NEWSROOM

Friday, 24 November

WE MUST REMEMBER TO PUT PEOPLE AT THE CENTRE OF CONTINUING HEALTHCARE DECISIONS – HERE’S HOW TO MAKE SURE THAT HAPPENS

By Colin Morrison, Senior Consultant at Inner Circle Consulting

At the interface between social care and health services are a cohort of people with complex needs who are often on the end of difficult decisions about who should be case managing and funding their care packages. These decisions can have a huge impact on individuals, their quality of life and how their needs are met, managed and funded, and for local councils in terms of their legal, financial and professional accountabilities.

At the core of this is the NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) National Framework, which sets out the process for deciding eligibility. But the application of the CHC process can vary widely, particularly now, as it is buffeted by a range of pressures. These include; rising demand, owing to an ageing population and long-term health conditions; budget constraints; rising care costs associated with home care, nursing care and specialised treatment; complex assessment and eligibility processes; regional differences and disparities in access to care; and increased public pressure as patients and their families better understand how to advocate for themselves. In addition to this, and as highlighted by the recent Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) survey, 70% of Directors reported that their staff are undertaking tasks previously undertaken by NHS staff.

Read the full article here.

Thursday, 16 November

MAKING PLACES TO CALL HOME: WHY HOUSING IS VITAL TO DELIVERING SUCCESSFUL ADULT SOCIAL CARE

by Amy Long, Senior Consultant at Inner Circle Consulting

At the recent Demos event on implementing a new vision for social care, I was reminded of a statement formulated by the #SocialCareFuture movement’s vision, which states: We all want to live in the place we call home, with the people and things we love, in communities where we look out for each other, doing the things that matter to us.

This call to action has been adopted by many, including the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS). But the consequences for integrated transformation have not yet been compelling. Housing and accommodation are rarely included as a priority in Adult Social Care (ASC) Transformation plans.

Read the full article here.

Tuesday 7 November

SUSTAIN

Councils are at the sharp end of acute modern challenges: fiscal constraint, rising demand, and falling trust in public institutions. They are also vital to shaping our future: delivering net zero, overcoming inequality and intergenerational poverty, growing the economy, building homes.

There’s slim prospect of sustained, additional central funding. Section 114 reports in this context are at best a negotiation to borrow and raise tax. Emerging regulation insists Councils, CEOs and Finance Directors show they have assured, governed plans to balance the books and deliver. Yet their strategy, transformation and delivery functions are pared to the bone, and thus too, their capacity and capability to respond. Many senior leaders know what needs to be done but lack bandwidth or support to develop proposals and delivery arrangements at pace.

For these reasons we have developed SUSTAIN: co-produced savings and transformation programmes that are sustainable and realistic, to manage and mitigate the risk of financial failure and enable recovery over the short, medium and long term. Curated by former Section 151 officers, local authority Chief Executives and transformation specialists, with over 20 years’ experience of working in challenging UK local authority environments, SUSTAIN blends best-in-class data and insight with tried and tested methods, lines of enquiry and delivery and assurance tools. We help discern, develop, agree and deliver opportunities for a secure financial future and the achievement of wider goals.

Read the full launch here.

Wednesday 25 October

PICKING THE WINNERS: WHAT LABOUR’S CONFERENCE MEANS FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT

by Matthew Bennett, Managing Consultant at Inner Circle Consulting

From a world of no housing targets, abandoned Local Plans and anxiety about growth, to one in which the Government drives housing growth to boost the economy. If Labour wins the next election and keeps this promise, the environment that local government currently operates in will change radically – and fast.

Throughout ICC’s time at Labour Conference we heard over and over again about growth. The Labour Party knows that if it comes into power it needs to secure far higher levels of economic growth to boost living standards and to raise the money needed for its public service ambitions.

Read the full article here.

Friday 20 October

I’VE SEEN 20 YEARS OF REGENERATION CHALLENGES. THE ANSWER IS ALWAYS: HOLD YOUR NERVE

by Lucy Webb, Director at Inner Circle Consulting

There is a stark, growing inequality gap in the UK. People living in deprived areas have a life expectancy ten years lower than their wealthier counterparts. Girls living in deprived areas will live 19 more years in ill health than those in more affluent neighbourhoods. The task of ‘levelling up’ is mammoth.

Alarmingly, though, while healthcare stats head south, so does data on development projects to address them, as local authorities, struggling with financing, rethink community development schemes. This is a bad move for local people and for business. Inaction costs people’s quality of life and also costs councils dear in terms of creating bigger problems down the road. You don’t need to be a doctor to understand that prevention is better than cure.

Read the full article here.

Monday 2 October

UNLOCKING BETTER FUTURES SO THE FUTURE IS BETTER FOR ALL – OUR MANIFESTO

We are a 21^st century consultancy for 21^st century challenges, aiming to deliver strong public services and thriving places so everyone can live a good life. The big missions of local government and its partners are our purpose. Working alongside the public sector for more than a decade, we know the impact of austerity, Covid and the cost of living crisis and we know that radical transformation and rebuilding civic trust in institutions are the only way to foresee and prevent future crises. Our success lies in the success of future leaders to maintain their organisations’ relevance and viability in a world marked by inequalities, and inadequacies in the public response.

Our ambition extends to the consultancy industry too. We know that a reset is required if consultancy is to walk alongside public sector clients to transform lives and services. We think a 21^st century consultancy must dig much deeper to answer the challenges of our lifetimes and also advocate more assertively for public sector support, policy change and people-centred models of sustainable, place-based growth. Consultancy is currently widely understood as an extractive economy that takes and moves on. We want to establish a new consultancy that builds a symbiotic, regenerative relationship with local government.

Read our full manifesto here.

Friday 29 September

INNER CIRCLE JOINS THE DISABILITY CONFIDENT SCHEME

This National Inclusion Week, we’re glad to announce that we’ve committed to being a Disability Confident employer as part of our effort to ensure that every experience and background shapes our collective future, so that all voices are heard and listened to and given a chance to lead.

In our day-to-day work we build representative spaces and places, and we strive to do the same within our organisation. We look forward to being part of the Disability Confident scheme, to learn from it and to apply those learnings.

Read more here.

Wednesday 27 September

EVELYN JOHN JOINS INNER CIRCLE AS DIRECTOR

PRESS RELEASE

Former PwC Director Evelyn John has joined Inner Circle Consulting to head up the public sector specialist’s Prosperous Places division and focus on “building communities around social, environmental and economic capital to transform places for people.”

Evie, who specialised in Housing, Place, and Transformation of Local Public Services at PwC, takes up position in September at Inner Circle, which is currently spearheading regenerative place projects across the UK in partnership with councils and communities in Cornwall, the Thames Estuary and Bristol, among others.

She said: “I truly believe that neighbourhood is the real unit of transformation and the place where you can make the biggest difference. It can be transformational for people in a way that a focus on individual services cannot be. And Inner Circle has all the ingredients to bring fresh thinking on this together, and catalyse it.”

Read the press release here.

Friday 15 September

IF WE WANT TO SAVE COUNCILS, WE HAVE TO FIX SOCIAL CARE

By Olly Swann, Director at Inner Circle Consulting

Fortunately, we are at last seeing a national conversation about the financial crisis gripping councils. Unfortunately, we’re still not talking about a major underlying cause of it: The cost of social care services, which can account for some 70% of a council’s total expenditure.

Social care is arguably the most important area of public sector service delivery, but also the most complex of systems that councils preside over. What it does and prevents, day-in and day-out, and what it can achieve for people and their lives, showcases the very best of public sector talent. But it doesn’t occupy a warm place in the nation’s affections and it is largely misunderstood by those who don’t work directly within it or with it. Worse still in the current financial climate, it’s also cost-volatile as a result of market forces that it struggles to influence.

Read the full article here.

Friday 11 August

TO DO SERIOUS PURPOSE-LED WORK, YOU NEED STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

By James Windsor, Director at Inner Circle Consulting

At Inner Circle we are committed to making a positive long-term impact for the benefit of the community and our client. Key to doing this is our capacity to build long-term relationships and immerse ourselves in local issues, so we work with deep understanding of an area’s strategic and financial planning.

The best recipe for our success and yours is strategic partnership – in which we work side by side and build trust, credibility and impact.

Read the full article here.

Wednesday 2 August

PUTTING PEOPLE FIRST: HOW ESTATE REGENERATION CAN WORK FOR OUR COMMUNITIES

By Colin Boxall, Managing Consultant at Inner Circle Consulting

Delivering new housing at pace is a major focus for local authorities across the UK. Making sure you get the practical steps right is key, but so is making sure that a place continues to work for both old and new residents during any period of change.

Last month Grahame Park Estate (which is being let by Notting Hill Genesis in partnership with the LB Barnet), won the award for Regeneration in the Placemaking Category at the Planning Award 2023. This ambitious estate regeneration project, which I have worked on for several years, included people-focused measures that were critical to creating an inclusive, prosperous place.

Read the full article here.

Thursday 20 July 2023

INFRASTRUCTURE DELIVERY STRATEGY: A WELCOME REQUIREMENT, AND INNER CIRCLE CONSULTING CAN HELP

By Jonny Moore, Managing Consultant at Inner Circle Consulting

Whilst recent announcements suggest councils may be able to opt out of the new Infrastructure Levy, there is one element of the proposed reforms where opting in could have advantages to the way we plan for infrastructure delivery.

Proposed reforms to the current system of developer contribution include a key innovation: A requirement for councils to set out their approach towards infrastructure funding and delivery. At Inner Circle we think this could benefit not just the way we use developer contributions but the wider planning and capital delivery process.

Read the full article here.

Thursday 13 July 2023

INNER CIRCLE SIGNS CONTRACT EXTENSION WITH LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL AS TRANSFORMATION PARTNER

We are delighted to extend our work with Liverpool City Council as trusted advisors on a major transformation project, and to have signed the next phase of our collaboration together to build better futures for everyone in the city.

In 2022, Inner Circle was appointed by Liverpool City Council as implementation partners for the Finance Improvement Programme – a key recommendation of the Commissioners. Following a competitive tendering exercise we were subsequently appointed as LCC’s Strategic Transformation Partners for the “Stabilisation Phase” of their improvement plan under a 7-month contract extendable to a full year. In recent months we’ve supported the Liverpool team to define and mobilise its first phase transformation programme, assure in-year savings proposals (totalling £50m) as well as define and deliver key workstreams including Children’s Social Care, Adults Social Care, Customer Experience, Neighbourhood Model, ICT.

Read the full press release here.

Wednesday 12 July 2023

A BETTER FUTURE STARTS AT HOME – HOW OUR STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WITH SURREY IS TACKLING THE HOUSING CRISIS

By Matthew Bennett, Managing Consultant

Surrey is a prosperous and wealthy part of England. It’s known, with good reason, for its high quality of life. Surrey County Council’s local partners and stakeholders refer to it as having long been seen as “some sort of Shangri-la” or “England’s California”. High praise indeed.

Yet despite this reputation, local public services have been struggling to recruit and retain staff. Local businesses have also been finding it increasingly difficult to hire. And high streets are starting to suffer because workers are unable to afford to live or commute to these jobs. Consequently, the good life that Surrey had come to be known for is under strain. One local chief executive described the situation to us at Inner Circle as a “burning platform.”

Against this backdrop the county council decided to act and brought Inner Circle in to deliver a new strategy for Housing, Homes and Accommodation across this county of over 1.2 million residents.

Read the full article here.

Tuesday 20 June 2023

A MARATHON COMMUNITY MINDSET CAN UNLOCK BETTER FUTURES FOR ALL

By Luis Obregon, Consultant

In the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic many of us are still working through feelings of isolation and disconnection from our communities. And as cities grow, many of us living in urban areas are now noticing more clearly the contradiction in our proximity to other people, while we interact only rarely with neighbours and potential friends. The things we learned during the pandemic about collaboration and support seem hard to sustain as we are encouraged to go back to ‘normal’ – whatever that was.

Through my work as a consultant at ICC, and my involvement with diverse communities across the UK, I have often found that the answers to contemporary challenges require a deep sense of community between individuals. Much of what I do often involves creating frameworks to bridge gaps in communication and sharing. But I really understood the power of community support at a much deeper level when I ran the London Marathon earlier this year.

I was a first-time runner of the event, and I think that if it hadn’t been for the overwhelming cheers from spectators and the energy from fellow runners around me, I would probably have stopped, or perhaps even given up completely. At one point, when the challenge seemed impossibly hard, I decided to focus on a fellow runner who was running about 10 metres in front of me. I decided that if he could keep going, then I could too. As I followed him over and through the finishing line several hours later, I realised how much he, and all the other runners, had provided motivation and a sense of determination even when I found the going difficult and exhausting.

Read the full article here.

Tuesday 16 June 2023

UNLOCKING INVESTMENT TO PRODUCE SUSTAINED LEVELLING UP OF THE UK’S CITIES – REFLECTIONS FROM UKREIIF

By Andrew Travers, Director

It’s clear among the political leaders and chief executives of our biggest cities that it’s time to invert the pyramid – to direct government to provide the support that will enable cities to take control of their destinies and unlock their potential. And it’s clear that potential is huge.

These were the strongest conclusions that came out of our round table discussion at UKREiiF in May, at which we assembled a powerful panel including Deborah Cadman OBE, Chief Executive of Birmingham City Council; Stephen Jones, Director of Core Cities; Cllr Georgia Gould, Chair of London Councils; Pam Smith, Chief Executive of Newcastle City Council; Cllr Susan Aitken, Leader of Glasgow City Council; and myself.

Read the full article here.

Tuesday 6 June 2023

THE NEW CIVIC SPACES: HOW TOWN HALLS ARE CHANGING WITH US

By Andrew Mistry, Senior Consultant

Close your eyes and think of a civic space. Many of you might bring to mind a town hall, or city chambers – somewhere that’s formal, possibly a bit dark, with lots of stairways and corridors, or grand seating for council debate. All the traditional markers for places where people come to engage in public life, democratic process, local government administration. But these days, civic space is changing dramatically to reflect communities’ evolving needs.

As we better understand the diverse and complex needs of society, civic spaces are adapting to different priorities, in order to remain relevant and effective, and to accommodate a wider range of functions and activities. Their evolution is providing new opportunities for community engagement and participation. It’s also providing new opportunities for ways of local government working as leaders respond to pressure on services with a drive to create modern spaces that can attract a forward-thinking workforce.

Read the full article here.

Tuesday 23 May 2023

TRANSFORMATION MUST BE SYSTEM-WIDE TO MEET THE COMING CHALLENGES

By Ruth Luscombe, Managing Consultant

Many council leadership teams straining to meet urgent demand are reaching for transformation programmes to help to provide services in the context of multiple crises. But only system-wide transformation can meet the financial and demand challenges ahead.

After a decade of austerity, the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis, public service leaders know they don’t have sufficient resources and they know that urgent change is necessary. What many are also now learning is that traditional transformation programmes and efficiencies – which focus on improving the services within direct council control – are no longer enough.

Read the full article here.

Wednesday 17 May 2023

HOW ESTATE REGENERATION CAN HELP RESOLVE THE HOUSING CRISIS – AND SOME PRACTICAL STEPS TO ENSURE IT IS DELIVERED EFFECTIVELY

By Colin Boxall, Managing Consultant

The housing crisis in the UK takes many forms. Principally, we do not have enough homes, and the homes we do have are in poor condition and not environmentally sustainable.

Estate regeneration – the redevelopment of public estates to provide more housing, improve the environment and broaden opportunities for communities – has historically been a ‘go to’ option. But lately it has become less popular, poorly funded and controversial, even as the pressures of the housing crisis remain.

Read the full article here.

Wednesday 3 May 2023

SPRING ELECTIONS BRING CHALLENGE AND CHANGE TO LOCAL COUNCILS

By Andrew Travers, Director

Spring elections are a major event across the UK – an opportunity to get everyone involved in community action, a challenge to do things better and a chance for change. For local councils particularly, all of these apply.

Local elections are a vital part of our democracy. Everyone who puts an ‘X’ in a box on May 4^th hopes their vote will make a difference to local quality of life. But good electoral outcomes also depend on local authorities’ capacity for organising and administering them, facilitating the winners’ transition to power and helping political teams to design and deliver the means to make good their manifesto promises. And this year brings the added challenge of the introduction of the new voter ID rules.

Read the full article here.

Friday 7 April 2023

ON WORLD HEALTH DAY, LET’S BUILD BETTER NEIGHBOURHOODS TO TACKLE HEALTH INEQUALITY

By Azul Castañeda, Consultant

Friday, April 7 is World Health Day, and marks 75 years since countries together founded the World Health Organisation so everyone, everywhere could attain the highest level of health. The UK marks this day after more than a decade of austerity and the impact of a global pandemic diminished the life expectancy and wellness of many people, and a solution seems out of sight.

Last month the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine published research showing that life expectancy in the UK lagged every other G7 country apart from the US, as a result of a decade of lower incomes and stagnating health and economy since 2012. But the situation was already dire in 2012, when research by University College London – a “Lives on the Line” map – displayed health inequalities so stark that there was an 11-year difference in life expectancy between London’s Hackney and the West End, the same gap as between England and Guatemala. We have known for a while that where we are born, grow up, and work matters to our health.

Read the full article here.

Friday 3 March 2023

WORRIED ABOUT CHANGES TO DEVELOPER CONTRIBUTIONS? READ THIS.

By Jonny Moore, Managing Consultant

The Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities will shortly be publishing detail on proposed reforms of developer contributions as part of its consultation on the Levelling Up & Regeneration Bill.

A lot of the debate, reaction and questions will understandably be about how the levy will be calculated, implemented, and operate alongside the current system. But in a landscape where the means for funding capital projects is limited, costs are increasing, and infrastructure is under more pressure – let’s not forget the fundamentals. Using developer contributions efficiently and effectively has never been more important for communities to mitigate the impact of new development.

Read the full article here.

PRESS RELEASE

Thursday 2 February 2023

ICC JOINS THE RSA’S UK URBAN FUTURES COMMISSION TO BUILD BETTER FUTURES FOR UK CITIES

ICC is delighted to announce that we are joining forces with the RSA as part of its UK Urban Futures Commission to create and deliver a national plan to unlock the potential of all UK cities.

As expert practitioners, strategic advisors and implementation partners, we will work as part of the Commission to size the gap between where cities are now and their potential – and create a practical framework to leverage investment, realise potential and deliver better futures.

We bring a decade’s expertise in supporting local councils to understand the full potential of the resources, assets and partnerships they already have, so they can invest in good local growth. Because we know that improved productivity, growth, prosperity and sustainable public services across the country can only come from regionally and locally driven partnerships and governance.

Read the full press release here.

PRESS RELEASE

Monday 31 January 2023

REAL ESTATE EXPERT PETER COOPER JOINS INNER CIRCLE

Peter Cooper has joined Inner Circle Consulting as Director to broaden the organisation’s expertise in supporting local councils’ financial resilience and capacity to provide 21^st century services for their communities.

Cooper, a former FTSE 100 UK portfolio director, brings some 35 years of real estate investment experience to Inner Circle, which is driving forward a major growth and development programme to devise and deliver innovative support for local government leaders.

“I’m delighted to be contributing expertise on real estate and the wider civic value it can unlock to a diverse range of fascinating projects across the UK, alongside the immensely talented folk at Inner Circle. As local authorities move towards long-term, sustainable growth-based operating models, harnessing their real estate well can make a big strategic and financial difference. Its permanence, unbeatable partnership potential and ability to leverage wider outputs adds stabilising and enabling value in uncertain markets,” Cooper said.

Read the full press release here.

Monday 23 January 2023

READY FOR ROUND THREE? LEVELLING UP SUCCESS IS STILL POSSIBLE. HERES HOW:

By Andrew Starkie, Director and lead of the Prosperous Inclusive Places Mission.

You may be feeling cynical about the chances of winning from the levelling up fund. But nonetheless, round three is approaching – and if you are part of the 80 percent who failed to see their efforts rewarded this time, it’s worth thinking about how to build on the investment you’ve made in this process. I know from working with many councils that several who were unsuccessful in the first round have succeeded this time. To get them over the finish line my team and I challenged the strategy, viability and deliverability of their bids until they were watertight. Here’s that process in detail:

Read the full article here.

PRESS RELEASE

Monday 23 January 2023

NEW CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER LORENA ARMITAGE JOINS INNER CIRCLE CONSULTING

Lorena Armitage has joined Inner Circle Consulting as Chief Operating Officer, a new role for the business as it drives forward a major growth and development programme to expand its capacity to deliver cutting-edge support for local government leaders.

Armitage, who has over 15 years of experience in international consultancy roles, said she was excited by the focus, determination and public service impact of Inner Circle’s expansion.

“It’s a pivotal time for Inner Circle because there is so much potential to design transformational systems and services for local authorities. Having the right enabling support systems for Inner Circle will allow for that work to happen in the most efficient manner and help us break through into new levels of delivery and local impact,” she said.

Read the full article here.

PRESS RELEASE

Monday 16 January 2023

TOBY FOX TAKES MARKETING ROLE AT INNER CIRCLE CONSULTING

Toby Fox, founder of local government events and marketing company 3Fox, has joined Inner Circle Consulting as Head of Marketing, in a move described by ICC co-founders Jamie Ounan and Chris Twigg as “the next step forward in our urgent work of transforming government services for the 21^st century.”

Fox, who set up 3Fox in 2004, said he was “delighted to be joining an organisation that’s working alongside top UK leadership teams to reconnect civic institutions to the people who need them and create world-class towns, cities and places. It’s a chance to work right at the coal face of local authorities’ major challenges and help them achieve their goals.”

Read the full article here.

Friday 9 December 2022

GROWING A MOVEMENT MEANS RECRUITING FOR PURPOSE, WITH PURPOSE

To be an efficient recruitment specialist, you have to find the right person for the role. And to do that, you have to understand how purpose links people and productivity. The world of work is constantly changing, but one basic truth sustains: People stay longest and are happiest in jobs where they feel that they are doing something that matters both to them and to their employer; where they feel useful and that their work is needed.

Working at Inner Circle, my task right now is to link people who care about local government to the urgently necessary work of local government. We know that the primary purpose of councils is to support local people to thrive and be well. Yes, fixing potholes and emptying bins matters. But there is a far larger daily endeavour at the heart of our local government organisations. It’s nothing less than building a better future for all.

Read the full article here.

PRESS RELEASE

Monday 21 November 2022

NEW TALENT JOINS ICC

We are delighted to welcome Karen Barke, Ruth Luscombe and Subiya Pryce-Kennedy to Inner Circle Consulting as managing consultants, joining our team of dedicated professionals driving forward the transformation of public services and connecting communities and councils together with trust for better futures.

Read the full press release here.

Monday 7 November 2022

THE ANSWER TO LEVELLING UP? END THE HOUSING CRISIS SO WE ALL HAVE SAFE SHELTER

By Lucy Webb, Managing Consultant at Inner Circle Consulting

As the cost-of-living crisis and the housing crisis converge, we find our answer to the question of how to level up. It starts and ends with providing one of the very basic human rights: Shelter.

The government’s own definition says: “Levelling up means giving everyone the opportunity to flourish.” Sadly, for many millions right now, the chance to flourish would be a luxury. Their biggest challenge is to survive. A recent poll by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit found that 28 percent of people are already struggling to pay their bills and 47 percent expect to struggle in the future.

Many now have to choose between eating or heating, and many more are in danger of losing their homes completely.

Read the full article here.

Friday 4 November 2022

LEVELLING UP LOCALLY

By Andy Starkie, Director at Inner Circle Consulting

The levelling up fund felt like the light at the end of a very long tunnel for local authorities reeling from more than a decade of funding cuts. Now, reality is dawning.

With 525 submissions, rising inflation and a cost of living crisis, the bids will significantly outstrip the money available, which in turn won’t go as far as had been hoped. But this does not have to be the end of plans to restore local growth, local pride and chances for everyone to flourish.

The job of creating prosperous, inclusive places is the daily job of local government, with or without a funding pot. By leveraging what is already great about a place, working closely with the local community to understand priority need, and targeting engagement with the private sector, it is still possible to leverage the capital or revenue funding necessary to support the communities we love. The challenge just got tougher – but we can still do it.

Read the full article here.

Monday 24 October 2022

BLACK HISTORY MONTH: A CHANCE TO HIGHLIGHT THE IMPACT AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF BLACK PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD

By ICC Staff

“Black History Month is not just a chance to reflect on the effects of racism and social injustice against Black communities throughout history, but a real opportunity to highlight the incredible impact so many Black people have had on British society and across the world,” writes Richard Yeboah, senior consultant at ICC. “The Black political and social activists and educators all deserve remembrance throughout October for their role in fighting for Black rights and equality, but so do all the Black communities and the allies who have played an integral role in shaping multicultural Britain.”

“Black History Month also allows me to reflect on the influential Black people in my life who have shaped me, my beliefs, and my identity. One of the most influential people in my life is Nelson Mandela. His perseverance and determination to fight Apartheid in South Africa and bring forward racial reconciliation, even after 27 years in prison, will always teach me to fight adversity in my ambitions to bring fairness and equality to society. I remind myself of his quote: ‘What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived it. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others.’”

Read the full article here.

Friday 14 October 2022

BLACK HISTORY MONTH IS OUR REMINDER THAT REPRESENTATION MATTERS ALL YEAR ROUND

By Cheryl Bannerman, Senior Consultant at Inner Circle Consulting

“Black is beautiful, Black is excellence. Black is pain, Black is joy. Black is evident.”

A complex mix of gratitude, sadness and hope sits deep within many Black people as we navigate our way through life. These lyrics by Streatham-born rapper Dave ring true, and particularly so when I reflect on what Black History Month means to me.

Black History Month is a celebration of how far we have come and a reminder of the work yet to be done. It is a time to honour and acknowledge contributions of the Black community across society and the sectors many of us care so much about. But the history of racial inequity remains evident in many ways and in many spaces, from the disproportionate rate of maternal mortality among Black women, to the lack of opportunities in neighbourhoods with a strong minority presence.

Read the full article here.

Thursday 6 October 2022

CLEAN GROWTH: HELPING COUNCILS TO DELIVER ON CLIMATE ACTION PROMISES WHILE TACKLING TODAY’S BIG CHALLENGES

By Tomas Gonzalez and Blair Parkinson, Senior Consultants at Inner Circle Consulting.

There’s a lot of talk generally about growth right now. But where is the focus on growth that creates sustainable and equal outcomes? As our ICC vision statement says, we’re always looking to unlock better futures so that the future is better for everyone. So we’re particularly interested in clean growth.

The UK clean growth strategy, published in 2017, set out this approach as the way to grow national income while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, in order to boost productivity, create good jobs, lift earning power and protect the climate and environment. It’s often understood as large scale interventions through national policy and industries like wind, solar and hydrogen – but there is also an important role for local authorities to play.

This is particularly relevant as we head into another period of central government budget-cutting. Councils that have already weathered a decade of austerity and the challenges of Covid are now looking at thin resourcing for a cost of living and energy prices challenge. Implementing a clean growth strategy can help them benefit from new sources of finance and grow new green local industries – ultimately helping to ensure an affordable energy supply for businesses and consumers.

Read the full article here.

Monday 26 September 2022

WE CAN BUILD A DIGITALLY INCLUSIVE FUTURE. BUT WE HAVE TO PLAN FOR IT PROPERLY.

By Gyula Törzsok, Managing Consultant at Inner Circle Consulting.

There is no doubt that we are spending more and more time online – headline figures about internet use get bigger with every report. According to the most recent summary by Datareportal, the global population is predicted to spend 12.5 trillion hours online in 2022, while internet usage has doubled in the last ten years.

But for me the most striking numbers are the ones behind the headlines. Datareportal tells us that 62.5 percent of the population is online – but that means that 37.5 percent of the global population are still not using the internet at all.

In a world where so many conversations are currently preoccupied with equality, inclusion and accessibility, 37.5 percent is a staggering statistic. It suggests that a great many organisations that are working on inclusivity are doing a lot more talking than doing.

Read the full article here.

Monday 12 September 2022

WE SHIELDED THE VULNERABLE FROM COVID – WE CAN SHIELD THEM FROM THE COST OF LIVING CRISIS, TOO

Our best response to times of national emegency must be collectivism and innovation.

By Chris Naylor, Director at Inner Circle Consulting and Lead of the From Crisis to Prevention Mission.

Covid taught us some vital lessons about how to save lives. We were able to design a response that kept us all safe by protecting the most vulnerable among us. Here’s what we learned then, and what we could and should be applying right now.

Firstly, a national emergency requires emergency response teams. If I was leading a local council right now, I would be standing up what’s known as “Gold command” emergency arrangements: the same teams who met and co-ordinated every day of the Covid pandemic to keep people safe.

Building a local government command structure to do that immediately breaks down professional silos, so that every department comes together and communicates regularly. This sounds obvious, but it often doesn’t happen. Making it happen is a priority.

Read the full article here.

PRESS RELEASE

Thursday 16 June 2022

LAMBETH COUNCIL CHIEF MOVES TO PUBLIC SECTOR CONSULTANCY INNER CIRCLE, WILL LEAD ‘AGILE INVESTMENTS’ MISSION

Lambeth Council Chief Executive Andrew Travers is moving to Inner Circle Consulting after five years at the south London Town Hall job, to lead a new ‘Agile Investments’ team that can help councils facing a challenging funding environment to achieve sustainability.

Travers, whose previous posts include Chief Executive at Barnet Council, has been the Chair of the Chief Executives London Committee and the lead on London’s economic recovery. He will take up position in September 2022 as Director at Inner Circle, a consultancy working across the UK on a range of public sector projects based on reimagining local government services.

“Agile Investments is about helping Councils and places devise and deliver strategies for financial sustainability, using local assets and potential,” Travers said.

Read the full article here.

Tuesday 14 June

BEYOND DEMOLITION – WHAT’S THE FUTURE OF ESTATE REGENERATION?

A report on Inner Circle’s panel event as part of the London Festival of Architecture 2022.

By Lucy Webb, Managing Consultant at Inner Circle Consulting.

The redevelopment of post-war estates is an important source of sorely-needed new homes but the traditional approach of levelling everything and rebuilding new is now under pressure due to the environmental impact of demolition and understandable objections from residents about the breaking up of communities who are often not involved in the remodelling of their local housing.

At Inner Circle Consulting, we are working with our clients, communities and the industry to create a new model for doing estate regeneration better. As part of the London Festival of Architecture 2022 we hosted a lively debate to share best practice and discuss the challenges.

The event was held in a beautiful new space at Pollard Thomas Edwards Architects (PTE) who first offered a tour of their King Square regeneration project in Islington: a great example of increasing density through infill with minimal demolition and no compulsory purchase order. Key learning from the project included the importance of building community voice into the design and specification of the buildings and spaces, and an allocations policy that gave existing residents first refusal on the new homes. We bumped into two residents on the visit, both of whom spoke of the virtues of the new homes and community infrastructure provided. One noted in particular the energy efficiency and warmth of the buildings.

Read the full article here.

Tuesday 10 May

HOW TO FIX THE HOUSING CRISIS? AN EIGHT-POINT PLAN TO PERFECT THE ART OF THE POSSIBLE

By Matthew Nimmo – Director and Housing Leader at Inner Cirle Consulting and Emma Peters – Director at Inner Circle Consulting.

How to fix the housing crisis? We need significant structural changes to the way the UK plans and delivers homes. We need more funding from more sources. We need to fix the broken land market. We need densified development in towns and cities and new settlements, help for small local developers to break into the market, support for community land trusts.

It’s a checklist that can feel like a ‘wait and hope’ approach. But local authorities can take action right now within existing policy, legislation and systems. Working with councils across the UK we have come up with an eight-point plan that every council can consider. Call it the art of the possible.

One: Listen to communities – they want to talk to you – to better meet local housing need and manage demand for affordable housing. A residents survey launched by Cornwall Council to assess local people’s experience and housing need was completed by more than 2,500 people and informed a comprehensive housing crisis plan to address local issues such as second homes and invest in the right types of homes for local people. Elsewhere, Great Yarmouth cut the council housing waiting list by 95 percent and Luton Council used data to understand local issues driving homelessness and support families at risk.

Read the full article here.

Friday 22 April

INVESTING TO RENEW OUR FUTURE ISN’T AN OPTION – IT’S THE ONLY CHOICE THERE IS.

By Nick Blackmore, Managing Consultant and Renewable Futures Lead at Inner Circle Consulting.

Earth Day was first held on April 22, 1970, the year Joni Mitchell sang “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone” and millions of people across the United States held street protests over the destruction of the environment.  

Two years earlier, the first human spacecraft had reached the moon. As the astronauts of Apollo 8 sent back photographs of Earth to an awestruck public, the planet’s beauty sparked mass awareness of its fragility too, and rising air pollution and increased use of pesticides prompted debate about the impact of human actions on climate degradation. The first mass public action to save the planet was a hopeful and exciting moment. 

Today, 52 years on, the official theme for Earth Day 2022 is Invest In Our Planet. We mark the day two weeks after a United Nations report said the world was running out of options to hit climate goals – with only immediate, sweeping societal transformation now able to stave off catastrophic warming. Campaigners are still doggedly making the same basic pleading as in 1970 that we need to look after our earth. 

Read the full article here.

Sunday 3 April

LOCAL COUNCILS DESERVE A ROUND OF APPLAUSE – THEY’RE DOING A TOUGH JOB.

By Chris Twigg, Founder and Director at Inner Circle Consulting.

Every year my brother and his Navy mates, both those still serving and former servicemen, get together. I am struck by their camaraderie and kinship that has lasted over 20 years. It’s the same tone that’s celebrated in national campaigns on TV and across the UK to celebrate the Navy and its national importance.

Where I work, people talk fondly about their memories of local government, the councillors and workers that have inspired them and the impact of our projects. But local government isn’t celebrated. Not nationally, not locally. And it needs to be. Because it’s doing a tough job that’s only getting tougher and tougher.

Councils have experienced on average a real term cut in core funding of 50 per cent since 2011. On top of that, council workers have had a real terms cut in pay over the last ten years.

Read the full article here.

Friday 25 March

10 KEY INGREDIENTS OF A SUCCESFUL REGENERATION PROJECT

By Lucy Webb, ICC Managing Consultant specializing in housing and regeneration.

On the back of a tweet last month, someone asked me the question ‘What is Good Regeneration?!’ It was a good challenge.

We throw the term ‘regeneration’ around without defining it much and 20 years into a career in doing it, I know there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Every community is different, every place is unique and the assets and resources available vary from place to place.

Read the full article here.

Tuesday 8 March

WE NEED MORE WOMEN IN MANAGEMENT CONSULTING – AND CONCRETE ACTIONS TO BREAK THE BIAS

By Cheryl Bannerman, ICC Consultant specializing in complex, design-led regeneration projects.

When was the last time you walked into a space as a true representative of yourself? As I look at the women in the management consultancy industry I wonder how many daily present instead a toned-down and passive version to a space that still sends a message that we are not good enough – to the detriment of ourselves and the industry we care about.

Over the last 20 years, female headcount in consulting has risen 191 percent – yet still been eclipsed by the number of men employed. Even during a recent recruitment boom, the proportion of women in the workplace declined by more than 5 percent from 1998 to hit 46.9 percent in 2019. Meanwhile, a survey in 2020 found that 73 percent of consulting firms’ employees are white and so are 80 percent of their owners and partners – something I personally reflect on increasingly as I progress my career as a woman of colour.

These statistics should be a trigger for change. The COVID -19 pandemic had devastating health and economic impacts for us all and disproportionately hit those who were already vulnerable – the communities that are minoritised by a lack of representation and understanding at design and policy-making level. As we seek to stabilise and rebuild, the role of women in management consulting is key to progress. We can only unlock better futures for people in communities and places across the UK with the participation of people from all backgrounds and experiences. That means ensuring that women from all backgrounds and experiences are key players in all teams, their skills and insights at the heart of the work we do, and their opportunities to progress clear and targeted.

Read more here.

Monday 7 March

THE CASE FOR PUBLIC SERVICE REFORM

Our public services are not working in the way their creators intended – overwhelmed by demand, letting too many people down, often fuelling mistrust and disconnection and increasing the burden on the state yet further.

ICC Director Chris Naylor, former chief executive of Barking and Dagenham Council in East London, explores what a new public sector could look like, as councils face tighter budgets this spring and are pressed to deliver the government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda.

“On the face of it, this is a programme about public service reform, but really, it’s about people, and their power and so it becomes about politics. Our public services were designed for a time of full employment; of economic growth – where basic needs were met; a bygone era, where women stayed at home to look after their children and older relatives, and where men were bread winners,” says Naylor.

“But lives are complex and fragile. And the state isn’t just needed episodically for a treatment or cure but it’s often knotted into the fabric of people’s lives for decades and across generations. As a result, those services cost more and more and their impact isn’t as clear as it once was. We need to look again at social economic investment and what designing preventative, reformed services can yield.”

You can listen to the programme here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0014x7v

Contributors include Polly Mackenzie, chief executive of cross party think tank Demos; author and social entrepreneur Hilary Cottam; Donna Hall, former chief executive of Wigan Council and now chair of the think tank and campaigning organisation New Local and Danny Kruger, Conservative MP for Devizes in Wiltshire and advisor to the prime minister on the development of a new social covenant, Darren Rodwell, Leader of Barking and Dagenham Council and Alison McKenzie Folan, Chief Executive of Wigan Council

The programme also speaks to local people in Wigan and Barking and Dagenham to see how a different approach to running and delivering public services is changing people’s lives right now.

“It was great to make this programme. But we’re just at the start of the work. Come with us, and join the movement for change,” Naylor says.

Friday 4 March

MAKING IT HAPPEN: THE BUSINESS CASE FOR A BUSINESS CASE

By Chris Twigg

Councils across the country have spent recent weeks going through the formal process of signing off their budgets. In an environment of ever-tighter spending and rising need, their next job is to launch projects and initiatives that prioritise where to spend the money they’ve got – and show how they will deliver on that spending.

Recently I was having a conversation with the chief executive of a council about his next steps. “Right now the last thing you need is a strategy,” I told him. Instead of being taken aback, he immediately said: “I totally agree.” Together we agreed: We need delivery plans. What we would call a business case.

The default to strategy often happens as a result of the process to set priorities, because it’s a useful way to set out an understanding of local context and current performance, against the main challenges and needs of residents. If you’re a local politician, you need to know that you’ve got a strategy for drug abuse, for the sea front, for transforming the workforce, for regenerating the town centre. Being able to stand up and talk about that is a significant and high profile milestone. But the hard work comes after a strategy is approved.

Read full article here.

Thursday 10 February

WE NEED A HOUSING MINISTER WHO CAN SEE THE PEOPLE AT THE HEART OF THE CRISIS

By Lucy Webb

PSHE at my secondary school was always taught by a random assortment of teachers, generally passing through. The message to us teenagers was that personal, social and health education was an unimportant subject we didn’t have to pay much attention to. Much later on, watching my older sister make a career of really good quality PHSE teaching and support young people away from destructive behaviour into self-confident and capable adulthood, I realised how let down we had been as children by a school that devalued young people in favour of a tick box exercise.

This week, I can’t help but draw parallels with the PM’s reshuffle and the treatment of the housing brief. We’ve now had 20 housing ministers in 25 years. Constant changes in policies and personalities have played a huge role in the housing crisis we now find ourselves in. And many of us across the UK – this housing specialist included – find ourselves increasingly wondering what political leaders think the job is actually meant to achieve.

Back in 2020, the Institute for Government tried to make the case for keeping ministers in post longer. It stated: ‘The length of time a UK secretary of state stays in the job is now closer to that of a football manager than a CEO in the private sector, and almost a year shorter than the equivalent in Germany. Longer tenures would provide continuity and give the government the best chance of delivering on its most ambitious promises such as ‘levelling up’ the country.” The job role chosen to illustrate the case was: Housing minister.

Read full article here

Monday, 7 January

LEVERING UP: HOW TO REALLY ENGINEER AN EQUAL U.K.

By Chris Naylor and Jamie Ounan

The government’s levelling up paper helps clarify Whitehall’s definition of the issue, and spotlight regional disparities. But it fails to convince that it truly wants to help those who need help the most and understands why that matters.

The white paper went straight to tactics and outcomes via a checklist of missions and a promise of mayors. But you can’t set a mission without properly defining the vision of the world you want to create. Like other politicians who dutifully check off mentions of jobs, housing and skills whenever discussing this exercise in equalizing, the authors of the paper missed the fundamental at the heart of this. What do people feel they most lack? Power.

To feel that you’re on a level playing field with everyone else is a matter of agency. To feel that you are secure in your environment, can make your own decisions about your life, and can thrive is a matter of agency. Recognising that means designing a plan that works for the furthest first. Otherwise the response tactics look like the same old same old: reactive work, in silos, to fit a framework set by regulators and/or funders. If we’re really going to level up, we have to start by understanding and addressing the root causes of structural inequality and the power gap.

In 2015, the average healthy life expectancy of women in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham was 53 years. In one of the most successful city economies on earth and at a time when we had never spent more money on health and social care. For the local council to work out why that was happening and design an answer meant moving out of a reflex crisis response and instead thinking in 3D: digging into the root cause, contextualising and prioritising local factors and designing a truly new and different service around the individual from scratch.

Read full article here

Thursday, 16 December

WE’VE GOT URGENT LEARNING TO DO ABOUT BUILDING CLIMATE RESILIENCE INTO OUR COMMUNITIES

By Hannah McShane

Losing power means much more than sitting in the dark. Without gas or another fuel source, it also means no heating and no way to cook food. If local pumping stations fail there may not be water to drink, cook or wash with. Internet and telecoms can go down, cutting off contact with the outside world and increasing the isolation and vulnerability for those already at risk.

Earlier this month a major storm hit the North East coast of Britain with winds of 98mph. (To put that into perspective, hurricane classification starts at 74 mph.) Around a quarter of a million homes across the North of England and Scotland lost power. Homes were damaged and huge swathes of forest felled while the northern power grid experienced the worst damage to its infrastructure in 20 years. Lives were lost. And a week later, tens of thousands of homes were still without power.

I was one of those affected. And working as I do on embedding climate action into housing planning and design, seeing the human impact of mass infrastructure failure so close to home reminded me all over again of the urgent need for all of us practitioners in the built environment to re-assess our approach on tackling extreme weather and mitigating against its impact.

Read full article here

Wednesday, 03 November

IT’S TIME TO REDESIGN HOUSING FROM THE BOTTOM UP TOO

By Matthew Nimmo published in the MJ

I’ve worked in housing for 20 years, often replacing poorly designed projects with new better-quality ones. ‘Estate regeneration’ has for decades meant ‘tear down and rebuild’ and often framed overhaul as best practice. But when the world’s biggest architecture prize goes to a practice with the motto of ‘never demolish’ and climate activists pile on pressure for sustainable homes, I believe the time has come to redesign our own work.

French architects Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal scooped the 2021 Pritzker Prize for Architecture – referred to as the Nobel Prize for Architecture – for their sensitive refurbishment of post-war social housing blocks. These architects focus on designing social housing from the inside out to prioritise the welfare of a building’s inhabitants and their unanimous desires for larger spaces. Their approach has the potential to be transformative.

Local authorities have always faced a balancing act when deciding what to do with post-war estates. The short-term approach of ‘maintain and refurbish’ has the advantages of managing costs, keeping communities together and minimising disruption to residents from construction works. But demolition and redevelopment has become attractive because it can offer housing that meets a range of income levels as well as helping to sustain local shops and services, which in turn boosts local economies. It can also address poor post-war urban design that often resulted in inward-facing estates with poorly overlooked walkways, dark car parks, and inadequate open spaces and parks.

Read full article here

Wednesday, 13 October

LEVELLING UP ISN’T JUST ABOUT MONEY. IT’S ABOUT GROWTH, REFORM, AND TRUST.

Two years ago, with two words, Boris Johnson set the ultimate challenge for everyone who is working in public services. The freshly-elected Prime Minister’s promise to voters who felt left behind that his party would respond by ‘levelling up’ has sparked countless debates and column inches about what that means and how to do it.

All eyes now are on the new communities secretary Michael Gove, who publishes a white paper on the subject in the coming weeks that will set out his plans. In his recent speech to the Conservative Party conference, Gove said that levelling up meant four things: Strengthening local leadership, raising living standards, improving public services and giving people the resources they need to enhance the pride they felt in the place they live.

However, with Chancellor Rishi Sunak reported this week to be planning cuts of £2 billion for departments including local government and education, even while planning to lift the UK’s tax burden to the highest sustained level in peacetime, the discussion around ‘levelling up’ has quickly turned again to one that focuses on where to cut and where to splurge in a continuation of the give-it-and-take-it-away equation that has dogged our approach to national investment for so long.

Read our full blog post here

Wednesday, September 22

BUILDING A MOVEMENT FOR BETTER: IT’S TIME TO MAKE POST-COVID DREAMS A REALITY

Starting work in the aftershocks of a major world event is both the hardest and the most necessary work of all if you are driven by a desire to create and deliver better ways of living.

We set up our business when the true impact of the financial crisis was just starting to be understood, and austerity measures taking grip. We set up as strategic advisors to the public sector at a time when it became clear that public sector money was drying up and delivering good outcomes would require creativity and collaboration.

Now, with the lessons of a decade under our belts, we are gearing up to respond to the challenges of the Covid era. Where familiar elements like squeezed budgets and strain on local government leaders combine with a radically new world ravaged by a pandemic that has exposed both deep inequalities and inadequacies in the public response.

Read our full blog post here

PRESS RELEASE

Tuesday, September 21

BARKING AND DAGENHAM COUNCIL CHIEF MOVES TO PUBLIC SERVICE CONSULTANCY INNER CIRCLE

Barking and Dagenham Chief Executive Chris Naylor is moving to Inner Circle Consulting after nearly seven years at the helm of the London borough, to focus on “reimagining public services and connecting them fully to the people who need them.”

Naylor, Municipal Journal’s Chief Executive of the Year in 2020, will take up position in January 2022 as Director at Inner Circle, which is currently leading a range of projects in partnership with councils, public services and communities across the UK.

He said: “The pandemic has shown that we need to find answers to big problems, and we need them to work for everyone, for years to come. For the most vulnerable people, what we do next is the difference between barely getting by, and flourishing.”

Read our full press release here

LOCAL GOVERNMENT CHRONICLE: NAYLOR TO LEAVE BARKING & DAGENHAM

Barking & Dagenham LBC chief executive Chris Naylor – one of the most prominent chief executives in local government – has announced he is moving to the private sector.

Mr Naylor will in January move to become director of the public service consultancy Inner Circle after nearly seven years in the east London council’s top officer role.

He is understood to be keen to work with as many councils as possible on rethinking their services, in line with how Barking & Dagenham has sought to adopt a more preventative and proactive stance on service provision.

Read the full article here

THE MJ: NAYLOR QUITS COUNCIL FOR CONSULTANCY JOB

Barking and Dagenham LBC chief executive Chris Naylor has announced he will step down after seven years at the council.

Mr Naylor, who was named as The MJ chief executive of the year last year, will join Inner Circle Consulting as a director in January.

Read the full article here

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