Here’s your round-up from the LGIU team with what you need to know about the local election results across England and Wales.

What does Bristol’s referendum result means for the future of levelling up? As results come in thick and fast, relatively little attention has been paid to Bristol voting to scrap their elected mayor. Nonetheless, this is a significant result. Read the blog post.

Here’s your round-up from the LGIU team with what you need to know about the local election results across Scotland.

Here’s your morning round-up from the LGIU team with what you need to know from the local election results thus far.

Our recently launched State of the Locals polling with Ipsos looking at UK attitudes to local elections, the work of councillors and role of local government. If you missed our virtual panel on this, a recording is now available here.

Which councils are in ‘No Overall Control’ as we head into the 2022 May local elections?  What does NOC mean and what does that mean in terms of practical governance? Ingrid Koehler looks at what this means in practice.

We are proud to once again release LGIU’s Ones to Watch guide to the local elections with what’s at stake and up for grabs as voters go to the polls on 5 May 2022 to elect over 6,000 local representatives across England, Scotland and Wales. Read this guide.

Ahead of local elections, Peter Stanyon, Chief Executive of the Association of Electoral Administrators, discusses all the behind the scenes hard work that goes into carrying out these local elections.

We are proud to have once again partnered with the BBC on these “How your money is spent” infographics as we continue to tell the story of local government – councillors and officers – working day in and day out to support our communities. Contact us if you would like a copy for your council or for any additional information.

We have been covering the local elections for well over a decade now and have a wealth of valuable insight. We have experts available to provide commentary and discussion across a range of election issues. Get in touch via our press team.

In this podcast from the 2021 elections, we talk to the BBC’s Tim Burke about how the BBC covers the local elections and what people think about them. Listen now.

This is your intro to English local government. How does local government work? What is it responsible for? From the number of councillors to who pays – we’ll give you the low-down on all the essentials. Read this page.

We are excited to announce that we have once again partnered with the Vuelio Political team to bring you all the latest news, backgrounders, policy announcements and media reaction in the run up to the big day. Read our blog here and sign up today (selecting Democracy, Devolution and Governance) to stay in the know.

How does local government in Scotland work? This page brings you all the essential information. From the number of councils to the different roles of elected members and staff, we’ll answer your local government questions. Read this page.

In this new blog post, published for the 2022 local elections, Ingrid Koehler reflects on how local voting is an opportunity to build trust if we take a few simple steps. Read this blog.

This LGIU podcast features an interview with Danil Mikhailov, an expert in misinformation, on its prevalence across democracy and public health conversations and how councils can tackle it. Listen now.

As part of our previous post-covid recovery work, Ingrid Koehler examined how councils can build trust and recovery in an age of alternate facts, including original LGIU research on councillors’ views on public health information and misinformation. Read this longread.

The issue of trust and local authorities is one that we have been exploring for quite a while. This briefing from our library looked at research into declining levels of trust in public bodies and institutions. Read the briefing.

Jonathan Carr-West’s speech to the Local Government Association of New South Wales delved in to the causes and effects of the fragmenting transactional relationship between individuals and institutions. Watch the speech.

As part of our post-Covid councils work we looked at trust, governance and democracy. This collection of work delves into elections and lessons from the pandemic that could help to re-establish trust between communities and public institutions. Find out more.

In the run up to last year’s elections Ingrid Koehler talked to Professor Toby James about how countries around the world had been running elections during the pandemic and the prospects for UK local elections. Listen now.

Two years ago the pandemic forced the postponement of elections in the UK, but other countries pressed ahead. This longread, written at the time, looked at how elections held in unprecedented conditions fared. Read the article.

Two years since the first lockdown, many of us have found time to reflect upon the impact Covid-19 has had on democracy and on voting. Valid concerns still stand around what we need to do to make sure that our democracy remains healthy through the next phase of pandemic recovery. The publication is part of our Post-Covid councils work on trust and governance. Read here.

Last year, we conducted a comprehensive survey of council leaders, chief executives and heads of democratic services who told us that we must delay local elections to the Autumn and we must do it now. Do similar concerns still stand now? Read the publication to consider the reasons.

In 2021, the local elections returned to the UK but the ongoing pandemic meant that they were far from routine. In this podcast we hear how Covid safety was being accommodated into election planning. Listen now.

Looking more globally for anwsers, we explore the diverse range of democratic, service and digital innovations introduced by local governments in Australia to address the unprecedented changes to community life caused by the spread of Covid-19. Read the briefing.

Every election represents aspiration and choice, but this year perhaps more than ever we need to celebrate democracy. Our communications guide focuses on some easy steps that councils can take during this election period and some ideas to develop for future elections. Read the guide.

This election briefing covers some essential issues for local authorities during the pre-election period, including how councils can tackle discriminatory election campaigns and guidance for elected member on balancing their ward responsibilities with campaigning. Read the briefing.

When the 2020 elections were cancelled, transparency, as Janet Sillett reported in this article, became doubly important. Increased efforts to engage with communities could be equally important in a post-pandemic world. Read this blog post.

The Elections Bill will have implications for all elections and all voters. We have been charting its progress and opinions about the proposals it contains. Read this briefing.

Social media has become a key channel for many councillors when communicating with their residents. This training offers indispensable advice on planning, managing and delivering your social media output. Find out more and book a place.

This programme has been developed for councillors and candidates who would benefit from the opportunity to reflect on the way they manage their own personal safety and includes principles of personal safety, use of mobile telephones and technology, canvassing and home visits, and trolls and cyber-bullies. Watch the free online traing video here with password: Fr@@PS@1ty

Our personal safety is something many of us take for granted, this short guide – updated for 2022 – offers some guidance on assessing risk and adopting strategies and behaviours that will minimise any potential hazards you might identify as part of your councillor role. Read the guide here.

Attendance and participation in the course will provide councillors with a clear understanding of the challenges and dangers around personal data. The ‘Councillors and Data Protection course’ takes participants through the legal framework. It highlights the importance of key issues such as consent to share data. Learn more and sign up here.

This publication examines diversity in political representation, including the legal context; the most recent data on ethnicity and disability in relation to councillors; barriers faced by black, ethnic minority and disabled candidates and councillors; what can be done to increase diversity, and; current advice and support. Read the full publication here.

The two sessions will be relevant for senior managers and officers who want to develop their inclusive leadership practice and or work in the area of equalities, as well as elected members who want to re-examine equality and diversity policies within their local authority and their leadership role within and outside the council. Find out more here and book your place.

We sat down with LGIU associate and trainer, Nigel Long, to discuss the launch of his new training and consulting agency, Action Disability, and what he hopes for the future of the agency and the overall disability agenda across local government. Read the blog here.

The LGIU worked in partnership with the Fawcett Society on a year-long Commission on Women in Local Government in 2016/17. The Commission adopted a strategic approach and focused, among other things, on the newly created governance structures at local level and how they include or exclude women. Read the Commission here.

This briefing explores a recent report that looked at ethnic minority representation across UK local government, which shockingly – or not – was the first serious attempt to gather this information. Read this briefing.

As part of our post-covid work we looked at the impact of Covid on different communities and the role of inequality in those impacts. This collection also examines the importance of place when it comes to building communities up and tackling inequality. Read more.