Employment

Scottish policy and practice update: Sept 2025

This update is part of a regular series of rundowns of policy developments and reports on our work in Scotland, by CLES Head of Scotland, Naomi Mason.

More than “just” action plans

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.   

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  • RESEARCH

    Essay: addressing health inequalities through employment

    14th July 2025
    278.5kB     .pdf
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    • Climate emergency is here. For local economies, this changes everything.

    As we head into a new decade, it is now impossible to ignore the fact that the climate emergency will be the dominant issue above all others in the 2020s.

    Whether it be Bolsonaro burning the Amazon or, closer to home, vast flooding across Yorkshire and the Peak District, events in recent months have breathed terrifying life into Greta Thunberg’s assertion that ‘we need to act as if our house is on fire, because it is.’

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    Rebuilding the local economy in Britain’s Seaside Towns

    If ever there was an example that epitomises the misery imposed by market neo-liberalism, it’s the plight of Britain’s seaside towns.

    Decades of agglomeration has led to the incubation of ‘superstar cities’ such as Manchester, leaving places like Blackpool and Rhyl deprived and depleted. As CLES reported on in 2017,  the last vestiges of their seaside heritage are now enveloped by a coil of ever-tightening social and economic decline.

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  • Centre for Ageing Better commissions CLES to research helping over 50s get back into work in Greater Manchester

    11 Nov. 2016