The future is still local: insights from five years of Ipsos polling

Overview

Whether from the media, national politicians, or the public themselves, councils face greater scrutiny than ever before – in the budgets they pass, and the projects they undertake. However, public opinion illustrates that the future is still local. Since 2022, LGIU has partnered with Ipsos to conduct polling on public perceptions of local government in England. Spanning issues of trust, understanding, and involvement in local decision-making, this research has provided some key insights into the perceived role of local government in modern society. 

Key findings

1. Local government is consistently more trusted than national government.
2. Local government is seen to have a growing impact on local areas – greater than all other relevant organisations – specifically on:
   • People’s everyday lives
   • Quality of life
3. While knowledge of local decisions is low, most residents want to know more about them or to take on a more active role in decision-making processes.
4. Awareness of sector reforms is poor, but directly elected mayors are seen in a favourable light.

The data used in this publication was collected by Ipsos, but the analysis in this article is by LGIU only.

Trust in local government has fallen, but remains higher than national government

• Since 2023, there has been a decline in the proportion who trust local councils to act in the best interests of local people – from 49% to 43% in 2026. 
• However, this is still markedly higher than that of the national government, which is trusted by only 29% of respondents, and national media, which is trusted by only 27% in 2026.
• Local businesses and community groups have consistently received the highest levels of trust, demonstrating that – collectively – local institutions are deemed more likely to operate in the best interests of communities than national bodies. 
• Therefore, while there is significant ground to be made in order to improve levels of trust in local government, there is also clear potential in the collective power of local organisations to do so.

To what extent, if at all, do you trust each of the following to act in the best interests of people in your local area?

The impact of local government on people’s lives is increasingly recognised

Impact on everyday lives

• The perceived impact of local councils on people’s everyday lives is consistently higher than central government, the Civil Service, business, and the media.
  • This perceived impact has grown since 2022, rising from 32% to 41% in 2026. 
• Across this period, there has been no real change in the proportion who recognise the impact of the Civil Service, which remains very low (8-9%).
• Belief in Westminster’s influence has mirrored electoral change – declining across 2022-2024, but increasing across 2024-2026.

From this list, which two or three of the following, if any, do you believe have the most impact on people’s everyday lives?

Impact on quality of life

• Since 2022, there has been a steady increase in the proportion who believe that local councils are among the most influential institutions in terms of impact on quality of life, rising from 51% to 61% in 2026. 
• This recognition is markedly larger than that of the Civil Service, Westminster, business or the media.

From this list, which two or three of the following, if any, do you believe have the most impact on the quality of life in your area?

Knowledge is weak, but the majority want to know more about local decisions – or get more involved in them

Knowledge of local and national government

• Knowledge of the work of councillors and how decisions are made in local government has remained largely unchanged since 2023.
• Knowledge of how local government functions has consistently been lower than that of the work of MPs.
  • Overall, a minority of the public know ‘a great deal/fair amount’ about how decisions are made at either a national or local level.

How much, if anything, would you say you know about…

Appetite for knowledge and involvement

• Since 2022, there has consistently been around 1 in 6 respondents declaring that they are not interested in learning more about how decisions in their local area are made.

• However, approximately 1 in 3 want to know more about how decisions are taken in their areas – but do not want to be involved beyond that.
  • A further third of respondents want to have greater influence over or active involvement in these decisions
• When noting that a very small proportion (2-5%) say that they are already actively involved in local decision making, there is clearly untapped potential locally.
• Opportunities for embracing this potential present themselves in advances to neighbourhood working, the formation of area committees, and the need to scale up public engagement during processes such as devolution and local government reorganisation.

Which of these statements, if any, comes closest to your own views towards how the local council makes decisions about local public services in your area?

Awareness of sector reforms is poor, but directly elected mayors are seen in a favourable light.

Awareness of devolution

• Awareness of the Government’s devolution agenda is significantly lower than the big news stories, but marginally higher than some cultural events.
  • The proportion of those polled who said they were following Government plans for devolution ‘fairly closely’ or ‘very closely’ was 34% in March 2025, and 31% in April 2026.

March 2025 – How closely, if at all, have you been following stories about…

March 2026 – How closely, if at all, have you been following stories about…

Support for directly elected Mayors

• Overall, directly elected Mayors are seen as more of a good thing (42%) than a bad thing (12%).
  • Positive views of directly elected Mayors are particularly high among younger cohorts and Labour voters, where Mayors are seen as a good thing by a majority.

Overall, do you think having a directly elected Mayor is a good or bad thing for a local area?*

*small numbers (+/-) indicate the change between 2025 and 2026

• Nearly half of those polled in 2026 think that directly elected Mayors make local government more accountable to residents and give the area a stronger voice in Westminster. 
• From 2025 to 2026, there has been a slight increase in the proportion of those who think that having a directly elected Mayor can have a positive impact across the listed areas. 
• The aspect in which public opinion is most divided is on the topic value for money.

Do you think that having a directly elected Mayor has a positive or negative impact, if either, on the following for a local area?

Public perceptions of local government reorganisation

• In terms of local government reorganisation – the other key strand of this Government’s plan for local government transformation – there is no public consensus that unitary authorities produce better outcomes
  • The highest share of those polled indicated that they prefer a combination of both district and county councils. 
  • This distribution of opinion is nearly identical to last year.

To the best of your knowledge, which of the following arrangements for local government work best, if either?

Concluding thoughts

• The Government’s devolution agenda is moving forward, but public awareness and engagement with it remain fairly limited. 
  • There is some optimism around directly elected Mayors, particularly among younger groups.
  • But there is no clear consensus around the rationale for local government reorganisation.
• Equally, awareness of how decisions are made locally is poor.
  • It is essential that efforts are made towards greater public awareness of new and existing structures, so that local democracy can be truly participatory.
• Local institutions are more trusted than national institutions, and are seen as having greater ability to produce local change.
  • And the public wants to know more about how decisions are made locally or become more involved in making them.
• The popularity of local bodies, and enthusiasm to learn more about/get more involved in their functions, must be seized wherever possible.