Blog: 10/12/21 - Deborah Evans, CEO

2021 has been quite a year here at LLG. The working from home announcements have little impact on us now that we are fully remote, with a workforce sprinkled over the United Kingdom. The transition to a remote team has required investment – not of money, but of time; with a strong focus on communications, both formal and informal, over written, verbal, and video platforms, to build strong working relationships and support networks.

We looked to recreate this for our branches and national groups, moving them online at the start of the year, to bridge the lacuna left by home-working and the cessation of conferences and networking events during lockdown. Building an online community has been essential for our members to enable the sharing of best practice, talk about problems, get sparks of ideas, and generally just to feel like you are not alone. The national groups have thrived on the new platform because of its accessibility and ease.

Strategically, LLG delivered the very first National Work Experience Week, with nearly 60 graduates enjoying mornings in local authorities across the country, and afternoons with LLG in a vibrant mix of workshops, roundtables and webinars. This is to be an annual event on the calendar, opening the eyes of law students to a career in local government. We also piloted the National Graduate Recruitment scheme across three authorities in the Northwest – this too is to be rolled out in 2022 to a wider audience. Two really positive initiatives aiming to build a sustainable profession.

Justice and fairness are important values of our membership, and LLG bought robust challenges to two pieces of legislation. The Judicial Review of the introduction of the exit cap for those exiting local authority employment was widely viewed as unjust and unfair by virtue of the introduction of the pension strain. We succeeded in our joint challenge with ALACE, thus securing the pension rights of our members for now. We await the Governments next steps.

Hugely important was the second judicial review, fighting to retain the right for local authorities to make decisions in virtual meetings. This massively engaged the membership who were struggling with the practicalities of returning to face-to-face delivery mid pandemic, but also had seen many positives in remote meetings and wished to retain the flexibility to make decisions in a virtual environment or hybrid meetings as an option moving forward. Ultimately unsuccessful, the challenge was however instrumental in uniting the voice of local authorities, and driving momentum for change. We remain positive of tangible change during 2022.

Finally, so many of you have supported and enjoyed our extensive program of online training, with remote one day conferences going from strength to strength. What a joy it was as well to hold the Governance Conference face to face – so good for mental well-being to be together once more.

So, as we look back at 2021, with the help and support of you, the members, we have truly made a difference.

Best wishes for the season,

Deborah Evans

CEO