The LGA has launched its 2025/26 support programme
With so much happening across local government, access to support has never been so important.
The LGA’s wide-ranging sector support programme, which is funded by the UK Government, has been updated for 2025/26 to reflect the current challenges and opportunities for local authorities across the country.
Our offer is again packed full of vital tools, support and learning, to help councils respond to current developments and to drive improvement and innovation while, critically, providing those services on which our communities rely.
Everything we do is informed by a sector-led improvement approach, which draws on direct insights from councils – ensuring all of our support continues to be guided by the sector’s current needs.
They include a significant package of support following the English Devolution White Paper, to be led by the LGA’s regional teams. The tools and resources available are set out on the LGA’s devolution and local government reorganisation hub. It includes access to networks, service-specific support (for example, on children’s and adults’ services), and webinars covering key topics, including opportunities to learn from local and combined authority representatives with experience of local government reorganisation (LGR) and devolution.
“Our leadership programmes will continue to play a vital role in ensuring councils have the skills and knowledge to deliver and lead”
Our corporate peer challenges (CPCs) remain an important and valued improvement and assurance tool, with 100 per cent of councils consistently saying that the process of preparing for and participating in a CPC has had a positive impact on them.
Our recently strengthened CPC programme provides robust and credible challenge, with a stronger focus on performance, governance and culture to reflect the current challenges to the sector and its Best Value duties. For 2025/26, this offer has been refreshed to ensure that CPCs and progress reviews can be tailored as appropriate to support local and combined authorities navigating next steps and priorities in relation to LGR and devolution.
Our leadership programmes will continue to play a vital role in ensuring councils have the skills and knowledge to deliver and lead, including through times of change.
With more than 2,000 councillor placements delivered in 2024/25, schemes such as Leadership Academy, Leadership Essentials and Next Generation remain cornerstones of this offer, alongside our development offers for chief executives and other statutory officers, delivered with partners including Solace, the members’ network for local government professionals, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA), and Lawyers in Local Government.
Also co-developed with Solace, the LGA’s award-winning national recruitment campaign will continue to be rolled out across the country, highlighting the benefits of a career in local government and helping to attract new talent to the sector. Along with our graduate development programmes and workforce offers, such as a new Retention and Reset scheme, this support recognises the incredible capacity and demand pressures that all councils are facing.
Meanwhile, other programmes – including Children’s Services Improvement, Partners in Care and Health, and the Planning Advisory Service – provide further tools and support to respond in service-specific areas.
In 2025/26, our workforce programme will also provide support to address complex challenges such as incoming ‘Make work pay’ reforms and equal pay issues. In addition, it will continue the important work of managing national collective bargaining arrangements for 1.4 million employees.
With local elections approaching, it is also timely to highlight our ‘changes in political leadership or control’ offer, which can be drawn on before and after elections to help smooth transitions around political changes.
This forms part of our wider regional support programme – underpinned by experienced member and officer peers – including mentoring, top-team development, and a range of bespoke support and advice.
Direct and focused support is also available for any councils facing enhanced challenges, and is offered alongside a wider range of preventative options, providing tools and help to stop challenges from worsening.
Finance support is a key part of our offer to the sector. New in this year’s programme, and responding to demand from local government, is increased emphasis on audit and support, focusing on ‘exceptional financial support’ (EFS).
This includes helping new members to understand the implications of EFS, an event on EFS for audit forums, an ‘audit mapping’ pilot, and a new masterclass on the recruitment, induction and use of independent members on audit committees, informed by the development of new guidance.
“With local elections approaching, it’s timely to highlight our ‘changes in political leadership or control’ offer… which can help smooth transitions”
Financial improvement sustainability advisers – all of whom are current or former chief finance officers – remain a key part of this offer, providing advice and support across a range of budgetary issues.
Underlining the important role of data in decision-making, I would also encourage councils to make use of LG Inform, the LGA’s freely available, award-winning data-benchmarking tool.
With a number of new reports being added this year, this powerful platform uniquely integrates thousands of local-level data metrics to enable councils, the public sector and communities to compare local authority performance, including those with similar characteristics, such as CIPFA’s ‘nearest neighbours’.
In addition to the above, the LGA delivers support across further key areas. Programmes covering sustainability, procurement, culture, tourism and sport, building safety (our Joint Inspection Team), One Public Estate, and cyber, digital and technology are all part of our offer – as are tools and resources to help councils explore the possibilities of artificial intelligence.
Support across all of the areas mentioned continues to deliver positive outcomes for the sector. Year on year, we see 100 per cent of councils engaging with our improvement programmes and, according to our latest survey, 100 per cent of chief executives and 97 per cent of leaders report that the LGA’s improvement support has had a positive impact on their authorities.
- Find out more about how the new LGA offer might support your council. For further information about any aspect of the offer, please contact the LGA principal adviser for your region.