The following items are recommended. Click on the links below to read them.

Place-Based Public Service Budgets: Jessica Studdert and John Denham’s 2024 New Local/Future Governance Forum paper on the weaknesses of the present public spending framework and what should be done. Essential reading.

Calling Cumbria (about people) and Counting Cumbria (about money): This 2008 project was the beginning of Total Place. The film at https://www.leadershipcentre.org.uk/calling-cumbria/ speaks to local people’s affection for the place they call home (and the music’s good.)

Reigniting Total Place and Provocation: these papers about the inadequacy of the present system and how it should change were the basis for the major meeting hosted by the LGA in October 2024.

The Wigan Deal: There are many accounts of this ground-breaking social contract between council and community led by Donna Hall when CEO; the link below is one. This kind of relationship is fundamental to grasping the full potential of Total Place and a number of councils have developed similar programmes.

The Liberated Method: The biggest prize from Total Place lies in the space between social care, NHS and community. Mark Smith’s introduction outlines a fundamental shift from providing a fragmented swathe of services to working with the whole person. It builds on Hilary Cottam’s powerful ideas; see eg Radical Help.

Mission Driven Government: Dan Honig’s article argues that in providing public services we need to move on from ‘managing for compliance’.

Municipal Journal: These articles from August 2024 and January 2025 make a case for less transactional and more relationship-led public services.

Introduction to Total Place: what it is and getting started