Funded through the MHCLG Improvement Support Grant, the LGA is establishing a new employment relations support offer that will help you to review, enhance and build your employment relations capability and capacity.
Complete this form to register your interest in the programme and we’ll let you know when training dates and webinars are planned.
Please note, the links below go to the same form, and you only need to fill it in once.
Access support and get involved
Update: We’re delighted that as part of the LGA’s Improving Employment Relations (ER) programme, a new range of resources have been developed for the sector:
- a one day foundational ER training course has been developed, piloted and is ready for delivery within councils
- a new self-assessment maturity model has been launched
- a series of webinars have been held.
Find out how your council can benefit from the ongoing offer to support and improve employment relations over coming year by filling in the expression of interest form.
Developing strategic employment relations training for councils: attend our roundtable event 25 June 2026
- Are you looking to improve longer-term relations with your recognised unions?
- Do you want to develop senior leadership buy-in and support for your ER strategy?
- Would your experienced HR staff welcome the chance to share ER problems and consider different solutions?
The LGA is convening a strategic employment relations roundtable event and we’d love to have your input. This will be the starting point for the strategic employment relations training course, and will help shape this course. This course will then be piloted and delivered over the coming year.
The roundtable will be co-convened with our partner in this project – IPA (part of the Institute of Employment Studies) on Thursday 25 June 2026 at 10.30am. We are inviting one senior HR officer from up to 30 councils to attend this event. Sign up using the expression of interest form above and we’ll send you the link to the attend.
If you can’t attend the roundtable but you’re interested in your council being part of the pilot group for this new strategic ER training course, please also complete the expression of interest form above. You’ll get to the chance to send two delegates from your council to attend as part of the first cohort and help shape this training course.
Places on the pilot course - dates to be confirmed, autumn 2026 - are free and will be limited to two per council for up to eight councils.
Any councils that don’t get a place on the pilot course will be able to send two participants, for free, to attend the strategic employment course at later dates this financial year.
The foundational employment relations support offer
- Would you like support in developing employment relations at your council?
- Would your HR staff benefit from employment relations training to improve confidence to work well with unions?
- Would you like a refresher on how to get the best out of collective agreements?
This foundational, one day training course helps you to review your current industrial relations practices, providing HR teams with new and improved employment relations skills to build confidence and support improvement.
With so much organisational change and so many challenges facing councils, having good working relationships with your recognised unions is more important than ever. Local Government Reorganisation (LGR), English devolution, the Employment Rights Bill, equal pay and new equalities legislation, and the advent of AI, are all creating changes that are impacting the workforce. Ensuring that councils have effective and well-established employment relations will help councils to get the best out of these changes.
Effective industrial relations, incorporating good communications and employee engagement, underpins successful and efficient delivery of local government services and minimises the chances of disagreement and dispute.
Getting involved in this project will enable your council to reflect on and improve relations, creating a strong starting point for change.
Who is this support offer for?
The support offer is aimed at:
- council HR staff who already have – or will soon have – some responsibility for employment relations
- HR officers who are supporting managers and heads of service working with trade unions.
Complete this form and we will be in touch to discuss about delivering course where you work.
Going through LGR?
If your council is going through LGR, now is the time to think about getting the most of your employment relations as part of the process of employee engagement and managing change.
Please get in touch if you’d like to talk to us about how the foundational employment relations course can support your LGR journey.
Sharing practice
We're also keen to hear from councils who currently have good partnership arrangements with the trade unions and are willing to share examples of good practice in employee relations. We know councils like to learn from their peers and are keen help facilitate this.