Governance Risk and Resilience 2027

In 2021 the CfGS and Localis published the ‘Governance risk and resilience framework’ to popular acclaim across the sector.

In the intervening five years, the pressures we initially took as the original framing for ‘Decline and fall: understanding how and why local government fails, what leads to central Government intervention, and what comes after’ have only exacerbated across the sector.

Currently, the government’s plans to forge a universal model of mayoral devolution in tandem with the most significant reorganisation of English local government in five decades is posing afresh questions of governance at all levels – regional, sub-regional, unitary local and neighbourhood hyperlocal.

Meeting the governance challenges of 2027

Governance risk and resilience is now not simply a question of whether one organisation is well run. It is, more fundamentally, a question of whether the wider system of local leadership, decision-making and accountability across a place can hold together under pressure, respond to change, and retain legitimacy with the public.

Governance weakness is rarely self-contained. Fragility in one institution, partnership or layer of governance can create knock-on effects elsewhere: blurring accountability, distorting decision-making, eroding trust, and increasing pressure on neighbouring organisations or system partners. Resilience, likewise, is interdependent. Stronger governance in one part of a place can support better relationships, clearer assurance and greater adaptability across the wider local system.

The original governance risk and resilience framework provided a valuable common language for identifying and discussing those warning signs which may not amount to outright failure, but which nevertheless signal that governance arrangements are under strain.

Since its publication, however, the operating context has shifted markedly. Financial stress, political fragmentation, devolution, local government reorganisation, more complex partnership arrangements, and heightened expectations around transparency and community voice all point to the case for a refresh.

Against this context, Localis and CfGS will undertake a focused collaborative project to thoroughly re-examine the conditions for governance resilience and risk and create a new framework for 2027.

This will provide us with the evidence base for a new framework for local and combined authorities. This will be published in February 2027 and rooted in a place-based understanding of governance risk and resilience, while remaining practical for day-to-day use by those working in and around local government.

The initial outputs will comprise one shared place-based framework, supported by guidance products for audiences, including councillors, practitioners and strategic authorities.

The refreshed material will also be designed with scope for later tailored applications in partnership settings, parish and town governance, neighbourhood governance, and other civic and community contexts.

Research undertaken by:

     

Research sponsored by: