Councillor induction essentials

This guide is designed to support officers working with councillors to develop their council’s councillor induction programme. It sets out the key stages of an effective induction, the logistics which help programmes to work well, and the LGA resources and training that can help to support councils’ own programmes at each stage.

Purpose of councillor induction

Decorative

A well‑planned induction helps new councillors:

  • understand their roles, responsibilities and how the council works
  • understand and practice expected standards of conduct
  • access the right information at the right time, avoiding overload
  • form effective working relationships with officers and fellow councillors
  • develop the skills needed to carry out responsibilities effectively 
  • contribute to good governance and effective decision‑making
  • engage with wider development opportunities.

Councillor needs and feedback should underpin every induction programme, ensuring it is useful, accessible and relevant to councillors with varied experience and responsibilities. Gathering feedback also helps to refine the offer over time, supporting continuous learning and stronger engagement with both the induction and wider councillor development programme.

Five key phases of councillor induction

This guidance is structured around five phases to help you develop a programme which is purposeful, manageable and responsive to councillors’ needs. Key milestones, such as the Declaration of Acceptance of Office, Annual General Meeting (AGM), first committee cycle and first budget cycle act as anchors for any induction programme. Structuring your induction with these in mind helps councillors to know what to expect and ensures they are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need at each stage to perform their roles effectively.

  • Phase one: Pre-election
  • Phase two: Week one post-election
  • Phase three: Weeks two to four post-election
  • Phase four: Months two to six post-election
  • Phase five: Six months onwards.

Phase one: Pre-election

Sharing information with candidates (and their agents) before they are elected helps to set clear expectations, reduces early overwhelm and ensures new councillors can step confidently into their role from day one. It also helps with setting expectations about positive, professional relationships, helping candidates understand the importance of constructive working between councillors and officers and mutual respectful engagement if elected.

What to do?

Phase two: Week one post-election

The first week post-election focuses on completing essential statutory requirements, setting up councillors’ digital and physical access, and giving them a high‑level introduction to how the council operates. This phase also supports early relationship building by introducing councillors to key officers, democratic services and fellow councillors. Together, this ensures new councillors feel supported, understand the immediate actions they must take, and are equipped with the tools, information and connections needed to begin their role confidently.

What to do?

  • Complete statutory formalities: conduct sessions or drop‑in slots for the Declaration of Acceptance of Office, submission of Register of Interest form, issuing ID cards, confirming allowances and recording bank account details for payment.
  • Provide essential systems access: Set up email accounts, devices, multi‑factor authentication, council meeting information systems, parking permissions, and casework management system logins, ensuring councillors can access core systems immediately. Offer group or 1:1 IT induction support to help councillors get started with devices, cyber security, calendars and remote access.
  • Provide a simple welcome pack and “quick‑start” checklist to help councillors stay organised. 
  • Run a “Welcome to the Council” session: Led by the Chief Executive with the Senior Leadership Team present, give councillors a high‑level overview of the council’s position, structure, values and behaviours, decision‑making arrangements, civic roles and how officers and councillors work together, clarifying respective roles, responsibilities and legal duties.

Top tips: 

  • While ideally the “Welcome to the Council” session will be attended by everyone, where capacity allows, consider holding multiple multi-party sessions to maximise councillor attendance and engagement.
  • Work with Group Leaders to set expectations that all councillors, including those returning to office, attend the session, both to ensure they receive the most recent information relevant to their roles and for them to build relationships with new councillors.

Which LGA resources can help you?

Top tips: 

  • Share upcoming events with councillors through multiple channels such as: weekly Chief Executive or Monitoring Officer bulletins to councillors; with Groups; through pre-committee briefings; following committee meetings; or a dedicated councillor learning and development bulletin.
  • Encourage councillors to ‘self serve’ resources such as the Councillor Hub through an area of the council’s intranet dedicated to councillors.

Phase three: Weeks two to four post-election

In weeks two to four, the focus shifts to building councillors’ understanding of personal safety, appropriate conduct, ward responsibilities, and how the council is governed, financed and delivers its key services. 

This phase develops the practical skills and confidence needed to represent communities safely, ethically and effectively, while also strengthening effective working relationships with officers, fellow councillors and ward partners. 

What to do?

  • Personal conduct session: Monitoring Officer to provide guidance on the Code of Conduct, the councillor-officer relations protocol, interest management, gifts and hospitality, and sanctions. 
  • Safety briefing: Each police force now has at least one Force Elected Official Adviser (FEOA) who is responsible for delivering Operation Ford and coordinating responses to security concerns related to councillors. The FEOA can provide briefings on personal security to councillors.
  • Directorate meet-and-greets: Directors to offer in-person introductions to their service areas, explaining core functions, duties and how councillors can work with officers to resolve casework and support residents. Holding joint, co‑located meet‑and‑greets can help councillors better understand how the council works and build relationships with senior officers, whilst reducing the demand on councillors’ time.
  • Ward councillor effectiveness: Sessions focused on mapping ward stakeholders, managing casework efficiently, using local data, working constructively with officers and handling difficult conversations. Councillors should be encouraged to use the LGA’s councillors’ workbook on being an effective ward councillor to build confidence in their community role.
  • Managing an online presence: The Head of Communications and Monitoring Officer to provide a session focused on maintaining digital safety and civility, including social media use and the interface with the Code of Conduct.
  • Communications and media: the Head of Communications to introduce the media protocol, clarifying arrangements for responding to enquiries from the press and providing advice on engagement with the media.
  • Council procedures and the constitution: The Monitoring Officer to provide an introduction to meeting etiquette, standing orders, protocols, motions, questions, webcasting and the layout of the chamber, giving members the practical knowledge they need to participate effectively.
  • Finance 101: The Section 151 Officer to provide a foundational session covering revenue and capital, how councils are funded, the council’s financial position, the Medium‑Term Financial Strategy, treasury management and the budget cycle. This session can use the LGA’s Finance Unpacked videos to help demystify financial concepts.
  • Committee members: Deliver training for planning, licensing, regulatory and audit committees (being clear where it is mandatory and seeking strong encouragement to attend from Group Leaders), ensuring councillors are eligible and prepared to serve. Ensure that training is prioritised for those councillors who will need to exercise respective committee responsibilities first and that the first committee cycle accommodates the time required to deliver the training.
  • Executive inductions: Provide cabinet inductions and portfolio briefings for the Leader/Executive Mayor and cabinet members, covering responsibilities, relationships with scrutiny and formal and informal governance arrangements.
  • Chair inductions: Democratic services to provide sessions on chairing skills for committee chairs and vice‑chairs to help them run effective meetings (with option for follow up 1-to-1 sessions).
  • Corporate parenting: where the council has the responsibility for children’s social care, explain councillors’ statutory corporate parenting role, wider responsibilities across the council and accountabilities related to children’s services.

Top tip: 

Seeking external support? Contact your LGA Principal Adviser or regional team as you develop your programme to discuss how they can support you with advice, facilitation or co-delivery of your programme. This can include the use of one or more member peers who can give the ‘councillor perspective’, for example on councillor-officer roles and relationships, behaviours and conduct.

Which LGA resources can help you? 

Top tips: 

  • In addition to regular updates, ensure councillors have access to an up-to-date calendar of induction activity, to support their time management, ensure good attendance and avoid surprises which will affect how the programme is received.
  • Consider a follow-up session on the constitution once councillors have experienced a cycle of committee meetings to address queries, reinforce principles of effective decision-making and explore how to conduct ‘healthy debate’.
  • Do you have a large cohort of councillors new to local government? Schedule a mock AGM so that they can experience what it is like, what their roles are and where to sit.

LGA events

Phase four: Months two to six post-election

In months two to six, the focus should shift to strengthening councillors’ ability to operate confidently in formal roles and within the council’s wider governance system. This includes building the skills needed to participate effectively in committees, engage with the media professionally, and understand their responsibilities in senior officer appointments. At this stage, learning should be underpinned by a focus on deepening and sustaining relationships that enable effective leadership, scrutiny, partnership working and sound decision‑making. Councillors should also gain a wider perspective on how the council works with partners, alongside essential knowledge of safeguarding duties and legal equality requirements. 

What to do?

  • Committee skills: Democratic services to deliver sessions for all councillors with committee appointments prior to the start of new governance cycle, covering the roles and responsibilities of different committees and how to participate effectively.
  • Committee‑specific training: Provide additional training for committees such as scrutiny, helping councillors understand the scope, purpose and expectations of their role as they begin to participate more fully in formal meetings.
  • Media training: Provide targeted sessions for cabinet members and committee chairs to help them manage media interactions confidently and understand the support available from communications teams.
  • Senior officer appointments: Provide a written briefing explaining the appointments process and the role councillors play in it, helping councillors understand the governance arrangements that sit behind senior recruitment.
  • Working with partners: Explain how the council collaborates with key partners, including combined authorities (where relevant), the NHS, the police and other councils, to deliver services and meet statutory duties. Highlight formal partnerships and joint working arrangements to give councillors a wider system‑level perspective.
  • Safeguarding: Provide training on statutory responsibilities for safeguarding children and adults, including reporting routes. 
  • Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED): Introduce the PSED, explaining its implications for council decision‑making. 

Which LGA resources can help you?

LGA events

Top tip: 

Provide multiple ways for councillors to share feedback, including surveys, drop-in sessions and quick reflections after events, to understand what is working well, less well and where further support is needed.

Phase five: Six months onwards

From month six onward, the focus shifts to reinforcing councillors’ learning, addressing any remaining knowledge gaps and supporting councillors as they build on experience. This phase helps councillors deepen their understanding of governance, strengthen committee effectiveness and reflect on their development so far, ensuring they are well‑prepared for the responsibilities ahead. It will also support councillors to reflect on and strengthen relationships built so far, ensuring they continue to evolve positively as experience, confidence and responsibilities develop.

What to do?

  • Reruns of key sessions: Repeat sessions (especially those covering procedural rules and conduct) where councillors have requested clarification or where participation was low earlier in the programme.
  • Assurance and audit fundamentals: Give councillors an introduction to internal and external audit, explain the purpose of assurance processes (including the Annual Governance Statement) and outline the role of the audit committee.
  • Preparation for the budget cycle: The Section 151 Officer to deliver a briefing on the budget process, including councillors’ involvement in development, scrutiny, approval and implementation.

Which LGA resources can help you?

Top tip: 

Encourage councillors to revisit materials shared earlier in the induction, as understanding tends to deepen once they have experienced council meetings and casework.

Councillor development strategies

A wider councillor development strategy will help you build on the foundations set during induction, giving councillors ongoing opportunities to grow their skills and confidence throughout their term. While induction gets them started, a broader programme can support councillors as their roles evolve, help them navigate new responsibilities and create a consistent offer that benefits everyone.

If you’re looking to shape or refresh your approach, you might find the LGA’s  councillor development strategy guidance, the wider development resources, and the flexible e‑learning modules useful starting points. Together, they can help you design a programme that feels coherent, responsive and supportive of individual councillors’ needs over the full council term.

Further resources