The Levelling Up White Paper set out the government’s aim to ‘spread opportunity more equally across the UK’. Levelling up requires inclusive economic growth at the local level – a key policy objective for many local and combined authorities.
Our large collection of evidence reviews and toolkits explore ‘what works’ for local economic policies, such as business advice and employment training, that are the core ways in which governments try to improve local economic performance.
While these policies remain central to government efforts to level-up local economies, there is increasing interest in a broader set of ‘non-economic’ policies that might also contribute to levelling up or inclusive growth. To support policymakers considering whether to adopt these, we have produced a number of briefings to help them think through the benefits and costs of pursuing these policy options.
This page links to these additional resources, as well as mapping from the levelling-up missions to our existing evidence base.
Get in touch if you would like to discuss any of the evidence, how to embed it in your decision-making or how to evaluate the impact of your levelling up or inclusive growth policies.
Levelling Up Fund interventions and impacts
The Levelling Up Fund includes transport investment, regeneration, town centre investment, and cultural investment. This briefing is designed to help places understand the likely local economic effects of these types of projects.
Levelling Up briefing Public procurement
There is increasing interest in using public procurement to secure additional economic, social and environmental benefits. This briefing provides a framework to help local policymakers think through the benefits and costs of pursuing these additional benefits.
Public procurement briefing Public spaces
Public spaces are spaces that are outdoors and open to all. Whilst the primary benefits of public spaces are often social or environmental, there is increasing interest in their impact on the local economy. This briefing provides a framework to help policymakers think through the benefits and costs of investing in public spaces.
Public spaces briefing Improving high streets and town centres
The Towns Fund, Future High Street Fund, and the Levelling Up Fund all included town centre investment as a priority. This briefing presents evidence-based findings and conclusions about local growth, high streets and town centres.
High streets briefing Public sector relocation
Public sector relocations have been announced by government as a key mechanism for levelling up. This briefing provides a framework to help policymakers think through the benefits and costs of public sector relocation.
Public sector relocation briefing Plural and local ownership
Plural ownership policies aim to support businesses with alternative legal and organisational structures – such as cooperatives, social enterprises, and municipal enterprises. Local ownership policies aim to support locally-owned businesses. This briefing provides a framework to help policymakers think through some of the local economic impacts of plural and local ownership policies.
Plural and local ownership briefing Access to debt finance
Unless a business can self-fund investment, it will need access to external finance, normally debt finance – but businesses can struggle to access this. This briefing provides a framework to help policymakers think through some of the local economic impacts of improving business access to debt finance, including through community finance institutions.
Access to debt finance briefing Fair employment
Fair employment policies include paying a living wage and adopting a fair employment charter. This briefing provides a framework to help local policymakers think through some of the benefits and costs of introducing these policies within their own organisation or encouraging adoption by local employers.
Fair employment briefing Social infrastructure
Social infrastructure brings together communities, helping them develop their social capital. Examples include community centres, shops, pubs, libraries, leisure centres, parks, playgroups, senior lunch clubs, sports groups, and local business networks. This briefing provides a framework to help policymakers think through some of the local economic impacts of supporting social infrastructure.
Social infrastructure briefing Levelling up missions
We mapped our resources against the missions outlined in the Levelling Up White Paper. Find our evidence on innovation, accelerators and incubators as part of mission two, or use our broadband evidence review to plan around mission four.
Explore the missions
