Leadership Development Programme for disabled councillors
• our Disability Champions Network which provides shared learning opportunities and support
• our civility in public life offer, which supports councils and councillors to embed good standards of behaviour, handle issues of abuse and intimidation and informs on issues including online and personal safety. 

Against a backdrop in which more local authorities are experiencing significant challenges, demand for support to address financial challenges remains high. Finance support can help local authorities to harness opportunities and respond to challenges, including demand and inflation pressures. This year’s offer includes financial and assurance support and wider training and development opportunities, to support councils in building sustainable financial management, underpinned by timely and comprehensive audit and scrutiny, to help effective financial leadership, skills and resilience overall. 

Targeted finance and assurance support 

The LGA's financial resilience programme supports councils to build skills and identify issues to promote good financial management and respond to financial challenges and opportunities as they arise. This offer is supported by our Finance Improvement & Sustainability Advisers (FISAs) and regional support teams. 

In 2024/25, the offer will include:

• targeted financial support to councils facing financial challenges
• a new offer of assurance reviews focused on capital strategies/business cases for services or programmes at risk of overspending, including support to ensure well-managed and sustainable capital strategies.

Financial skills and knowledge 

The offer also includes a range of opportunities to improve financial knowledge and skills. 

In 2024/25, the offer will include:

• a finance induction event open to all newly elected councillors, following local elections in May 2024.
• councillor development programmes on a range of topics, including financial governance. This includes the Leadership Essentials programmes for finance and non-finance portfolio holders, audit committee chairs and wider Cabinet members.
• regional forums for audit committee chairs to help identify systemic audit issues and support councils to improve the timeliness of the completion of external audits. For more information, contact [email protected]. 
• regional/sub regional events for chief financial officers to collaboratively review risks to financial sustainability, share best practice and consider mutual support activities.
• roundtables for finance and other relevant portfolio holders to work collaboratively to address significant budget pressures.
• a Chief Financial Officer mentoring scheme, with a focus on providing support to newly appointed officers. For more information, contact [email protected].
• wider tools and resources, informed by sector needs.

Challenges surrounding the capacity and capability of the local government workforce are felt across the sector. Our workforce offer provides comprehensive support to councils that recognises and responds to the significant needs of the local government workforce, including to address skills shortages in key demand areas, alongside management of national pay negotiations. 

For further information please contact [email protected].

National collective bargaining 

The pay and terms and conditions negotiations support offer provides successful leadership of national collective bargaining arrangements for all bargaining units relating to local authorities. This role involves provision of tools and resources to support effective industrial relations and pay benchmarking support to local authorities, delivered through the LGA’s role as the secretariat and officer function for National Employers.

HR and employment law support

Expert HR and employment law support is also available, including: 

• specialist HR and employment law advice and support, including intensive support to councils facing enhanced challenges
• provision of key workforce and employment relationships information, toolkits, regional/national events and e-bulletins – our Employment Law Advisory Bulletin and Workforce Bulletin
• HR network for combined authorities, providing opportunities to share learning and good practice relating to capacity and other workforce challenges. 

This year’s support programme also features a new equal pay offer to improve the ability of local authorities to adopt and apply measures and interventions that minimise and mitigate risks arising from potential unequal and inequitable practices and actions relating to pay and terms and conditions and equal rights. This will include direct support for councils, a new ‘Equality & Pay Manual’ and learning and development opportunities to build knowledge in this area. 

Workforce transformation support

This programme includes direct support, networking, and training and development opportunities to respond to workforce capacity challenges facing local authorities. Our targeted HR&OD support to councils facing significant workforce challenges and includes: 

• targeted bespoke support to support councils with the greatest workforce challenges, including councils who need to improve their structures and team capacity. Our ‘high impact’ intensive support programme will provide bespoke workforce support to address issues in local authorities most at risk due to or compounded by complex workforce challenges, including councillor and officer relations, workforce investigations and industrial relations issues. 
• a new people impact tool to help councils improve people (HR) data, evidence-based decision-making and people management at a local level to reduce risks and provide an early warning system on people management issues. 
• a Recruitment Re-set programme to help councils improve their approach to recruitment. 
• events and networks including hosted online events, round table discussions and regular specialist network meetings on workforce planning, OD interventions, and HR Policy. We will also provide on-line events on recruitment and retention improvement to share practice from across the sector.

The offer for this year will also feature an enhanced range of early careers and apprenticeships support to respond to skills shortage areas using apprenticeship training programmes, including:

• a new apprenticeship ‘gateway’, to align authorities, providers, and apprentices and featuring a ‘discover local government’ resource, which aims to promote local government to the future workforce and shares possible career paths in skill shortage areas.
• advice and guidance, including a series of webinars to share practice, a series of workbooks for councils, to support those in their early careers to boost skills development, and research into talent management as an aid to retention, providing guidance and tools for councils to use to improve succession planning and grow their own schemes.
• our longstanding apprenticeship health check offer, to help councils to maximise the return on investment of the apprenticeship levy and improve their overall approach to managing apprenticeships at a local level.
• a focus on promoting practice and learning on recruiting and retaining care leavers into council jobs through learning opportunities.

The Transformation offer, which launched in July 2023, provides local authorities with access to direct support and learning and development opportunities, helping to boost capacity and capability within local government. Our Transformation Programme is here to help authorities achieve their transformation goals, deliver efficiencies and drive continuous improvement across a range of service areas. Responding to feedback from the sector, the programme now features a range of new councillor focused development opportunities.

For further information, please email [email protected]

Transformation partners and peer support

This programme will help to equip council leadership teams (officers and councillors) with skills to drive transformation and provide local authorities with support to deliver local priorities as well as their best value duty. 

In 2024/25, the offer will include: 

• transformation peers (experts) providing councils with access to support from skilled and experienced officers and elected members with relevant transformation expertise.
• a new training programme for member peers, providing specialised training to build the expertise and capability within local government and support delivery of successful transformation programmes.
• transformation partners – a new pilot programme building on the Transformation Peers programme whereby councils with particular transformation challenges are matched with officers and councillors from local authorities with specific expertise
• productivity panels – bringing together groups of local authorities to share learning and best practice relating to common themes and topics arising from their productivity plans.

Transformation learning and skills programme

Our transformation learning and skills programme will continue to offer development opportunities providing support for councils to achieve their transformation priorities. This includes:

• roundtables and action learning sets, enabling local authorities to learn from each other, including where they have experienced challenges with their Transformation programmes
• transformation learning and skills events, for officers and councillors, including a Transformation Conference and an Innovation Zone event
• facilitation of transformation networks for councillors and officers 
• councillor development sessions, including a new Leadership Essentials programme, providing councillors with the skills to champion, lead and scrutinise transformation programmes within their local authority.

Transformation tools and benchmarking

Our updated transformation tools and benchmarking support offer includes:

• a new Transformation Capability Framework for councillors – outlining the key skills and knowledge to ensure effective leadership and scrutiny of transformation within local authorities
• a new Transformation Capability Benchmarking exercise, drawing on data from Transformation and Innovation Exchange (TIEx), to enable councils to identify areas of strong performance and areas for potential improvement. 

Local Partnerships transformation support

Our partner organisation, Local Partnerships, will continue to support councils to deliver their transformation goals. This year’s programme will feature:

• intensive support to local authorities to address transformation priorities and key themes identified in productivity plans
• a literature review of councils’ productivity plans, to identify good practice and areas where further support with transformation is required.
• transformation challenge sessions to support local authorities to undertake self-assessment and identify positive improvement actions.

For further information, email [email protected] or [email protected].