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The Annual Local Government Conference 2025

Policy, People & Place

Salford Community Stadium, Greater Manchester 22 October 2025, 9:00am - 4:00pm

8:30am
Registration
9:40am
Chair's Welcome Address
Jess Goble, Head of Operations and Insight, Living Wage Foundation
9:50am
Opening Keynote: Leading Local Government in Times of National Uncertainty
  • Responding to political shifts
  • Upholding public trust and stability
  • Delivering local impact regardless of national direction
  • Questions and answers
10:10am
Tackling Poverty: Local Strategies that Make a Difference
  • Explore how councils and local partners can shape anti-poverty strategies that are impactful, legally robust and community-informed
  • Gain practical insights from research into upcoming reforms - including the 'Crisis and Resilience Fund', and the bringing into the law of the 'Socio-Economic Duty'
  • Questions and answers
Dr Jed Meers, Senior Lecturer, York Law School, University of York
10:30am
The Future of Local Government Finance
  • Navigating funding reform and rethinking local taxation
  • Growing local income through investment and innovation
  • Planning for resilience amid national fiscal constraints
  • Questions and answers
Dr William Burns, Social Care Policy Advisor, CIPFA
11:00am
Break and Networking
11:30am
Leading Local Climate Action Across a County: Collaboration, Coordination and Impact
  • Building strategic climate partnerships across rural and urban areas
  • Aligning funding, planning, and community engagement
  • Embedding climate responsibility into local governance
  • Questions and answers
11:50am
Panel Discussion: Making Devolution Work for People and Place
  • Lessons from effective combined authority and City and district collaboration
  • Harnessing local autonomy to deliver tailored public services
  • Innovation and adaptability within devolved governance frameworks


Pam Smith, Chief Executive, Newcastle City Council

Ben Still, Chief Executive Officer, West Yorkshire Combined Authority 

Michael Cullen, Chief Executive, Stockport Council

12:20pm
Involving the Public to Build Trust and Strengthen Legitimacy
  • Questions and answers
Aleks Berditchevskaia, Principal Researcher, Centre for Collective Intelligence, Nesta
12:40pm
Lunch and Networking
1:40pm
Driving Fair Pay and Pensions in Local Government
  • The evolving role of local authorities in promoting fair pay across their communities and supply chains
  • New pathways for councils to participate in Living Pension commitments using Defined Benefit schemes
  • Questions and answers
Shelley Morris, Senior Project Manager- Living Pension, Living Wage Foundation
2:00pm
Panel Discussion: Cross-Sector Collaboration in Action
  • Discuss how councils can lead effective partnerships to deliver shared goals for people and place
  • Listen to real-world lessons from place-based partnerships delivering outcomes for communities
  • Questions and answers


Jonathan Werran, Chief Executive, Localis

Paul Boyce, Commissioner for the Department of Education

Colin Brew, Head of Strategic Partnership, Greater Manchester Business Growth Hub 

Ellie Moir, Deputy Director, HM Treasury

2:30pm
Collaboration from the Centre: The Darlington Economic Campus and a Place-Based Approach to Partnership
  • The role of the Darlington Economic Campus in reshaping how central Government works with local areas
  • Lessons in collaborative working across departments, regions, and sectors
  • Unlocking inclusive growth through devolved thinking, presence, and partnerships
  • Questions and answers
Ellie Moir, Deputy Director, HM Treasury
2:50pm
Break and Networking
3:20pm
Closing Panel Discussion: Where Next for Local Government?
  • Policy priorities and place leadership over the next five years
  • Strengthening local voices and shaping national policy
  • What councils need from central government to deliver


Cllr. Max Mosley, Senior Economist at the New Economics Foundation and Councillor in Hounslow Council

Senior Representative,  Local Government Information Unit

Cllr Abi Brown OBE, Conservative councillor for the Meir Park ward in Stoke-on-Trent and deputy leader of the LGA Conservative Group

Click here for panelists
3:50pm
Chair's Closing Summary
Jess Goble, Head of Operations and Insight, Living Wage Foundation
4:00pm
Close

*programme subject to change without notice

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