Category: Research Reports

What does it take to lead in local government today? What qualities, skills, and mindsets are needed to navigate the choppy waters surrounding public services? And what old models no longer serve us? We’ve spent the past year exploring...

13th February, 2025

Leadership • Local government • Strategy and leadership

This practice review shares inspiring community-powered approaches to health and care, alongside the learning we can draw from them and practical actions to implement this learning.

25th June, 2024

Health and social care • The NHS

What support do community businesses need to build resilience against the impact of the climate crisis and the rising cost-of-living?

17th June, 2024

Climate change • Community business • Community Power • Cost of Living Crisis • Economy and business • Local economies

This report sets out a new approach to public service investment and reform in England. By identifying all public money spent within a local area, and enabling it to be used more flexibly, spending could be more closely aligned...

31st January, 2024

Budgeting • Central government • Community Power • Health and social care • Local government • Local government finance • Place-based budgets • Public Services

How can communities prevent illness and create their own good health? Could investment at the grassroots help ease the burden on the NHS?

10th December, 2023

Community Power • Health and social care

Produced in partnership with What Works Centre for Wellbeing, this report reviews the evidence related to community agency, control and power and their effects on community wellbeing.

22nd June, 2023

Community Cohesion • Community Power • Education and skills • Employment • Participation and co-production • Public Health • Wellbeing

We explain what fiscal devolution is, bust myths that it will lead to higher taxes, explore different ways to do it, and recommend how to make it happen.

26th April, 2023

Devolution • Devolution and reorganisation • Local government • Local government finance • Local government reform

As the NHS faces ever-rising demand, its founding principles are under threat. But there is a solution: a radical shift towards a healthcare system focused as much on preventing illness as treating it. Working collaboratively with communities in the design...

12th July, 2022

Community Power • Health and social care • Public Health • Research Reports

It’s not NIMBYs preventing housing being built – it’s a system that creates conflict by design.

17th November, 2021

Community Power • Devolution • Housing • Research Reports

Local action is the ‘missing piece’ of plans to fight climate change.

20th October, 2021

Climate change • Community Power • Devolution • Research Reports

New Local and the New Social Covenant Unit are pleased to co-publish this report by 10 Conservative MPs.

2nd October, 2021

Community Power • Devolution • Politics

Combining policy analysis and insights from leading edge practice, The Community Paradigm sets out a new vision and policy agenda for the future of public services. It forms the foundation that shapes NLGN’s ongoing research programme and network practice...

4th March, 2021

Community Power • Devolution and reorganisation • Political Systems • Powerful Communities • Public Services

Community Power: The Evidence is the first research to take a comprehensive view of what community power looks like - featuring examples from across the UK and internationally. It is also the first to collect and analyse existing...

23rd February, 2021

Community Power • Community Power The Evidence • Local government • Monitoring and Evaluation

Shaped by conversations with public and third sector leaders across England, Wales and Scotland, Shifting the Balance explores how councils and communities joined together to fight Covid-19. And it sets out recommendations for how to take forward the adaptation,...

27th January, 2021

Community Power • Covid-19 • Local government • Research Reports • Shifting the Balance

With huge employment and economic challenges on the horizon, Charlotte Morgan argues that local partnershiops of councils, colleges and communities could transform post-16 education in England - if they are given the powers and resources to do so.

26th November, 2020

Devolution • Devolution and reorganisation • Education and skills • Employment • Skills

Exploring the ground-breaking work of economist Elinor Ostrom, the intellectual hero of community power. And asking what it could mean for the UK today.

21st October, 2020

Build Back Better • Community Power • Ostrom • Policy

The paper identifies five pillars that need to form the centre piece of any approach: economic resilience, public sector resilience, community resilience, environmental resilience and workforce resilience.

12th October, 2020

Build Back Better • Community Power • Covid-19 • Place building • Resilience

This report offers a how-to guide for organisations interested in this process, illustrating a range of potential strategies to build active, networked and powerful communities.

29th July, 2020

Community Power • How to guide • Mobilisation • Powerful Communities • Strategy and leadership

This report argues that the Mutual Aid phenomenon is a powerful demonstration what’s possible when communities come together.

13th July, 2020

Community Power • Covid-19 • Mutual Aid • Podcast • Powerful Communities • Third sector and civil society • Volunteering

This report summarises findings from an event held with the New Local Government Network (NLGN) on the changing relationship between communities and public services during and beyond COVID-19.

9th June, 2020

Build Back Better • Community Power • Covid-19 • Public Services

This report looks at how the concept of inclusive growth is being interpreted by practitioners in the field and work backwards towards understanding, rather than attempting a new theoretical framing.

11th February, 2020

Economy and business • How to guide • Inclusive Growth • Strategy and leadership

This report focuses on learning from international examples to prevent and eradicate rough sleeping. It proposes that the UK and devolved governments work with mid-sized cities and places to trial a series of policies, initiatives and collaborations with a...

25th November, 2019

Homelessness • Housing • Strategy and leadership

This report makes a case for a future of children’s services that is led by children and families. It argues that to ensure the future sustainability of children’s services, we need to start in the community – to grow...

9th September, 2019

Childrens' Services • Community Power

This report makes a convincing case for why the process needs to be led by citizens and service users not public sector professionals. Importantly, it also explains in detail how this shift is happening in practice.

8th July, 2019

Commissioning and Procurement • Community Power • Powerful Communities • Public Services

This report highlights ideas and best practice successfully implemented by countries, regions and cities around the world in response to similar challenges faced by places in the UK.

3rd July, 2019

Cities • Devolution • Education and skills • Employment • Skills

With financial resources likely to be under pressure for the foreseeable future, councils will increasingly need to become a supporter and enabler of communities ready to solve their own problems. Communities themselves may also need to change their expectations...

20th September, 2018

Community Power

NLGN has been commissioned by the Key Cities Group to undertake research into how mid-sized cities can contribute to resolving the big national challenges that the UK currently faces. The first report, ‘Key Cities: Ready to Meet the UK’s...

5th June, 2018

Devolution • Devolution and reorganisation • Strategy and leadership

Factors as varied as employment, transport, housing, and green space all affect people’s health. And over the last four years, councils have undertaken a variety of innovative work with local partners to improve public health outcomes. But challenges around...

5th June, 2018

Health and social care • Housing • Planning • Strategy and leadership

Increasingly councils are recognising that it is organisational culture not structure that drives impact. But what is the culture of local government? Why is changing it important? And how can such an intangible thing be transformed? In this essay...

18th April, 2018

Community Power • Culture • Devolution and reorganisation • Governance • Strategy and leadership • Think Piece

This report explores the dividing lines that drove 2016’s decision to Leave. This report reveals the Brexit vote was a visible expression of the diverse economic trajectories, experiences and identities in England. This report, carried out by the University...

23rd January, 2018

Brexit • Housing • Inclusive Growth • Levelling Up • Policy • Strategy and leadership

In September 2017, the Government announced an additional £2bn investment in affordable housing, and stated it will encourage councils and housing associations to build homes for social rent in parts of the country where the need is greatest. Other...

11th December, 2017

Housing • Planning

Government must acknowledge health as an economic asset that boosts workforce productivity Over 85% of senior public health officers surveyed1 found that economic development departments are not as engaged as they could be £65m should be invested in Health...

28th November, 2017

Health and social care • Policy • Public Health • Research Reports • Wellbeing

The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 requires commissioners in public authorities to have regard to economic, social and environmental well-being when buying public services. Public bodies are now encouraged to make social value a consideration and look for...

8th May, 2017

Commissioning and Procurement • Events • Strategy and leadership

To help councils build the hundreds of thousands of new homes that are needed, NLGN has published a practical guide, Building Homes, Growing Communities, to help ensure that the houses built lead to high quality communities that prioritise design,...

23rd March, 2017

Housing • Inclusive Growth • Planning • Strategy and leadership

At a time when councils are facing unprecedented financial pressures, the development of new robotics technology has the potential to help, according to participants in a roundtable debate convened by the NLGN and business process outsourcing firm Arvato. The...

28th February, 2017

Digital • Events • Strategy and leadership • Technology

Kindly supported by: Local government should have more powers to help tackle persistent unemployment: 98% of councils think that employment and skills provision should be locally commissioned. 80% of responding councils are already taking steps to improve employment and...

20th October, 2016

Devolution • Employment • Research Reports • Skills • Welfare

Many cities offer people tangible opportunities for discovering economic security for themselves and their families. And some of the world’s largest cities offer the greatest opportunities if they are to produce the correct blend of economic advantage, diversity and inclusion....

14th September, 2016

Cities • Place building • Strategy and leadership

Central Government need to be much clearer about what they want from devolution and much more willing to create the conditions to achieve it. This is the key finding from a new research report from NLGN supported by PwC....

13th July, 2016

Devolution • Devolution and reorganisation • Strategy and leadership