President's Conference 2026

A warm welcome awaits when you sign in and get your delegate pass. Start as you mean to go on and get networking, as well as helping yourself to refreshments – including breakfast pastries.

Socitm President Kurt Frary will welcome everyone and kick things off; setting the scene for an exciting conference. He’ll share his thoughts and reflect on 12 months of leading the President’s Team, as well as present an overview of the transformative work he’s been undertaking at Norfolk in support of LGR.

Kurt Frary, Head of IT/CTO, Norfolk County Council

Tom Smith, Director AI, MHCLG

Nadira Hussain and Sam Smith will share a lively showcase celebrating our community’s 40-year journey — and where we’re heading next. They’ll kick off with a quick, interactive look back, before spotlighting how members like you are using Socitm to deliver real value. There’ll be hints at where to go next and set up day 2 which is focused on a new era of local public service delivery.

Nadira Hussain, CEO, Socitm
Sam Smith, Institute Director, Socitm

Gather your thoughts from the morning sessions so far over refreshments and snacks. Connect with colleagues from the public and private sectors.

Chaired by the amazing Madi Hoskins, this senior-level fireside chat brings together experienced leaders to explore the current state of the local government sector and what it means for how we operate in the years ahead. The discussion will consider the implications for officers, political leaders and senior teams, as well as the capabilities, behaviours and approaches needed to lead effectively through ongoing reform and change.

Madeline Hoskin, CTO, North Yorkshire Council
Jens Gemmel, Public Sector Reform and Innovation Expert
Nathan Pierce, Director of Essex Digital Service, Essex County Council
Rehana Ramesh, Director: ICT, Digital and Customer Services, Hackney Council

Join headline sponsor Netcall to explore how councils are harnessing AI to deliver better, faster, and more efficient public services.
This session brings together two forward‑thinking local authorities who are already achieving meaningful impact with AI through Netcall’s Platform.

Tewkesbury Borough Council will share how they are using Netcall’s AI-powered Converse has helped manage and reduce demand and improve customer experience.

Lichfield District Council will explain how AI‑powered website search is helping residents find information quickly while reducing avoidable contact.

Together, these real‑world examples demonstrate how local government can lead the way in responsible, impactful AI adoption.

Clare Evans, Director of Transformation, Tewkesbury Borough Council
Simon Fletcher, Chief Executive, Lichfield District Council
Mark Gannon, Client Solutions Director, Netcall

What does it take to go beyond traditional boundaries to deliver for place? Hear from a small group of senior public sector leaders, as they get to the heart of the matter. This goes beyond any single organisation, focusing on how leaders align political priorities, work through competing agendas, and make progress where ownership is shared and accountability is blurred. Drawing on real experience, the discussion will cut through the theory to explore how things actually get done.

We know how important these sections of a conference are. It’s time to make new connections, say hello to colleagues across the sector you’ve not seen for some time and reflect on the morning over lunch. Keep the conversation going and enjoy further food for thought.

Decision time. Pick the topics that you, your team, and potentially your whole organisation, will get the most from. You have plenty of interesting and topical workshops to choose from [find them above in the Breakout Sessions tab], all providing an opportunity to reference case studies, learn from (and question) partners, and take away ‘what works’.

Gather your thoughts from your focus sessions over refreshments and snacks. Connect with colleagues from the public and private sectors.

Meet and hear from your colleagues in 2026’s first Top Talent cohort. This final session of their course is sharing research, outcomes and recommendations to a project brief set by Canon in March:

“Examine how councils can evolve their cyber security capabilities to meet modern threats and support safe, sustainable digital services…focusing on protection, detection, and response.”

For some, this’ll be their first public presentation. It’s a big stage but you’re the ideal audience to listen to and support Teams Phish’n’Chips and Two Factor Faves.

Barnet Council, London Borough of Hackney, London Borough of Hounslow, Norfolk County Council, Oxfordshire County Council and Peterborough City Council

In Kurt’s penultimate act as President, he’ll highlight the key take-aways from the day. We want you to leave day 1 motivated, energised and informed. Looking forward to an equally inspiring day 2.

Members, join together for Socitm’s AGM, followed by the formal handover of the Presidency from Kurt Frary to Yogita Popat. More than a statutory moment, it’s an opportunity to reflect on the leadership that has shaped Socitm to this point and to welcome the vision and direction for the year ahead.

After an inspiring and thought-provoking day, it’s time to absorb all that information and unwind at our President’s Conference drinks reception

Whether you choose to carry on existing conversations or start fresh ones with new contacts, this is an opportunity to reflect and relax in a welcoming and friendly environment where catching up and connecting is key.

Our President’s dinner isn’t just about good food and great company. It’s also the time where we acknowledge and celebrate the hard-work, vision, delivery, best practice and personal achievements of digital leaders in the public sector.

In these most challenging times, peer appreciation and support are more important than ever. The President’s dinner is an opportunity to demonstrate how much our community, as a whole, values, recognises and appreciates the triumphs of individual members. This is why our President, President’s team and our partners have such pleasure in welcoming you to the evening.

A warm welcome awaits when you sign in and get your delegate pass. Start as you mean to go on and get networking, as well as helping yourself to refreshments – including breakfast pastries.

In her first presidential act, Yogita Popat will welcome everyone and set the scene for our second day. She’ll share her thoughts, and experiences from Barnet as they embark upon their modernisation journey. What are Yogita’s ambitions for her presidential term and next 12 months leading the society?

Yogita Popat, Programme Director, Strategy, Culture and Sustainability, Barnet Council

Our futurologist will offer a perspective on the technologies and trends shaping the future of our organisations and public services.

What will the next generation expect from their local governments? This TED-style talk dives into the future of citizen experiences, exploring how digital assistants and AI-driven services will redefine public engagement. Learn how to build robust data foundations today to support the societal challenges of tomorrow, and discover how to create services that are not just functional but delightful for the citizens of the future.

Tariq Hussain, Head of UK Public Sales, Dell Technologies UK

Our future leaders and (our and their) personal development is critical. You’ll be the first to hear the launch of Socitm’s evolving leadership support: we’ll outline how to guide current and potential leaders with the skills, confidence and connections needed to lead through complexity and change. How will we define what ‘work’ is in the future? What does the public sector workforce of the future look like? Meet young people to hear their perspectives on the future of work, the impact of technology and their ambitions for local government – and why they would (or wouldn’t) choose a career in local public service. What are their expectations and what should we do to prepare for a very different environment?

Essex County Council has a clear ambition to be a modern digital council, improving quality of life for residents while delivering real value for money. In this fireside chat, Essex’s Assistant Director for Operations & Platform, Emma Toublic, joins Dell Technologies and CDW to share how they are refreshing a large, predominantly Dell device estate and modernising management with Intune and Autopilot to support a more agile, productive workforce.

The discussion will explore how workstyle‑driven device choices, standard builds and automation are helping Essex balance user experience, cost efficiency and environmental goals – while preparing for local government reorganisation and future AI and data initiatives.

Designed for IT and digital decision makers in local government, the session will offer practical lessons on partnering with suppliers, sequencing device and platform changes, and turning technology investments into tangible outcomes for staff and residents.

Emma Toublic, Assistant Director for Operations & Platform, Essex County Council
Helen Berry, Sales Manager, CDW
Michelle McGeoch, Regional Sales Director,  Local Government / Police/  Higher Education & Research, Dell

Meet and hear from your colleagues in the first Empowering Women cohort of 2026. This final session of their course is sharing research, outcomes and recommendations to project briefs set by Socitm in March:

1. Access and affordability: women are more likely to face device/data poverty, and reduced access due to caring responsibilities. Identify a barrier in your community or workplace and propose a practical intervention.
2. Online safety and confidence: online harm can reduce women’s digital participation and trust. Explore how safety concerns impact confidence and what changes could improve trust and participation.

For some, this’ll be their first public presentation. It’s a big stage but you’re the ideal audience to listen to and support Teams Elevate and Unstoppable.

Barnet Council, Essex County Council, London Borough of Hounslow, Norfolk County Council and Suffolk County Council

Gather your thoughts from the morning sessions so far over refreshments and snacks. Connect with colleagues from the public and private sectors.

Chaired by Professor Steve Griggs, this discussion challenges our partners to showcase how they can help drive better outcomes in local government. You’ll hear bold commitments, explore opportunities for collaboration, and see the pledges partners are making to work with the public sector for the greater good – putting the spotlight firmly on accountability and impact.

Steve Griggs, Professor of Digital, Tech, Innovation and Business at the University of Staffordshire
AWS | Netcall | Kerv | Softcat

A fast-paced, interactive session with leaders sharing quick, five-minute insights on the future of leadership, culture, and operating model, creating a dynamic exchange of ideas, giving you multiple perspectives in a short space of time and sparking discussion across the room.

Simon Fletcher, Chief Executive, Lichfield District Council
Barry May, Assistant Director, Resident Experience and Digital, Barnet London Borough Council
Tanay Taank, Service Director Information Technology, Buckinghamshire Council
Amanda Stevens, Assistant Director Digital, Lambeth London Borough Council

Join this interactive panel discussion on how emerging technologies are shaping the future of local government. Chaired by Jonathan Stephenson, experts from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, councils and research institutions will share their perspectives on innovation, digital transformation and the impact on people and place. Audience questions will be encouraged.

Jennifer Schooling, Professor of Digital Innovation and Smart Places, Anglia Ruskin University
Oliver Bruff, Researcher, Ada Lovelace Institute
Louise Jakobson, Head of Data Foundations and AI Ethics, Local AI, AI Directorate, MHCLG
Pye Nyunt, Chief Executive Officer, Impera
Jonathan Stephenson, Chief Executive, Brentwood Borough Council and Rochford District Council

New Socitm president Yogita Popat closes the conference with reflections from the two days, celebrating achievements and insights, and highlighting Socitm’s role in supporting members and partners. Delegates will be inspired to take forward ideas and connections to shape the future of local government leadership and collaboration.

Yogita Popat, Programme Director, Strategy, Culture and Sustainability, Barnet Council

Your last opportunity to make new connections, say hello to colleagues across the sector you’ve not seen for some time and reflect on the whole conference. Keep the conversation going and enjoy further food for thought.

Session 1 – 2:15pm 

• OPTION 1 – Phoenix and Liverpool City Council: creating the future Agentic AI council
  Join Phoenix and Liverpool City Council as we explore how Liverpool has integrated AI into the organisation, sharing success stories and use cases.. We’ll also discuss how Phoenix has supported them over the past year with identifying, enabling, measuring, and adopting Copilot and Agent implementation
• OPTION 2 – The Journey to AI and Agentic with Microsoft 
  Across Local Government, AI and Agentic use cases are moving at pace. With over 400,000 users of Copilot, Councils are now rapidly moving into the Agentic era, looking for use cases from FOI responses, solutions to give Adults and Childrens Practitioners more time to care by automating administrative tasks, Internal Process Automation, creating Business Support agents and spanning across into AI Agents in the contact centre, all underpinned with insights and joining up data sets.

  In this session, we will hear from Councils who are leading the way, sharing their use cases, outcomes and learnings.

• OPTION 3 –Defending as One Against Cyber Threats: Key Learnings from CymruSOC (Wales’ National Security Operations Centre)
  Led by the Welsh Government in collaboration with Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council, CymruSOC is the UK’s first national security operations centre. Every hour of every day, the service is responsible for helping to defend over 20 councils across Wales against cyber attacks.
  In this session, you will hear from Nigel Howarth of Socura (the MDR provider delivering CymruSOC) and Ryan James of Merthyr Tydfil Council. Together, they will discuss the adoption of the scheme to date and explain how councils across the UK can collaborate to improve security outcomes and address critical resource challenges.

  Nigel Howarth, Head of Partners & Alliances, Socura
  Ryan James, Chief Information Security Officer, Merthyr Tydfil Council

Session 2 – 2:45pm

• OPTION 1 – The Great Leap Forward: Hull City Council’s Journey from Legacy Oracle to AI-Driven Leadership
  In the landscape of UK local government, “legacy” is often more than just old software—it is a barrier to agility, financial clarity, and employee empowerment. For two decades, Hull City Council relied on a legacy HR and Finance suite that required manual workarounds, disparate spreadsheets, and costly third-party support.
  In 2026, Hull City Council completed its “Leap Forward,” going live with a unified Workday Finance and HCM platform. This panel session provides a candid, “behind-the-curtain” look at that transformation. We explore how one of the UK’s largest unitary authorities successfully navigated the complexity of migrating 40+ integrated systems into a single cloud environment.
  Key Discussion Points:
  Breaking the 20-Year Cycle: Why Hull decided to sunset their ageing ERP and the strategic drivers behind choosing a unified “People and Money” platform.
  AI at the Core, Not the Edge: How Hull is leveraging Workday’s embedded AI to automate high-volume financial transactions and identify spend anomalies.
  Data-Driven Resilience: How real-time visibility into workforce skills and financial health is helping the Council navigate shifting local government funding .
  People-Powered Change: A look at how the “user experience” has shifted from 1980s-style interfaces to mobile-first, self-service tools that empower Hull’s 4,000+ employees.
  Lessons for the Next 40 Years: What other local authorities can learn from Hull’s procurement strategy and their post-go-live roadmap for continuous innovation.

  Zelda Marshall, Head of Transformation, Hull City Council
  Gary Ventress, Head of ICT Digital Strategy and Development, Hull City Council
  

• OPTION 2 – Designing for LGR: Why ‘Cloud Now’ is the right choice for structural change at South Staffordshire Council
  Chris Whitehead speaks with Andy Hoare about how South Staffordshire Council are preparing for LGR, focusing on how moving to the cloud at this stage supports compliance readiness and delivers wider operational and strategic benefits.
  Chris Whitehead, VP Government and Housing, OneAdvanced

  Andy Hoare, Assistant Director Business Transformation & Digital Technology, South Staffordshire Council

• OPTION 3 – Oldham council’s journey to gain a single view of the resident
  What if you had a clear view of every resident? Not just their case, their claim, or their complaint, but the whole picture. Oldham Council is building just that. This session explores their approach to joining up services around the resident, with a live demo from Microsoft partner HSO, who will show you the solution firsthand.
  Jane Forsyth and Shilen Khimani, HSO
  Lindsey Al-Basri and Matt Gratton, Oldham Council

Session 3 – 3:15pm

• OPTION 1 – Beyond Pilots: Merton’s Programmatic Approach to AI That Delivers Real ROI
  Too many councils are stuck in the pilot trap – isolated AI experiments that never scale and rarely pay back. The London Borough of Merton is doing things differently. With a systematic, impact-first programme, Merton has moved beyond one-off initiatives to build a repeatable, scalable AI delivery model focused squarely on financial return. Join this 30-minute breakout to hear how Merton’s programmatic approach prioritises the highest-impact opportunities first, how they’re building connected ROI models that demonstrate compounding value, and what practical steps your council can take to shift from experimentation to enterprise-wide AI delivery.
  David Catling, Head of Digital Innovation, London Borough of Merton
  Darren Farmer, Local Government Lead, AWS
• OPTION 2 – Co-designing the future: How Blackpool and TechnologyOne are shaping UK Local Government transformation
  This breakout session explores the powerful partnership between Blackpool Council and TechnologyOne – showcasing how collaborative working has accelerated transformation for Blackpool while directly influencing the evolution of TechnologyOne’s UK product capabilities.
  We’ll walk through Blackpool’s journey using TechnologyOne to modernise financial reporting, streamline processes, and unlock meaningful insights through dashboards and enhanced reporting tools.
  The session will also highlight how Blackpool’s feedback and hands-on involvement have shaped TechnologyOne’s roadmap, including the development of the new Guide product proof of concept, codesigned with Blackpool’s team.
  Finally, we’ll reflect on the shared commitment to delivering social value and building a model of partnership that benefits the wider Local Government community.

  Emma Foy, Industry Lead, TechnologyOne

• OPTION 3 – From Policy to Practice: Delivering Safe and Impactful AI in Social Care and Homelessness with Beam
  Focused on trust, governance and implementation, and how strategy translates into operational use and external impact.
  After more than a year of real-world deployment, Beam and North Yorkshire Council share what it actually takes to bring AI into some of the most complex and high-stakes environments in local government. From full roll-outs across over 1400 staff in in Children’s and Education services to active pilots in Adult Social Care, Homelessness, as well as a Real-Time Interpretation tool. This session goes beyond strategy to explore what safe, effective implementation looks like when the conversations matter most. Expect honest lessons on governance, the relationship between technology and process improvements, and how to realise tangible benefits without compromising the quality of frontline practice.
  Cath Ritchie, Transformation and Innovation Manager, North Yorkshire 
  Tori Campbell, Customer Success Lead, Beam

Session 4 – 3:45pm

• OPTION 1 – Risk reduced, time saved, teams empowered: The power of Autonomous IT with Tanium
  An open discussion with Will Longhurst at DWP on the outcomes Tanium has achieved. Modern cyber risk is driven by one thing: speed. Attackers move fast, and traditional patching and vulnerability workflows simply can’t keep up. In this session, a Tanium customer shares how they transformed their risk posture by embracing real‑time visibility and automation at scale. Expect a candid, practical conversation about what changes when teams prioritise risk based on real‑time data, and automate remediation with confidence. If you’re looking to reduce risk, free your teams from manual, repetitive work, and do more with less, this session will offer a clear, experience‑led roadmap.
  Will Longhurst, Lead Security Infrsastructure Engineer, DWP Digital
  Ben Hall, Director of Solutions Engineering, Tanium
• OPTION 2 – From Storage Sprawl to Strategic Governance: Central Bedfordshire Council’s Journey with AvePoint
  As Microsoft 365 becomes the backbone of modern public sector operations, many organisations face accelerating storage growth, unmanaged content sprawl, and rising overage charges often without clear visibility into what data is high‑value, high‑risk, or simply no longer needed.
  Join this session to learn how CBC used policy‑led, auditable deletion to remove large volumes of obsolete data while maintaining full protection with their existing backup solution. The result: lower Microsoft storage costs, stronger governance, and a sustainable model for ongoing information lifecycle management. Perfect for public sector IT leaders seeking operational efficiency without compromising compliance.
  Walk away with practical strategies to:
  Build governance models that protect organisational data and assure audit readiness
  Use data discovery to inform broader digital transformation and cloud optimisation decisions
  Shift from reactive storage management to proactive, policy-led information stewardship.
  James McCann, Solutions Engineer, Avepoint
  Emel Morris, Chief Information Officer, Central Bedfordshire Council
• OPTION 3 – Greater Manchester Strategic Technology Project
  The mission: rebalance how the public sector deals with large tech suppliers. We created this project to reset the relationship between the public sector and major tech suppliers. Today, those relationships too often lead to fragmented contracts, high costs, and technical silos that block innovation. By coming together as a single, united “Mega Buyer” across a place, we can tackle the structural, financial and technical barriers that have held back an integrated digital estate.
  Andrea Fitzgerald, Head of Health (North), GCA
  Peter Schofield, Assistant Director of Integrated Commissioning and Procurement, Manchester City Council
  Fiona Paton, Senior Account Manager (North West), GCA