This report from UK think tank PBE explores the economic contribution of civic society. Civil society and volunteering are widely recognised as important generators of social value. From food banks to cancer research, local sports teams or youth clubs, it’s clear that civil society provides vital services, makes our communities stronger and boosts our wellbeing....

This report from UK think tank Localis explores centralisation, local decline and the future of community power. Ever since the radical restructuring of public finances that heralded the beginning of austerity policy in 2010, successive governments have promised to balance their policy agendas with a commensurate uptick in control for local communities. The language of...

This report from UK think tank Re:State sets out a radical but practical plan to introduce a new tier of regional government: provinces. England’s devolution project is expanding fast, but its next phase risks failing vast areas of the country. New Strategic Authorities are being rolled out nationwide, aimed at boosting local growth and reforming...

This report from UK think tank Centre for Cities identifies four key reasons why high street vacancy rates vary so much from city to city and how to improve their fortunes. Centre for Cities looks at the variation in performance across high streets in the centres of the UK's largest cties and towns to understand...

This report from UK think tank PolicyWISE looks at devolution in the English regions. This report discusses of the findings of PolicyWISE’s roundtable in April 2025’s in Manchester which explored devolution in English regions, using Manchester as a case study. Digital infrastructure and data collection across regions was highlighted as a barrier to ongoing research...

This report from UK think tank Localis argues that local authorities must now lead the response to tackling worklessness. Tackling worklessness, long a stated goal yet persistently unmet by government, has become a structural crisis demanding locally driven reform. With over nine million economically inactive working-age adults, the challenge stems from overlapping issues: long-term illness,...

This report from UK think tank IPPR examines barriers to social care reform. Adult social care services across England are struggling to keep up with increased demand, let alone improve. But failure is not an option. Every one of us, and those we love most, will rely on someone else’s care during our lives. Despite...

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government examines the care gap in England. There exists a damaging geographical and demographic ‘care gap’ in England that means access to care for older adults is increasingly based not on need but on other factors – some perhaps less surprising, like local levels of deprivation...

This report from UK think tank Localis examines reorganisation, local government and the future of English devolution. The English Devolution white paper, published in December 2024, set in motion a chain of events raising a series of fundamental questions about the arguments underpinning it. In this short report from Emeritus Professors of local government, Colin...

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government explores how local economic strategies can be powerful drivers of prosperity and growth. As the government continues progress on the ‘devolution revolution’, it is more important than ever for strategic authorities to use their devolved powers in a coherent and strategic way. This report sets...