Whether you’re newly elected, or an experienced member supporting new colleagues, the LGA can offer helpful advice and support.
We provide councillors with a diverse range of support and we’re here for you every step of the way in your journey as an elected member.
New councillors can access our new councillor hub to find information about their role and learn more about the work of the LGA.
All newly elected councillors are invited to attend the LGA’s online national welcome event, on 20 June, to help them hit the ground running in their new roles. We also have introductory webinars for new councillors on planning (31 May) and audit (10 July), with other sessions planned on licensing, scrutiny, and handling casework.
You can refine your leadership skills with our councillor e-learning workbooks and modules – see below for more on our induction module – and subscribe to our local government e-bulletins on the policy areas that most interest you.
Help with induction
Taking elected office as a councillor is one of the most important civic duties anyone can perform.
As a newly elected councillor, you hold a unique position and have the potential to make a real difference to people’s lives.
The LGA provides a wide range of support for new councillors, including a recently revised and updated councillor induction e-learning module, which has been designed to give you the information you need to get started in your new role.
It provides key information about what your role as a councillor involves, and how to work effectively with your local residents and communities.
It also explores some of the issues and challenges facing local government today, and includes advice from experienced councillors.
Local government touches the lives of everybody, every day.
Councils deal with everything from schools to care of older people, from roads to rubbish, libraries and local planning.
Behind all of this is a web of legislation and bureaucracy that most people do not need to see. As a councillor, understanding how it works will help you to represent your local community.
You will have many separate roles to balance.
Everyone in your community has diverse needs and opinions, and will make different, sometimes conflicting, demands of you.
Being a councillor is a rewarding experience, but it is also challenging work. Every day you will be expected to balance the needs of your local area, your residents and voters, community groups, local businesses, your political party (if you belong to one) and the council.
All will make legitimate demands on your time – on top of your personal commitments to family, friends, and workplace.
Balancing these competing demands and being effective as a councillor will require you to come to the conclusions you think are best, and to make the decisions you feel are necessary.
This new e-learning module has also been updated to reflect some of the changes to the structure of local government since it was first written. It will provide you with an insight into some of the LGA’s wider work around corporate governance and with councils on civility in public life and codes of conduct for councillors.
In addition, it introduces you to the work of the LGA and how it can support you as you develop your skills, decision-making abilities and experiences as a councillor.
Making a difference
Councillor James Jamieson is Chairman of the LGA
I became a councillor in June 2009, in the newly formed, unitary Central Bedfordshire Council.
The nice thing about being a councillor is making a difference for your community, representing your community, and helping them get some of the things that are important to them.
One of the things I’m most proud of locally is that we managed to get a new Flitwick Leisure Centre. We did that by coming up with a different model that meant it is self-funding and generates its own funds to cover the cost of the building.
There are many projects such as that, and sometimes it may be something really simple – like putting in a couple of dropped curbs that allow someone in a wheelchair to get to the shops, which they couldn’t do before.
Sometimes it’s big, sometimes it’s small, but it’s about making a difference to your community.
So, my top three tips: When you first become a councillor, don’t expect it all to happen immediately and that you can change the world.
We are in a democratic process and, for better or worse, it does take time. But if you’re patient and persistent, you can make really big differences.
The second thing is to get help. As a new councillor, you don’t know the ropes. You don’t know how things work.
It’s really helpful if you have someone who’s been a councillor for some time who can just help and advise you about who to speak to, how things happen, and how to get stuff done.
I would also say that applies to getting a relationship with officers. We’re in a relationship business, so it is about getting on with people. Finding a friend or two is most important.
Third, why are you a councillor; what is it you want to achieve? Just focus on some key things that you want to do, rather than trying to do everything, everywhere.
“We are in a democratic process and, for better or worse, it does take time. But if you are patient and persistent, you can make big differences”
Getting involved with the LGA is also very helpful. When I first became a councillor, I didn’t have much involvement with the LGA, and that was my loss.
As Chairman, I have learned just what the LGA can do to support you, whether it’s providing connectivity, linking you up with other people, providing resources and information, or, frankly, just providing a base when you come to London.
Read first magazine, LG Inform (which is a really helpful database), and try to get involved. Come to some of those seminars and webinars that we do, many of which are free.
What are you interested in? Is it planning, licensing, adult social care? There are many courses that will help you build your skills in that area.
I’ll be stepping down as LGA Chairman in July. As Chairman, I didn’t expect COVID-19, a war in Ukraine, and a cost-of-living crisis.
I came in to work on adult social care, children’s social care, planning and the green agenda. Those things are still very important, and we must keep going with them.
Events happen – and that’s what you’re going to find. But you also need to carry on with the reason why you became a councillor in the first place.
Please make the best of it, enjoy it, but also deliver for your residents.
