Sign up to Impact: The Local Government Graduate Programme

The sign-up window for Cohort 28 has closed.


Female graduate smiling in a bright room


Even outside of the sign-up window, it may be possible to recruit bright and motivated graduates and help develop the future leaders of the sector. Please get in touch with the team by emailing [email protected] for an informal conversation about the programme.

In order to be flexible and meet your organisation’s particular needs, there are a number of options available to you when signing your council up to the programme. All options have the same salary requirements and fee.

Graduate Management Trainee

  • Recruited through a national pool of graduates from across the UK.
  • Our rigorous and competitive recruitment process means we select the highest calibre graduates for you to interview.

Finance Graduate Management Trainee 

  • Recruited through the specialist Finance Stream. 

Shared Graduate Management Trainee

  • All the benefits of participating in the full programme but NMT(s) and their placements are shared between councils.
  • Partnerships and practical arrangements are the responsibility of the councils involved.
  • Employment is divided proportionately between participating councils and the fee per graduate will be split between the councils.

Local recruitment

  • Your council promotes to candidates from your local area in the same timeframe as Impact's national campaign.
  • Local candidates follow the same assessment process as national candidates, to ensure they meet the same high standard.
  • Successful candidates will become part of the national cohort with access to Impact learning and development, networks and knowledge events.

Contact the team by emailing impact@local.gov.uk for an informal conversation about the programme.


Find out about City of Wolverhampton Council's experience as a partner in the video below.

The below video references the ‘NGDP’ – the former name for the programme. Please note the content and structure remains the same despite the new name.