Get set to use everything in your membership in 2025
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Newsletter: Unpack your festive sweaters

Authors and contributors: Alexandra Murphy

Keep getting everything you can from your membership

Your events, training and resources

Lots of thought has been going into getting membership-ready for next year. But we all still have plenty to do this year, and part of that is reflecting on what you’ve been learning in 2024.

This year’s Leadership Academy Alumni day is tackling this balance of looking forward and back. Whether or not you’ve been able to join training with Socitm this year, you are welcome to drop into some or all of this year’s meeting on Thursday 28 November.

Just like you we’re mindful of the financial restrictions on learning and development. You should find the panel session about career development in challenging times useful.

Make sure you’re getting everything you can from and with Socitm now and next year. Our Members’ Connection Hours at 11am on Friday 29 November and 1pm on Friday 13 December will help you do this.

We’re of course happy to arrange individual meetings with you or your leadership teams. Or invite us to your meeting! If you’d prefer any of these let us know and we’ll get that sorted out.

This week there’s a top 7 of useful/interesting things for you

  1. Congratulations to all the winners of the first LGC Workforce awards.
  2. The LGA and Apolitical have launched a first-of-its-kind training programme on digital excellence specifically for local government to pilot with 30 local authority senior managers across England.
  3. Nice post on LinkedIn: Why Digital Experience in Local Government is Essential — RIGHT NOW!!!
  4. You probably already know about the monthly Microsoft Innovation and Collaboration Forums, but there are more 🙂
  5. You’re running out of time and spaces to join the Place-based Leadership course in Manchester on Thursday 14 and Friday 15 November.
    Taking part will broaden your ambitions and perspectives for you and your place.
  6. Another good read: The prominence of process design at Hillingdon Council.
  7. My pick of the event list this week is Reform’s Reimagining the Local State (in Sheffield) on Monday 25 November. President Carol Williams will be there.

Take care. I hope you’re able to have a great weekend.

Best wishes,

Alex.

Simple Socitm logo surrounded by drawings of headshots with different coloured hair

Membership in 2025

The pressure you’re under to do more with less and less is intense. But your Socitm community is here to support you and help.

Connect: tap into our network of professionals to solve your wicked issues, find solutions and share best practice.
Learn: develop you and your team with our CPD-certified training.
Explore: access practical resources to drive your decision making and avoid reinventing the wheel.

The pressure you’re under to do more with less and less is intense. But your Socitm community is here to support you.

Discover more
Illustration of a woman reading an oversized book, entitled, 'Local gov's big book of ideas'.

In Your Resource Hub

People make places

Remind yourself (or read for the first time) the Socitm prospectus for mission-oriented innovation in local public services.

NEW in AI@Socitm

Report from the Ada Lovelace Institute: Buying AI – Is the public sector equipped to procure technology in the public interest?

Next AI-themed webinar:
13:00 to 14:00 Wednesday 13 November
Join ICS.AI to explore Telford and Wrekin’s use of AI to revolutionise customer service and operational efficiency. You’ll hear about their route from the AI digital assistant to their evolution into phone-based AI telephony services.  

Update: ICS.AI has been awarded a framework contract on G-Cloud 14.

You might have missed…

Scroll through webinar recordings to find interesting and useful things

Watch: Simplify Your Tasks – Copilot Basics for Microsoft 365 Users

For ease of viewing, the recordings are divided into easy to navigate chapters, with subtitles and transcript available via the video player toolbar.

Browse the Resource Hub

You will need a user account on socitm.net to access member-only resources. Let us know if need any support.

Listen now: Using social progress index data podcast

This episode of the podcast is a comprehensive exploration of data, the social progress index (SPI), and how one size does not fit all when trying to use it in your local authority. 

Central and local government veterans William Barker and Michael Green are asked questions by David Ogden. Listen to their conversation for ways to use SPI data to impact your strategy and activities.

In this month’s Members’ Connection Hour you’ll learn more about Place Insight. It’s a data tool available to members (from next year) at a member-only rate from our colleagues at Impera Analytics. It’s based on a Social Progress Index (listen to more about that in the above newest episode of the Socitm Says podcast).

Listen to all episodes of Socitm Says Podcast. Also available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Free training with Microsoft in November

09:00 to 16:30 | Monday 25 and Tuesday 26 November

Get the knowledge and confidence you need to lead change. Change Agent (Manager) with Microsoft is back this month! Save your seat now 🙂

..At times my brain hurt, being introduced to untapped resources which were at my fingertips at once was overwhelming. But I am becoming more comfortable now. Just want to get into some real application…
Delegate on last month’s Change Agent Reflector.

Over 2 days, this course will give you with an overview of the key skills needed to be an effective change agent – with a strong emphasis on the ability to lead change.

You do not need to be a Socitm member to attend this course

Claim your free training

Accessibility and inclusion

Check your Silktide Score. If you’re competitive, see where you’re council ranks in the index for October. It’s not all about being #1. Bassetlaw District Council is up 58 places to 23! Excellent work.

Follow Silktide’s YouTube series: What in the World is WCAG?

Digital Accessibility Maturity Assessment
Hassell lnclusion’s DAMA is a comprehensive self-assessment of your current level of digital accessibility maturity.

Thursday 21 November 16:00 to 17:00
Work harder or Work smarter? How to Optimise Your Accessibility Strategy

PAUSE
Creating fair and equitable organisations and services is everybody’s responsibility. Take time to reflect and review on your approach and identify where there may be gaps in the way in which you do things. Pause – reflect – act

Next course: 09:30 to 12:30 on Tuesday 12 November Equality, Diversity and Inclusion | 1 point
Find your Silktide score
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Training

Build your confidence and resilience to develop and better apply your skills, ideas, and experience.

Your training calendar for 2025 is live so you can start planning how to fit Socitm courses into your personal learning and development plan.

Don’t let your points expire! Use them.

In-person courses

Online core skills courses

Your annual membership includes training
Get your guide to using training points. Don’t have enough or you’ve run out? Let us know.
Log in to your user account for an up-to-date number of available training points on the day that you check.

Any questions, just ask us.

How was your course? Tell us about it and be a training champion 🙂

What don’t you know?

Survey end users’ skills to prioritise your future training needs. Get started with a user skills survey.

Browse all training
Socitm infographic - benchmarking 2024

Better data improves everything

You want evidence to support your business cases, and insight into positive changes you can make. Get a concise overview of your service coupled with data to support it.

Don’t get beaten by a lack of data

With benchmarking you can compare the size, performance and cost-efficiency of your ICT. Leaving you free to concentrate your efforts for improvement. Or make a case for improved funding.

Benchmarking in pictures
National conference Sheffield 2024

Events

Member-only meetings

Meet people for catching-up, problem sharing (and solving) and great networking.

President’s Conference 2025

Key date for your 2025 calendar: Tuesday 10 and Wednesday 11 June 2025
Make sure this is in your diary so you can join everyone back in Birmingham for your annual members’ conference.

Your usual local public service community will be getting together with guests from the Linked Organisation of Local Authority ICT Societies (LOLA). LOLA is an international organisation of which Socitm is one member. And the only one from the UK.

Create connections with people from outside the UK and Europe to bring best practice from wherever you find it to your team, place, and community.  

Free webinars and meetings hosted by Socitm

Missed one? Recordings of Socitm webinars are available in the Resource hub.
Webinars are open to anyone in the public sector, membership is not necessary, so please do share them with your network.

Browse events

Mostly free webinars and events hosted by partners and others

November

December

Come and say hello

  • Thursday 14 November
    • 08:45 to 15:30 LGC Summit [Leeds]
      Join Nadira Hussain for the panel discussion: Reimagining local government through advanced technologies
    • 09:30 to 15:30 LGA AI Technology Innovation Showcase [hybrid/London]
      Members of the research and policy team will be there in London
  • Thursday 21 and Friday 22 November Local Government Partnership Network South 2024 [Heathrow]
    Both days will be co-chaired by Sam Smith and Mark Lumley.
  • Monday 25 November  Reimagining the Local State [Sheffield]
    Join President Carol Williams on the panel Beyond bureaucracy: achieving future-proof local government
  • Wednesday 27 November AI, Automation & Bots4Good
    Panellists include President Carol Williams (Walsall) and Vice-President Kurt Frary (Norfolk).
Local Government Association logo

The Technology Innovation Showcase

09:30 to 15:30 | Thursday 14 November | London/Hybrid

The Showcase brings together councils, keynote speakers and innovative vendors for a day of exploring practical AI and smart tech solutions to four challenge areas submitted by the sector:

  1. Implementing a digital front door for council services
  2. Enabling social care practitioners to spend more time with people
  3. Enhancing efficiency in the planning process
  4. Improving local places through optimised service delivery

Join everyone (in London or online) to discover how AI and smart technology could transform your functions, service delivery, and resident engagement.

Grab your (real or virtual) seat

Thank you for reading (or scrolling) this far! Just one more thing…

A simple one this week: The Mindful Mix on BBC Sounds

Photo by Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash