'Partnerships for People and Place' funds council transformation

13 English councils are sharing £5 million to tackle issues affecting their communities, including youth unemployment, health disparities and crime.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities 'Partnerships for People and Place' initiative will trial new ways of working across local and central government and deliver innovative, locally-led solutions to key challenges that communities face.

Councils will be provided with funding and specialist support for projects targeting specific issues in their areas. The projects will be spread across urban, rural and coastal communities and will tackle a broad range of issues including increasing apprenticeship opportunities, tackling crime, health disparities, youth unemployment and poverty.

Each pilot will be looking to test whether closer working between different parts of central government and local places can bring measurable benefits to local communities and people.

"This is an innovative programme with the potential to make a real difference to people’s lives," said Minister for Levelling Up and Communities Kemi Badenoch. "From skills shortages and unemployment to tackling poverty and reducing crime, local people are best placed to solve challenges in their own areas."

Each project will receive between £150,000 and £350,000 over a 2-year period from the HM Treasury’s Shared Outcomes Fund. Councils and their local partners will also be offered a range of support, including contact with senior officials across central government to solve problems identified at a local level and external expertise and resources to map existing funding and outcomes and evaluate their projects.

Partnerships for People and Place will also look at whether improved government structures, more flexible funding models and greater collaboration across the public sector could be effective in addressing specific issues in local areas.

The projects will support the government as it delivers on its mission to level up all parts of the country. The selected pilots are:

• Birmingham City Council
• City of Bradford Metropolitan District
• Cornwall Council
• Durham County Council
• East Sussex County Council
• London Borough of Hackney
• Liverpool City Council
• Luton Borough Council
• Newcastle City Council
• Northumberland County Council
• Southwark Council
• Sunderland City Council
• Wakefield Council

The exact amount of funding each project will receive will depend on the delivery plans local councils work up and submit over the next few months. It is therefore likely that each of the pilots will receive a different amount, depending on the outcomes and interventions they propose to deliver. All 13 pilots will get a portion of the programme funding in November 2021 to support them to develop these more detailed resourcing plans.

The exact detail of each project will be clarified in the coming months as councils work with central government and partners to create delivery plans.