Write for LGIU
Do you have local government experience and a flair for words? Can you help us provide timely, useful content for our members? Come and write for us.
Join us as an LGIU Associate
We’re always looking for people with fresh, informed perspectives on local government. Do you have a solid understanding of the issues facing elected and appointed officials in local public services and a knack for describing ideas and practice? Do you want to reach 1000s of elected officials and practitioners at hundreds of councils?
Currently, we particularly need people who have a solid grounding in
- local government finance in the UK
- education in England and/or Scotland
- children’s social care
- Australian local government
We’re also looking for people who’d like to write about cross country comparison and international examples. If you have some experience of Australian, New Zealand or North American local government ideally alongside familiarity with Irish or UK local government, we’d love to hear from you. You can be based anywhere.
But we’re always willing to consider great writers with expertise and focus in other areas. You can check out the style and substance we’re looking for below.
How it works:
Apply using our online form below. Tell us about your background and why you’d like to work with us and drop us a sample of your professional writing as a file or a link. If your experience and writing style meets our needs, we’ll be in touch to arrange a chat. We run a rolling recruitment programme, so even if we don’t have much available work now in your field, it doesn’t mean we won’t soon. We publish over 400 pieces per year that require input from one of our associates.
We are currently looking mainly for associates with UK local government experience, but we also have commissions for supporting our Global Local bulletins, so people with experience of local government elsewhere in the world are also very welcome to apply.
We pay £300 or equivalent as our standard briefing rate and each commission will be discussed and briefed in advance. Most commissions are around a day of work, but we can discuss more complex briefings and opportunities of briefing series.
Or share content:
We don’t normally offer compensation for self submitted content, but we’re always happy to consider pieces you’d like to share with us and our readers. Find out more about how you can share your story.
Apply here
Sample briefings
We’ve provided a few examples of the kind of content we’re looking for. But have a look around the website and see the kind of thing we’re after.
Help local government get to the bottom line
One of the biggest pressures facing our members is not enough budget to meet their aspirations. Can you write clearly, compellingly and succinctly about local government finance? Here’s a sample briefing on the Scottish budget from early 2022. 2022-23 Scottish local government finance settlement – all you need to know (requires free sign in)
Help us highlight local solutions to global challenges
Each week we highlight a different theme for local public services around the globe. Do you have the experience and research skills to highlight global best practice and the writing skills to present it in a pragmatic and engaging style? Check out our most recent Global Local bulletin on domestic violence or this one social procurement (requires free sign-in).
Write about education and skills policy or children's social care
We’re looking for new briefing associates with experience of education policy in the UK. To see what we’re looking for here’s a sample briefing from June 2022 Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022 – Old wine, new bottles? (requires free sign-in)
