The concept of anchor institutions – organisations rooted in a place that can play a defining role in creating and reinforcing local economic ties – has been present in the UK for over 10 years.
A few weeks ago, I was chatting to someone about CLES, our work in Scotland and our expertise in community wealth building. They made a comment about us “just” designing action plans for local authorities. I explained we did a lot more. Afterwards I paused to reflect, if they don’t know what we do, perhaps it’s time to explain? So, this blog is a little different, not so much Scotland focused, but CLES focused. If you’ve ever thought, “what do they do at CLES?”, then this blog is for you.
With the Procurement Act (2023) now in operation, the London Anchor Institutions’ Network (LAIN) and CLES convened a workshop to explore how an anchor network approach could help bring these ambitions to life and, in doing so, strengthen local economies. LAIN, convened by the Mayor of London in 2021, is committed to driving inclusive economic growth through anchor institutions buying more of their goods and services from smaller and diverse-led local businesses. The Network was keen to share practice with other anchor networks around the country and explore ways for anchor institutions to capitalise on the opportunities afforded by the Act.
Instead of ringfenced budgets and top-down controls, the report – The Case for Total Place 2.0 – calls for a return to joined-up local decision-making, where councils, the NHS and other local bodies collaborate to meet the real needs of their communities.
“a rare win-win that today’s system urgently needs”
The OG Total Place – an ambitious initiative first launched by Gordon Brown’s Labour government in 2009 – empowered local agencies in 13 pilot areas to pool resources, tackle complex problems together, and deliver smarter, more human solutions. The results? Better outcomes for residents and long-term savings – a rare win-win that today’s system urgently needs to rediscover.
From starting up a network to maximising its impact, from big city to satellite town, local authority-led networks to those that have engaged the private sector, How to Build an Anchor Network provides an overview of the different types of networks and the advantages (and disadvantages) associated with them, and how best to exercise your collective power once it is harnessed.
This article originally appeared in the HSJ.
In my role as Co-ordinator for the Birmingham Anchor Network I have been privileged to observe this process in action. This time last year the Network launched its pilot Hospitality to Health employment programme, as a response to an urgent employment crisis being faced by two of its members. Housing association, Pioneer Housing Group, were concerned about the number of their residents at risk of redundancy from a hospitality sector reeling from the effects of Covid-19, while at the same time University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust needed to recruit significant numbers of staff at entry level positions to support in responding to the pandemic.
For the past six months the procurement leads from the seven Birmingham Anchor Network partners have been sharing ideas as to how they can use procurement opportunities to increase their contribution to the Birmingham economy, particularly by engaging socially generative SMEs and micro businesses.
As I said in my last blog, the concept of anchor institution networks has taken hold across many areas of the UK, with a number of places either having launched a network or in the process of developing one. But what are the essential components of a successful anchor institution network? And how adaptable are those components to local circumstances?
Getting buy in for a new anchor institution network is rarely a problem. After all, why would any institution’s chief executive turn down the offer to be a part of something that will help them to employ local people and support local businesses. The real difficulty is turning that buy in into action. To this end there are (at least) two main problems:
In order to urgently address this crisis, local government must act now by harnessing the collective power of local anchor institutions – such as hospitals, universities, colleges and housing associations – to tackle the unfolding economic and social crisis.
