Ahead of the May 2026 elections I went to speak with leaders overseeing local government reorganisation (LGR). You can hear their take on the local elections would affect LGR delivery. You can hear their insights on this special @instituteforgovernment.org.uk Inside Briefing podcast linked below

How England’s vulnerable children became a gold mine for investors - giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... Must be one of the hardest problems Labour inherited. A real test for the government. Quotes work from @instituteforgovernment.org.uk by @amberdellar.bsky.social

This BBC article covers huge amounts of ground and unfortunately barely any of it is new. One of the key things missing is detail on how the government should fix it. We've put together a 10-point plan, building on the govt's reforms and setting out what needs to happen next 👇 1/3

It wasn’t the biggest story yesterday, but the NHS in England hit its intermediate target that 65% of patients should be waiting 18 weeks or less for elective care by Mar26. That’s after big recent improvements from 61.5% in Jan to 65.3% in March. So how was this achieved?🧵

Really great overview of the King's Speech - and broad too, as you may be able to tell from the number of authors

Useful reminder that protracted leadership battles have policy consequences.

Friends have started messaging to ask if the tracker is back yet. I’m afraid it is…

Worryingly, the rate of severe school absences is rising. But there's a lot of regional variation, with London performing significantly better ⤵️ buff.ly/SdrRmBm

This is really interesting stuff, particularly the detail on just how onerous the current process of assigning temporary accommodation places to people facing homelessness currently is www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/the-...

EVENT | What does the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act mean for children’s social care? 📆Tuesday 12 May 2026, 14:00-15:00 Join us next week as an expert panel explores the next steps for children’s social care reform and new analysis from the Institute for Government.

Exclusive: Almost nine in 10 applicants for state-funded training to become educational psychologists are now turned away, revealing a potential untapped pipeline for ministers’ 'experts at hand' service https://schoolsweek.co.uk/data-reveals-untapped-educational-psychologist-pipeline/

Polls are open till 22:00 for the Senedd, Scottish Parliament and English local elections. To find out more details about the elections head over to the @instituteforgovernment.org.uk local and devolved elections hub www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/our-work/top...

NEW | How can the government address the gaps in children's social care gaps and deliver reform? Our new report from @amberdellar.bsky.social sets out a 10-point plan to fix the children’s social care market www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

Listen to the full Inside Briefing on our website - or find us on iTunes, Spotify and other major podcast platforms. Featuring @alexgathomas.bsky.social @cathhaddon.bsky.social @amberdellar.bsky.social www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/podcast/insi...

Our new @instituteforgovernment.org.uk report lists 10 things the government needs to do to fix the children's social care market. 👇I've done a little run down of some of the key charts

New findings out today from @theeef.bsky.social on the impacts of setting cf. mixed attainment in early secondary maths. www.theguardian.com/education/20...

New from me and @stuarthoddinott.bsky.social for @labourlist.bsky.social drawing on our recent @instituteforgovernment.org.uk reports we set out the challenge for current ministers in reforming public services and some of the lessons they can learn from past successes labourlist.org/2026/04/what...

A vetting primer you say? Here you go www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/go...

Our new IfG report explores what a better system of employment support for people out of work due to ill health could look like. DWP's centralised approach to date has some strengths, but has limited integration with other services and the innovation needed to better understand what works 🧵

The extent to which I would much rather be writing about the IfG's new report on employment support (read it! It's really interesting) tomorrow than yet another round of 'man who refuses to do the job of PM properly continues to be bad at it' cannot be overstated.

🚨 NEW: Top performing secondary schools are effectively shutting out disadvantaged pupils with special educational needs. Our new polling suggests this is often a deliberate strategy to limit the numbers of these pupils coming through their school gates 🧵⤵️

A genuinely big announcement on English devolution from Rachel Reeves today! As we at @instituteforgovernment.org.uk alongside others have argued fiscal devolution was a missing piece of the puzzle in the government's devolution white paper.

NEW REPORT: The government’s proposed reforms to criminal trials risk tilting the system too far towards speed over fairness and justice, and could lead to further declines in performance and productivity. www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

On aggregate, direct taxes in the UK *are* progressive. The very richest pay more than five times more in income tax than the poorest. Council Tax is the big exception. It absorbs only about 1 per cent of income at the very top, but nearly 5 per cent at the very bottom.

quick analysis of what @instituteforgovernment.org.uk learned from the spring unfiscal event - top work from @danhaile.bsky.social @benpaxton.bsky.social @martha-ford.bsky.social www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/rach...

Lively debate upstairs @instituteforgovernment.org.uk on whether this was a fiscal event or not (splitting wonkland now). The fiscal eventers (as per @ruthcurtice.bsky.social) argue that there was a big spending figure on SEND, accommodated by a significant revision to the fiscal forecast.

Reeves sits down having announced no real new policy measures at this Spring Forecast (but having made a very political speech) So she did not make this a fiscal event – which is absolutely the right thing for her to do

Some pretty stark figures from the OBR on the state of local authority finances

Tomorrow the government will publish the Office for Budget Responsibility's latest set of economic and fiscal forecast. Follow our explainers and analysis ahead of the spring forecast www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/spring-forec...

We're developing recommendations for central government to support better coordination in the SEND system. Have a read of the comment if you'd like a taste of some of the issues we'll be thinking about, and if you have any thoughts please get in touch!

And @amberdellar.bsky.social is in the studio to discuss the government's big spending announcement on SEND reform. Read Amber's latest comment on how the government can join up the delivery of its SEND reforms www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/gove...

Great comment piece from IfG colleagues on what to expect from next week's Spring Forecast, and why approaching it as a fiscal NON-event is the right call from Reeves Do follow @danhaile.bsky.social, @martha-ford.bsky.social and @jillongovt.bsky.social for more on this in the week ahead

The main questions I have about the SEND reforms are about incentives and accountability. A lot of govt's reforms boil down to getting a lot of different bodies working together toward the same thing - absolutely vital for success. But I don't think the 'carrots and sticks' are in place yet.

Govt’s proposed SEND reforms contain positive ideas to move the system towards early intervention. But there are tensions the govt has not yet worked through between investing in these changes quickly and ensuring reforms are fully evidenced.

Pupils with only the “most complex needs” will require an education, health and care plan by 2035, the government has said as it outlines its large-scale reforms to the SEND system https://schoolsweek.co.uk/schools-white-paper-what-is-happening-to-ehcps-under-send-reforms/

DfE expects every secondary school to have an inclusion base as part of its ten year estates plan. These will comprise of support bases set up by trusts and schools and specialist bases commissioned by councils. @tesmagazine.bsky.social story here : www.tes.com/magazine/new...

The Government has announced expanded support for adopted children. This includes a £5m increase in funding for the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund over the next 12 months, taking total funding to £55 million. www.gov.uk/government/n...

Time for my increasingly frequent, 'there's a clear Trend on this chart' joke

Agreed - I am surprised this size of new commitment hasn't had more attention. The settlement also commits to doing something unspecified for 26-28. A similar commitment for those years would require a further similar-sized chunk of money.

Major news for local government finance. Great that there's now more certainty - without action it's likely the majority of councils would have faced 'bankruptcy' in 28/29. But unclear (at least to me) where the £5bn is coming from. For context that's about 8% of the core schools funding for 25/26

Schools in more than one in three areas of the country face cuts to their core funding next year as local authorities grapple with “mountainous” deficits in special educational needs spending. www.tes.com/magazine/new...

If true, this is a huge change in appeal rights...

I have a report out today on the near-perennial question of why UK governments struggle to stick at growth policy in anything like a strategic way. Some hurried points:- 0/ www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/...

📉 Exclusive: Classrooms in schools rocked by falling rolls could be used by the NHS as 'community health hubs', the boss of the Department for Education’s property arm has said schoolsweek.co.uk/community-he...

Short comment from me about SEND reform: Legal rights are a much-relied-upon safeguard in the SEND system, but they can complicate efforts to make education more inclusive. Govt must acknowledge and carefully navigate that tension, with parents and other stakeholders

Winning the argument that any reforms to the SEND system will benefit children and young people will be key for govt But given how febrile the atmosphere is at the moment + recent U-turns due to strong MP pushback, it is unclear how any reforms will land Interesting from @amberdellar.bsky.social 👇

Short comment from me about SEND reform: Legal rights are a much-relied-upon safeguard in the SEND system, but they can complicate efforts to make education more inclusive. Govt must acknowledge and carefully navigate that tension, with parents and other stakeholders

the local government theory of everything

NEW REPORT: the gov’s proposals for judge-only trials will deliver only marginal savings and distract from the real route out of this crisis: reversing recent falls in court productivity.

Louise Casey on patient/citizen choice in public services: "I disagree with performative legislation that has no strategy, no money, no ability to get that done which turns it a advocacy, legislative, lawyering up job, which we have with SEND and potentially the Care Act, and with homelessness"