The latest round of the LGA’s Behavioural Insights Programme has seen funding awarded to eight local authorities.
Behavioural insights is an approach based on the idea that interventions aimed at encouraging people to make better choices for themselves and society will be more successful if they are based on insights from behavioural science, also known as “nudge theory”.
The programme encourages innovation in local public services by giving support to councils to help them to deal with their biggest service challenges.
In previous LGA-funded trials, Liverpool City Council saw a 7.4 per cent reduction in the purchase of sugary drinks in their hospital cafes.
Kent district councils used behavioural insights techniques to rewrite a letter about housing provision, increasing service users understanding of council communications by 43 per cent.
Also, Kent County Council, Kent Police and Victim Support saw a 2.3 per cent increase in victims of domestic violence taking up support from Victim Support.
In the latest phase of the programme, the LGA will be awarding funding to the following organisations, who will each match a £25,000 grant:
- The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham – changing the perceptions and therefore uptake of sheltered housing
- City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council – increasing the uptake of the flu vaccine
- The London Borough of Havering – reducing household waste
- New Forest District Council – reducing the amount of litter thrown from vehicles
- Westminster City Council – increasing levels of recycling and reducing the amount of abandoned waste on the streets
- Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council – reducing the proportion of local authority housing tenants in rent arrears
- Warwickshire County Council – reducing demand on the MASH (Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub) and enabling appropriate referrals to undertake an assessment
- The London Borough of Hounslow – increasing levels of recycling in high rise flats
The LGA and the organisations undertaking the work will be sharing learning and results as and when they come in for others to benefit from.
Cllr Peter Fleming, Chairman of the LGA’s Improvement and Innovation Board, said:
“We’d like to thank everyone who applied for the most recent funding round of the LGA’s Behavioural Insights Programme. We were hugely oversubscribed which demonstrates the popularity and interest in this innovative area of work.
“Councils are experiencing both a fall in resources and an increase in demand, and are under more pressure than ever before.
“As a result they are increasingly turning to behavioural insight techniques to manage demand for local services.
“To help support this work, the LGA is funding a series of behavioural insight projects in a bid to encourage innovation, which can then be shared across the country for other organisations to benefit from.”
Notes
The LGA has learnt a huge amount about how local authorities can use nudge theory to change outcomes for local residents and to make efficiency savings. Find out more about the LGA Behavioural Insights Programme