This award is open to a single council or where appropriate a council-owned company or a partnership of councils, including a combined authority. Private sector partners can enter on a council’s behalf, with the permission of the council itself.

The communications function is more integral to what councils do than ever. There is increasing need to influence behaviour in relation to, for example, recycling, transport, looking out for older neighbours, or reinforcing public health messaging. And there is the importance of building trust in the difficult decisions councils have to take in these challenging times.

Campaigns can make a significant contribution to achieving these objectives, and this award is designed to showcase councils’ expertise in this area.

Submissions should focus on:

• The objectives the campaign was intended to achieve;
• A summary of the campaign strategy, including target audiences, media, image, timing and budget etc;
• The extent to which the campaign achieved the objectives including, for example securing behavioural changes;
• The evidence base used to inform the need for and contents of the campaign and measure its impact;
• The extent to which partner organisations were involved in the campaign

Award entries will be judged on:

• The quality of the campaign, including design, format, delivery and evaluation;
• The impact of the campaign and the extent to which it achieved the council’s objectives;
• How the campaign contributed to the council’s wider objectives and strategy.

This award is open to a single council or where appropriate a partnership of councils, or a council- owned company. Private sector partners can enter on a council’s behalf, with the permission of the council itself.

Children’s services have operated under huge pressure for a number of years now, but the current cost of living crisis is increasing demand even further.  Ensuring the best outcomes for vulnerable children in the face of budget cuts and major staffing shortages amid growing understanding of risks outside the home, such as county lines and child sexual exploitation, is extremely challenging. This award is intended to recognise the success of those councils that adopt a genuinely strategic approach to this vital service area to deliver improvements for children and young people despite this difficult environment.

Entries can focus either on a specific aspect of the council’s work on children’s services or the entirety of its work on children’s services.

Submissions should focus on:

• The council’s approach to meeting the needs of, for instance:
• children who need help and protection, including early help
• children looked after, including adoption, fostering and the use of residential care
• young people leaving care or preparing to leave care
• children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities

• The council’s approach to identifying and supporting new areas of need;
• The council’s main achievements (supported by evidence), with a particular focus on tangible improvements in the lives of children and young people;
• The steps you took to secure those achievements and the most important drivers of change;
• Any innovative approaches you have adopted, including in their relationship with schools.
  

Award entries will be judged on:

• The scale of the council’s ambition in this area and the extent to which it is being achieved;
• The extent to which you have adopted a strategic approach to children’s services, including early intervention;
• The quality of your relationship with schools, the health service and other key agencies;
• The impact of your service on the lives of children and young people.

This award is open to a single council or where appropriate a council-owned company or a partnership of councils, including a combined authority. Private sector partners can enter on a council’s behalf, with the permission of the council itself.

Many councils are seeking to establish a new relationship with local people and local communities. Community involvement and engagement is increasingly important as a way of shaping council thinking, co-designing services and responding to continuing resource pressures. It may also involve direct community involvement in service delivery. This award is intended to showcase the whole range of community involvement.

Submissions should focus on:

• Summarising the project concerned and the nature of the community involvement;
• Setting out the aims of the project and the extent to which they have been achieved within the relevant timescale;
• How community engagement contributes to the council’s wider objectives and strategy;
• The main drivers of success and the approach the council has taken.

Award entries will be judged on:

• Evidence of community satisfaction with the process and achievement of the council’s objectives;
• The depth and extent of community involvement, in particular in getting people involved who would not otherwise have done so;
• The extent to which the involvement has influenced service quality and/or the way in which the council works;
• The contribution to the council’s wider objectives;
• The sustainability of the approach.

LGC’s Council of the Year will be the council which has the most learning and inspiration to offer the rest of local government. The winner should demonstrate underlying sustained strong performance, innovation and excellent leadership across the broad spectrum of its work.

Judges will be asked to disregard any advantages a council has based on its size or location, and they will not award Council of the Year on the basis of the scale of the challenges a council has faced. The winner will be chosen on the basis of the delivery of strong outcomes, the quality of the council’s community leadership, and the evidence that the council is doing the best for its area, all in response to the specific challenge the council has faced in all areas of its work.

Judges will also look for qualities including resilience, compassion, inclusion and adaptability, as well as the quality of the council’s cooperation with partners.

This award is open to a council or, in exceptional circumstances, a partnership of councils – for instance when two councils share the same officer leadership.

Submissions should focus on:

• Summarising your council’s vision, its current objectives, the steps it is currently taking to achieving those objectives and your success in doing so, within the relevant timescale;
• Specific evidence of the quality of the council’s performance during the period in question, including performance of and outcomes achieved by the major services; community leadership and collaboration;
• What makes your council distinctive;
• What you think makes your council excel and what you feel other councils could learn from what you have done;
• The council’s contribution to sector-led improvement.

Award entries will be judged on:

• The scale and underlying sustainability of the council’s achievements and the quality of the evidence to substantiate them;
• The boldness and likely deliverability of the council’s vision;
• The underlying success of the council in combining significant public service improvement and reform with budget cuts and efficiency savings;
• The contribution of the political and managerial leadership, partnership working and community engagement;
• The resilience of the council’s work in difficult times in areas including: economic growth, housing, the ageing society, health inequalities, adult social care and children’s services;
• The council’s contribution to the wider local government sector;

This award will be judged through both a site visit by judges and by a presentation to judges. Entrants are urged to use the visit to give judges access to the people – officers, members, staff, the public and representatives of local public sector partners, the business community and third sector organisations – who can prove the council’s success in the above criteria.

The entrant should manage the timing of the site visit. Please ensure the visit is used to give the maximum possible sense of why the council is a worthy winner, but also to ensure judges have plenty of time to ask questions.

After the awards LGC will work with the winning council to share their story more widely across local government through an article and webinar.

This award is open to a single council or where appropriate a council-owned company or a partnership of councils, including a combined authority. Private sector partners can enter on a council’s behalf, with the permission of the council itself.

Technology has the potential to bring about a far more efficient use of resources but also the potential to land public sector procurers with huge bills for projects that do not meet their goals. This award will go to the council that can best show how its use of digital technology is significantly improving outcomes for its residents and/or place. This could be in a specific service area or organisation wide.

Among the attributes you may seek to showcase in your entry are the benefits of data sharing; how your organisation is ensuring it supports people before they fall into crisis; and how ground-breaking collaboration between local partners has had a significant impact on your local population.

This award is designed to recognise vision and farsightedness but may also be suitable for councils which have used their existing digital technology approach in a new or innovative way.

Submissions should focus on:

• A description of your digital vision;
• An account of how you have embedded the use of technology across the authority;
• An assessment of how this technology has helped achieve your organisational vision and has improved outcomes, for instance in several priority services or across your place as a whole;
• If applicable, the ways in which the embedded use of technology within the organisation has resulted in new or innovative solutions or contributed to positive outcomes
• A detailed explanation of how collaborators were involved in the transformation process;
• A description of how the role of digital in creating real impact was realised across the authority and enabled your organisation’s vision or strategy.

Award entries will be judged upon:

• First and foremost, evidence that digital has created a tangible business change to facilitate improved outcomes, for instance for service users, staff, a directorate in the council or your place as a whole;
• Evidence senior managers have a clear understanding of the role digital plays in the future delivery of their services and the function of their directorate as well as the future of council which is well articulated and understood across the organisation;
• The level of innovation and ambition in using technology to reform ways of working;
• Evidence of how digital was used to drive reforms and initiatives;
• Examples where your technology agenda can be linked to improved outcomes for service users, staff and better collaboration between stakeholders.

This award is open to a single council or where appropriate a council-owned company or a partnership of councils, including a combined authority. Private sector partners can enter on a council’s behalf, with the permission of the council itself.

This award recognises strong performance by a council, with a primary focus on the relevant timescale, in developing a diverse and inclusive culture that permeates the council itself and its workforce and/or the broader local area.

The entry could demonstrate the council’s attempts to foster a more diverse and inclusive workplace for all employees, and members - promoting and progressing diversity and inclusion values from within - and describe how this is helping to attract and retain talent. It could include internal council initiatives, customer/service user-facing work, or work to promote a wide range of careers on the council to appeal to different people.

The entry could alternatively focus more on the broader local area, highlighting initiatives driven by the council to foster diversity and help facilitate inclusion across the local community. It could include how the council has worked with other business and other local organisations to improve opportunity, participation and engagement.

Judges will be looking for evidence of at least three of the following:

• Inclusive leadership that filters down to all levels and the promotion of positive role models within or beyond the council;
• Diversity and inclusion focus in areas such as staff engagement, training, employee networks, and the work that has taken place to create a culture that fosters positive change within and beyond the organisation;
• Evidence of positive outcomes from specific initiatives to promote diversity and inclusion within the council or the wider local area.
• Evidence of actions and activities taken to create and deliver inclusive recruitment processes.
• Boldness in setting benchmarks for diversity and inclusion, and measurable progress towards them;
• Evidence that diversity and inclusion are central to all of the council’s work, including its partnerships and work with service users.

This award is open to a single council or where appropriate a council-owned company or a partnership of councils, including a combined authority. Private sector partners can enter on a council’s behalf, with the permission of the council itself.

Councils have a major role in supporting their local economy, both in their own right and as partners alongside other local bodies, including business and (in some cases) as members of combined authorities.

This award is intended to highlight the key role that local authorities play in supporting their local economy.

It is open to projects that secure economic growth locally and/or improve economic outcomes for residents, for example through innovative approaches to skills and worklessness.

The support in question could include, but is not limited to, advice services, infrastructure, regulatory work, their role as employers and purchasers of services.

Submissions should focus on:

• The council’s actions, and their impact, with a particular focus on evidenced achievements and data to prove the scale and success of the authority’s actions;
• Explaining how the council is working with local partners, potentially including business sectors
• Setting out the specific local nature of the challenge to which the council is responding;
• The council’s use of business intelligence/data to inform its activities;
• How all relevant council services respond to the needs of business;
• The key programmes and initiatives the council is pursuing;
• Summarising the council’s ambitions for the future of its economy/the sector in question and its priorities for achieving that ambition

Award entries will be judged on:

• The nature of the council’s ambition and the steps it has put in place to achieve it;
• Evidence of the impact of the council’s activities on the economy/sector in question;
• The quality of the council’s relationship with business and its partners and impact of those relationships on action to support the economy in its area;
• The quality of the council’s use of business intelligence;
• The relationship between the council’s growth ambitions and the council’s wider strategic objectives;
• Evidence of the responsiveness of the council as whole to the needs of business.

This award is open to a single council or where appropriate a council-owned company or a partnership of councils, including a combined authority. Private sector partners can enter on a council’s behalf, with the permission of the council itself.

This award is intended to mark innovation and excellence in any aspect of a council’s work in environmental services, including sustainability, energy, recycling, refuse collection and street cleaning.

Entries will be judged on the innovation of their submissions and the extent to which it is demonstrated the council’s work has improved the environment in their area and/or the efficiency of service delivery.

Submissions should focus on:

• A full description of the project and its aims;
• A detailed explanation of costs, how it was funded and where the expertise for it came from;
• The impact of the council’s work on the lives of local people, for instance by showing how their concerns led to a positive response or community engagement impacted upon it;
• Any links between policy on the environment and other objectives including economic growth and net zero;
• Examples of resilience in the face of considerable challenges;
• Evidence that the project has met its goals.

Award entries will be judged upon:

• The extent to which the council’s work was an innovative response to a significant concern and potentially can be replicated in other areas;
• The quality of the outcomes obtained from the project, for instance in improved or more efficient services, or with regards to the resilience of services;
• Links between environmental sustainability and other policy areas including economic growth;
• Evidence of buy-in to the project or its goals from members of the local community or external organisations.

This award is open to a single council or where appropriate a council-owned company or a partnership of councils, including a combined authority. Private sector partners can enter on a council’s behalf, with the permission of the council itself.

This award is for councils that have stimulated and supported the development of bold new solutions and services in the market through challenge-led commissioning or procurement. Public procurement has a reputation for being a blocker to innovation, but more and more councils are finding it a powerful tool to deliver strategic objectives including making the area they serve more prosperous, ‘liveable’ and resilient in the face of likely social, economic, demographic, political or environmental trends.

The Future Places Award recognises councils which are using their spending power to engage creatively with innovative suppliers to accelerate decarbonisation and climate resilience, enable greater inclusion, and harness digital technologies.

Submissions should focus on:

• A clear view of the challenges faced in the local area;
• Demonstrating that this is a place-based project, which can be replicated in other locations;
• Demonstrating any contribution to Net Zero carbon ambitions;
• Contribution towards economic success/prosperity
• Explaining how the council collaborated with local technology companies and providers.

Award entries will be judged upon:

• The levels of creativity and ambition demonstrated;
• The clarity of the roadmap showing how the council is overcoming the challenge in question;
• The potential for replication elsewhere;
• The depth of partnership working exhibited and collaboration with communities and local technology companies;
• Evidence that the work in question will make positive contributions in areas such as carbon reduction, job creation and the overall success of UK businesses.

This award is open to a single council or where appropriate a council-owned company or a partnership of councils, including a combined authority. Private sector partners can enter on a council’s behalf, with the permission of the council itself.

With financial challenges and a growing population of older people and people with disabilities adult social care continues to be under severe pressure. This award recognises how councils have worked to improve or maintain services amid these pressures.

It seeks to recognise innovative projects likely to facilitate integration between health and social care, boost personalisation, and improve collaboration between the public, private and voluntary sectors to improve delivery. This award is intended to recognise and promote best practice in this critically important area.

Submissions should focus on:

• The specific local challenges you are seeking to address, the objectives you have set in response to those challenges and the steps you have taken to achieve them;
• The extent to which your council is playing a system leadership role, including engagement with its integrated care system, or with emerging place boards and health and care providers;
• How your approach relates to the national context in relation to integration of health and social care and the personalisation agenda;
• The milestones you have set – particularly within the relevant timescale – and the extent to which you have achieved them.

Award entries will be judged on:

• The ambition and creativity of your approach;
• The impact of your approach, particularly in relation to evidenced benefits for citizens/service users and patients, and resource implications;
• The extent to which you have adopted a whole-systems approach;
• The sustainability of the changes you have introduced.

This award is open to a single council or where appropriate a council-owned company or a partnership of councils, including a combined authority. Private sector partners can enter on a council’s behalf, with the permission of the council itself.

Many parts of the country are facing major housing problems. While a soaring market has left property beyond the reach of many potential buyers, there is a major undersupply of rented accommodation, and often housing can be of a poor quality. More and more households are stuck in temporary accommodation while the need to find homes for refugees has added to pressure on limited supply.

This award is for the local authorities that have done most to devise imaginative solutions to ease such problems, be they in social housing, the private rental sector, in accelerated house building or in enabling home ownership, or in tackling homelessness.

Submissions should focus on:

• A full description of the project and the challenge or opportunity it is intended to address;
• A description of how it has been resourced and the number of staff involved in delivering it;
• Details of how the council has worked with external organisations to bring about progress, including social landlords, the construction industry, landowners and the financial services industry; as well as details of how it has worked with the individuals set to benefit from the initiative;
• Evidence that the scheme in question has been successful.

Award entries will be judged upon:

• The level of innovation shown in overcoming the barriers to progress and improving access to housing, or to the problem being tackled;
• The extent to which the evidence shows that projects have met the challenge in question;
• The entrant’s ability to work with other organisations and members of the public to provide solutions;
• The extent to which the project provided a unique local solution to an issue facing that area.

This award is open to a single council or where appropriate a council-owned company or a partnership of councils, including a combined authority. Private sector partners can enter on a council’s behalf, with the permission of the council itself.

Councils have a long track record of innovation, but the current combination of rising demand and inflationary pressures means it is more important than ever.

This award is intended to celebrate councils which have used innovation to re-think services in order to achieve better outcomes for citizens and communities either at less cost, or with improved experience. The project should centre on the relevant timescale.

Submissions should focus on:

• The nature of the policy or service they consider to be innovative;
• The process by which the policy or service was developed or introduced, including the involvement of service users, business and frontline staff;
• What makes it genuinely innovative;
• Evidence of outcomes, for instance how services have been improved, made more viable or resilient, and/or costs reduced;
• What learning there is from the innovation.

Award entries will be judged on:

• The extent to which the policy or service design is genuinely innovative;
• The scale of the outcomes brought about by the project in question;
• The degree of innovation in the process by which the policy or service was developed and implemented;
• The extent to which the innovation helped the council to achieve its intended objective;
• The extent to which the council has created a wider culture of innovation.

This award is open to a single council or where appropriate a council-owned company or a partnership of councils, including a combined authority. Private sector partners can enter on a council’s behalf, with the permission of the council itself.

The team in question should have more than 20 members. Teams are critically important to the effective working of local government, whether the team is a management team, a frontline service team or a central services team. This award is intended to showcase the ingredients that make council teams effective and contribute to local democracy, local service delivery and the smooth operation of the organisation. Entries may focus on the team’s innovation, resilience, inclusivity and, of course, results.

Submissions should focus on:

• Please state clearly the name of your team and the number of members it had at the time of the award submission at the top of your entry;
• A brief description of the role and membership of your team;
• Your team’s current objectives and achievements with a particular focus on the relevant timescale;
• How the objectives of your team are set, how you measure the extent to which you have achieved those objectives and what you do with the results of that measurement;
• Who the customers of your team are and how you ensure that you are responsive to their needs;
• How the team contributes to the council’s wider objectives;
• How you develop effective team working.

Award entries will be judged on:

• The team’s performance within the relevant timescale and in particular evidence showing the extent to which it achieved its objectives and contributed to the council’s wider objectives;
• The team’s responsiveness to changing customer needs, evidence of its performance and the council’s strategic objectives;
• Its demonstrable commitment to developing effective team working and the wider challenge it has faced.

This award is open to a single council or where appropriate a council-owned company or a partnership of councils, including a combined authority. Private sector partners can enter on a council’s behalf, with the permission of the council itself.

The team in question should have between 11 and 20 members.

Teams are critically important to the effective working of local government, whether the team is a management team, a frontline service team or a central services team. This award is intended to showcase the ingredients that make council teams effective and contribute to areas such as local democracy, local service delivery and the smooth operation of the organisation. Entries may focus on the team’s innovation, resilience, inclusivity and, of course, results.

Submissions should focus on:

• Please state clearly the name of your team and the number of members it had at the time of the award submission at the top of your entry;
• A brief description of the role and membership of your team;
• Your team’s current objectives and achievements with a particular focus on the relevant timescale;
• How the objectives of your team are set, how you measure the extent to which you have achieved those objectives and what you do with the results of that measurement;
• Who the customers of your team are and how you ensure that you are responsive to their needs;
• How the team contributes to the council’s wider objectives;
• How you develop effective team working.

Award entries will be judged on:

• The team’s performance within the relevant timescale and in particular evidence showing the extent to which it achieved its objectives and contributed to the council’s wider objectives;
• The team’s responsiveness to changing customer needs, evidence on its performance and the council’s strategic objectives;
• Its demonstrable commitment to developing effective team working and the wider challenge it has faced.

This award is open to a single council or in exceptional circumstances, such as where two or more councils share a management, a partnership of councils.

After more than a decade of funding restraint, times have never been harder for local government. Even well-run councils must constantly look to improve and innovate to ensure they are making the most of limited funding to deliver high quality services and provide active place leadership. However, years of restructuring and efficiencies have left some more junior staff wary of some so-called transformation programmes.

This award seeks to recognise those local authority senior management teams that have successfully led major organisational change or reform to deliver genuine improvement, wherever they are starting from. This could be a successful change programme that has improved the culture, efficiency or reputation of the organisation. Entries should be able to demonstrate tangible outcomes along with buy in from the workforce and evidence the change has become embedded in the organisation.

Submissions should focus on any of the following:

• The drivers for change – what issues you were seeking to address through the improvement or change programme
• The improvement goals you set, focusing in particular on milestones for 2023 which demonstrate that you are achieving them;
• Explaining the management skills and input of the wider council team, including councillors where relevant
• The impact of the improvement process with a particular focus on outcomes for citizens and resource implications;
• The approach adopted to leading and managing the improvement process, including workforce engagement
• The key drivers which enabled you to deliver the improvement you have achieved;
• Lessons for other councils from the council’s improvement journey.
  

Award entries will be judged upon:

• The ambition of the improvement objectives;
• The extent to which the improvement programme achieved its goals and the quality of the evidence substantiating those achievements;
• The quality of leadership and stakeholder engagement deployed to achieve the improvements;
• The council’s capacity for and commitment to continuous improvement;
• The council’s contribution to sector-led improvement

This award is open to a single council or where appropriate a council-owned company or a partnership of councils, including a combined authority. Private sector partners can enter on a council’s behalf, with the permission of the council itself.

Councils are uniquely placed to effect change in response to the climate crisis and many are leading the way on the road to net zero. This award is intended to mark excellence in any aspect of a council’s work in addressing the carbon footprint of the council, its services and its broader local area.

Entries may include work to capture climate benefits from changed behaviours or work with local businesses and communities to address the climate crisis and secure environmental improvements. Entries will be judged on the innovation of their submissions, the extent to which it has delivered measurable change, the quality of evidence of support from local communities, and the ability for other councils to replicate the work.

Submissions should focus on:

• A full description of the project and its aims;
• A detailed explanation of how it was funded and where the expertise for it came from;
• Any evidence of how the council has worked or engaged with, or influenced the behaviour of local people;
• Links between policy on climate change and other objectives including economic and social wellbeing;
• Evidence that the project has met its goals.

Award entries will be judged upon:

• The extent to which the council’s work was an innovative response to a significant concern and potentially can be replicated in other areas;
• The quality of the outcomes obtained from the project, for instance in improved or more efficient services, or measurable reductions in local carbon emissions;
• Links between climate response and other policy areas including economic wellbeing and regeneration;
• Evidence of buy-in to the project or its goals from members of the local community or external organisations.

This award aims to recognise an exceptional individual in local government who embodies the qualities of resilience, compassion, flexibility, innovation and creativity to cope with adversity. The recipient may have developed innovative solutions to enable their council and its partners to manage a challenging situation whether as a result of national or local issues. 

Anyone working in local government at any level is eligible to apply. This is not a lifetime achievement award – it is a reflection of the individual’s contribution predominantly during the period in question.

The individual needs to still be working in local government at the time of the announcement of the Awards shortlist and have no plans or expectation to not be working in local government at the time of the Awards ceremony.

We welcome entries from candidates themselves or nominations from those who wish to highlight an individual they believe merits this recognition.

Submissions should focus on:

• The individual’s job title, with an explanation of their remit and expected responsibilities;
• A description of the exceptional challenges they have faced in the period in question;
• An explanation of why their work was out of the ordinary, for instance why what they did was innovative, their ability to work alongside other people including external partners and the level of dedication and resilience that they displayed;
• Evidence of the success of their work in terms of goals accomplished and any data confirming this;

Award entries will be judged upon

• The scale of the qualities demonstrated by the individual – such as innovation, resilience,
• compassion, flexibility and creativity, as well as evidence of the impact it has had;
• The extent to which their work can inspire and influence the rest of local government;
• The individual’s ability to network, influence, share knowledge and offer support across the system, potentially including with partner organisations, councillors and at all levels of the council;
• The extent of their commitment to bring about improvement.

This award is open to a single council or where appropriate a council-owned company or a partnership of councils, including a combined authority. Private sector partners can enter on a council’s behalf, with the permission of the council itself. 

Local government’s role in public health presents a major opportunity for councils and their partners to protect and improve the health and wellbeing of their local communities. The impact of social determinants of health on health inequalities was tragically highlighted during the pandemic but the development of integrated care systems with their stated focus on population health could present an opportunity for more wide ranging action.

Entries are likely to focus on the development of evidence-based solutions to reduce health inequalities, the impact of the work in question such as better health and wellbeing, and (potentially) how the totality of the council’s work is helping to achieve the objectives in question.

This award is intended to recognise the councils that are making the most of their role in public health.

Submissions should focus on:

• Setting out the public health priorities the council has adopted and the reasons for doing so;
• How you are using evidence to develop effective strategies;
• Evidence of strong performance with regards to the strategies in question;
• They may potentially set out how public health is being integrated across the council and how the work is coordinated with that of partner organisations;

Award entries will be judged on:

• The boldness and vision behind the council’s strategies;
• Evidence showing the council’s work is having an impact on broader population health or on specific public health objectives;
• The extent to which you have implemented evidence-based solutions to public health problems;
• How cross-departmental and partnership working is having an impact;
• How you are overcoming barriers to implementation.

This award is open to any partnership featuring one or more councils and alongside one or more private or voluntary sector partners. It could potentially additionally include a partner from another part of the public sector, although it is the public/private or public/voluntary partnership which is the key element.

Councils no longer work in isolation. Increasingly they work with other councils, public sector bodies, private firms or voluntary sector organisations to devise more seamless, more efficient and integrated services.

This award is intended to showcase the whole range of partnership working. Entries should demonstrate that the partnership has brought about service improvements and/or improved efficiency.

Submissions should focus on:

• Please give details of what which bodies are involved in the partnership, what they do, and what services or areas of work are covered by the partnership in question;
• Details of the scale of the partnership, for instance in number of people involved and financial value of the work it undertakes;
• A summary of governance and financial arrangements (although judges are asked to note that commercial confidentiality may mean there are legitimate limits to the information available);
• The objectives of the partnership;
• Evidence of how these objectives have been achieved;
• Evidence of a comprehensive buy-in from the partners;
• Evidence of the success of the partnership, especially in terms of measurable outcomes/ improvements to services, reduced costs and impact on residents.

Award entries will be judged on:

• Evidence that partnerships have the potential to be long-lasting, with the partnership structured to tackle whatever challenges participants face;
• The extent to which the evidence shows the partnership is improving services and/or reducing costs;
• The extent to which the partnership has added real value to the outcomes for local communities;
• The innovative nature of both the partnership itself and the work it is undertaking.

This award is open to any partnership featuring two or more public sector bodies, at least one of which is a council. Eligible partners can be from any part of the public sector, including NHS bodies, police, central government or agencies, as well as other councils.

Councils no longer work in isolation. Increasingly they work with other councils, public sector bodies, private firms or voluntary sector organisations to devise more seamless, more efficient and integrated services.

This award is intended to showcase the whole range of partnership working. Entries should demonstrate that the partnership has brought about service improvements and/or improved efficiency, or brought about the best outcome possible.

Submissions should focus on:

• Please give details of which bodies are involved in the partnership, what they do, and what services or areas of work are covered by the partnership in question;
• Details of the scale of the partnership, for instance in number of people involved and financial value of the work it undertakes;
• A summary of governance and financial arrangements;
• The objectives of the partnership;
• Evidence of how these objectives have been achieved;
• Evidence of a comprehensive buy-in from the partners;
• Evidence of the success of the partnership, especially in terms of measurable outcomes/improvements to services, reduced costs and impact on residents.

Award entries will be judged on:

• Evidence that partnerships have the potential to be long-lasting, with the partnership structured to tackle whatever challenges participants face;
• The extent to which the evidence shows the partnership is improving services and/or reducing costs;
• The extent to which the partnership has added real value to the outcomes for local communities;
• The innovative nature of both the partnership itself and the work it is undertaking.

The effectiveness of councils depends to a significant extent on the quality of their political and managerial leadership. Tomorrow’s chief executives and directors are almost certainly working in councils today in both service areas and corporate roles. The part they are playing now in helping councils to respond to continued budget pressures, developing new relationships with communities and tackling issues such as the housing need, the ageing population and economic growth, will help to prepare them for the challenges of tomorrow.

Local government needs to get better at spotting and developing the managerial leaders of tomorrow. This award is designed to help the sector to do just that. It is intended to highlight local government’s exceptional young officers and professionals who are currently not in corporate management team roles. They are likely to be heads of service or team leaders. They are making change happen, taking difficult decisions and asking important questions – while at the same time preparing to deliver excellent local government in the future.

The award recognises sustained contribution from an exceptional individual who is expected to continue to progress within local government.

The individual needs to still be working in local government at the time of the announcement of the Awards shortlist and have no plans or expectation to not be working in local government at the time of the Awards ceremony.  Entrants for this award can nominate themselves or be nominated by others.

The judges will be looking for evidence of:

• Innovative work which has delivered demonstrable change;
• Examples of outstanding resilience in the face of challenges;
• A first class understanding of the political process and ability to work effectively with councillors;
• Experience of networking at all levels;
• Sharing knowledge within the sector;
• A commitment to innovate and finding better ways of doing things.

This award is open to a single council or where appropriate a council-owned company or a partnership of councils, including a combined authority. Private sector partners can enter on a council’s behalf, with the permission of the council itself.

The team in question should have 10 or fewer members.

Teams are critically important to the effective working of local government, whether the team is a management team, a frontline service team or a central services team. This award is intended to showcase the ingredients that make council teams effective and contribute to areas such as local democracy, local service delivery and the smooth operation of the organisation. Entries may focus on the team’s innovation, resilience, inclusivity and, of course, results.

Submissions should focus on:

• Please state clearly the name of your team and the number of members it had at the time of the award submission at the top of your entry;
• A brief description of the role and membership of your team;
• Your team’s current objectives and achievements with a particular focus on the relevant timescale;
• How the objectives of your team are set, how you measure the extent to which you have achieved those objectives and what you do with the results of that measurement;
• Who the customers of your team are and how you ensure that you are responsive to their needs;
• How the team contributes to the council’s wider objectives;
• How you develop effective team working.

Award entries will be judged on:

• The team’s performance within the relevant timescale and in particular evidence showing the extent to which it achieved its objectives and contributed to the council’s wider objectives;
• The team’s responsiveness to changing customer needs, evidence on its performance and the council’s strategic objectives;
• Its demonstrable commitment to developing effective team working and the wider challenge it has faced.