Keep it Local: lessons from Bradford and Bristol
Within the Keep it Local Network, we have been working closely with two of the early adopters: Bradford Metropolitan District Council and Bristol City Council. These two places are committed to Keeping it Local and working with us to overcome the barriers that can stand in the way of making this ambition a reality.
We want to Keep it Local because we know it’s the best way to provide the best possible offer for our communities.
- Susan Hinchcliffe, Leader, Bradford Council
This report outlines new findings from the experience of community businesses of commissioning and contracting in these two places, finding an appetite and ambition for even closer collaboration in public services.
The crisis has re-emphasised the importance of community-led provision, particularly in health and social care, and in many cases driven closer partnership between the statutory and community sectors.
The report offers important learning for other councils about how they can unlock the power of community in the coronavirus recovery.
New Keep it Local research
In March 2020, we published new research looking at why councils are increasingly choosing to Keep it Local. We worked with seven community organisations across the country exploring their role and their distinctive offer to local communities.
The research also explores the six Keep it Local principles and how councils can apply them to harness the power of community.
Keep it Local Timeline
Our Timeline details how the public service landscape has changed over time, and how we’ve been working to Keep it Local.
Keep it Local campaign briefing
Our Keep it Local campaign briefing provides a short introduction to the Keep it Local approach, for services that transform lives.
Keep it Local reports and practical guides
The ways in which Keep it Local commissioning transforms lives, reduces long-term pressure on the public sector and invests in the local economy.
Guidance for councillors, commissioners and community organisations on how put a Keep it Local approach into practice.
Saving money by doing the right thing (2014)
'Saving money by doing the right thing' reveals the potential to save billions and vastly improve our public services by challenging false economies of scale, or 'diseconomies of scale'. It is the most comprehensive study ever carried out on the demand placed on public services in the UK.
Keep it Local – Innovation in Action (2017)
This Keep it Local - Innovation in Action briefing paper outlines the steps we need to take to finally make decentralisation stick and harness the potential of place-based strategies to save money and create better services. The paper introduces case studies of new social policy experiments that have been successful across Europe, as part of Locality’s work with the INNOSI research programme.
Powerful Communities, Strong Economies: Summary report (2017)
The ‘Powerful Communities, Strong Economies’ summary report provides a framework that local authorities can use to commission for economic resilience and community organisations can use to evidence their local economic impact.
Powerful Communities, Strong Economies: Full report (2017)
The ‘Powerful Communities, Strong Economies’ report provides a framework that local authorities can use to commission for economic resilience and community organisations can use to evidence their local economic impact. It contains detailed case studies of the six local authorities in which Locality carried out action research.
How to Keep it Local: Five step guide for councillors and commissioners (2016)
Produced in 2016, this guide busts some of the common myths about the Social Value Act and EU rules that conspire to keep local providers out the picture. It provides inspirational case studies of where councils are using Keep it Local approaches to great effect, and sets out five principles for how councillors and commissioners can work together to create a better commissioning environment.
Better services, stronger economy: A Keep it Local guide for community organisations (2018)
This guide explains how community organisations can use the framework - described in the 'Powerful Communities, Strong Economies’ report - for thinking about their own economic impact and how to evidence it most effectively. It includes a 10 step approach to measuring and improving your local economic impact, and a toolkit which identifies the most effective and practical measures you can use to evidence your impact.
Better Services, Stronger Economy: A Keep it Local guide for councillors (2018)
We know that councillors, above all, want to use the resources they have at their disposal to create the best places possible for local residents. This guide - through applying the successful approach described in the 'Powerful Communities, Strong Economies' report - shows how you can do it, by Keeping it Local.
Better Services, Stronger Economy: A Keep it Local guide for commissioners (2018)
This guide is intended to support commissioners who want to Keep it Local. It applies the successful approach described in the 'Powerful Communities, Strong Economies' report, and sets out alternative commissioning methods and delivery models that can be used to realise this approach in practice.
Help your local authority become a Keep it Local council: A guide for community organisations (2018)
The toolkit includes information on how to tailor your messaging according to the council audience you are engaging, things to think about when coordination influencing strategies locally and the practical steps interested councils can take to keep it local. Importantly, it’s a call to action to get involved with the broader Keep it Local campaign.
Why not join the Keep it Local network?
The Keep it Local Network is for people who want to find new and innovative ways to reshape local services and transform lives.