How LGIU supports councils on LGR

LGIU provides bespoke LGR support to many of our member councils. Our extensive network puts us in a unique position to share learnings from councils that have already been down the LGR path. These best practice insights, combined with the ongoing work of our research team to provide early analysis of developments, and more than 40 years of experience working with and for local government, mean we can deliver support tailored to the context and requirements of individual councils.

We are a critical friend

We provide independent challenge, expert insight, and additional capacity to ensure your programme is well-positioned for success. By participating in and facilitating chief executive steering groups, programme boards and working groups, we deliver constructive challenge and assurance to internal plans and assumptions.

A trusted voice, unlocking collaboration

LGR can feel like a competitive process. With more than four decades of navigating complex local government environments, we help councils work collaboratively and sensitively within a contested political and organisational landscape, turning complexity into collective progress.

Independent research and analysis

LGIU’s research brings together experts, practitioners and academics to explore key challenges facing the sector. Our work is solutions-focused, and our partnership with member councils keeps on-the-ground priorities central. Shared learning and rapid insight reports help councils identify critical actions in the pre-vesting phase.

Our work in practice

Success in LGR is not assured. Experience from previous programmes shows that outcomes depend on the collaborative, collective commitment of Leaders and Senior Officers throughout implementation.

LGIU’s role is to bring councils together to agree on a shared direction of travel — building that commitment from the outset by:

Establishing a shared understanding of the journey ahead and how councils will work together through transition.
Harnessing the momentum already present in existing LGR relationships and cross-council working.
Embedding collective leadership by creating space for collaboration and peer learning.

Our stepping-stone approach builds an LGR community progressively — from early working principles through to a sustained peer network that endures beyond the decision phase.

Essex

What was the brief?

LGIU was commissioned to provide facilitation support across two distinct but connected work streams for the Mid Essex Building One Council programme:

The relational and cultural foundations of the new organisation.
Building shared purpose among people who had, until recently, been competitors.

What did we do?

LGIU designed the full facilitated forum around a people/plan/process framework – getting officers from four councils to develop relational capital, test a shared vision of success, and begin drafting working principles for how the programme would be run.

We brought together senior leadership teams from Chelmsford City Council, Maldon District, Brentwood Borough, and Essex County Council. Led by LGIU Chief Executive, Jonathan Carr-West, led the facilitation and supported by Policy and Practice Manager, Thomas Lynch – the facilitation was structured around four grounding questions:

where are we going,
what does success look like,
how do we get there, and
what does it mean going forward.

By drawing on comparative intelligence from Surrey, North Yorkshire, and other programmes, we gave Essex’s leadership a practical, nationally-informed framework to build upon.

What was the outcome?

The Mid Essex senior officer forum successfully brought together leaders from four organisations at the very start of their shared journey, establishing working principles and a collaborative culture before the pressures of implementation set in.

Our approach, grounded in the principle that the difference between smooth and difficult transitions lies in collective leadership rather than process, gave Mid Essex a relational foundation that will carry through into the programme’s most demanding phases.