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Local leaders supported to drive change in their communities and improve public services with the launch of a new playbook to support decentralisation.

• Local government playbook written to support Prime Minister’s aim to take power out of Whitehall. 
• Launched today, the playbook is a practical guide which local leaders can use to design and deliver better public services.
• The Playbook launch is marked by an anniversary event in Sheffield celebrating the success of the Test, Learn and Grow programme.

Local leaders supported to drive change in their communities and improve public services with the launch of a new playbook to support decentralisation.

Upon taking office, the Prime Minister promised a clear break from centralisation, pledging to shift power away from Westminster and return decision-making to the people and communities where they live and work.

Launched today, the Playbook has been developed by the Test, Learn and Grow programme to help central and local government design public services to better meet the needs of local communities.

The programme works directly with local partners to design and deliver better public services. For example, Test, Learn and Grow supported Liverpool City Council to take a data-led, strategic approach to temporary accommodation for people experiencing homelessness. Improving the use and quality of data led to nightly temporary accommodation costs dropping by 30%, saving £6 million.

Cabinet Office Minister, Sally Jameson MP, said:

The Prime Minister promised to take power away from Westminster and return decision making to communities.

We know local leaders are best placed to integrate public services and respond to the needs of their residents, which is why we must empower them to set the policies that work for their areas.

That is why I am so pleased to announce this Playbook that will help places adopt regionalised ways of working and further kickstart the biggest transition of power out of Whitehall.

Cllr Fran Belbin, Leader of Sheffield City Council, said:

There is so much good work that takes place across the city every single day to help and support children from less advantaged backgrounds to help them achieve everything they want to.

We are delighted that so much of this work has been able to be showcased on a national platform through the Test, Learn & Grow pilot projects over the past 12 months. We look forward to this continuing over the next year and showing the country the fantastic work taking place right here.

To mark the launch of the Playbook, Minister Sally Jameson delivered a keynote address at the Sheffield event, highlighting examples of the programme’s work at the Sheffield event, highlighting examples of the programme’s work.

The Playbook enables central, regional, and local government teams to adopt a similar test and learn approach. By starting small, adapting quickly, sharing learning and working directly with places as equal partners, it aims to improve public services from the ground up.

Test, Learn and Grow (TLG) is a three-year UK public service reform programme testing new ways of designing and delivering public services that are closer to the people using them. It sits at the heart of the Government’s ambition to rewire the state: so that local leaders and services closest to the problem can join up and design solutions for and specific to the needs of the communities they serve. 

Launched in 2025 across ten local authority partners, the programme is tackling six core policy challenges - from improving employment outcomes for young people to reducing violence against women and girls.

The publication of the Playbook will be marked by a ‘Test, Learn and Grow’ one-year-on celebration event in Sheffield, hosted jointly by the Cabinet Office, Sheffield City Council and South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority.

Notes to editors:

• The ‘Test, Learn and Grow’ Playbook will also be officially launched as a live guidance resource on GOV.UK, with regular updates as the programme learns more.