Local authority round-up 20 February 2026
20th February, 2026
Our Local Authority round up provides brief summaries of topical information on a weekly basis, to keep you aware of the changes and updates relevant to you.
Education
New employers grant to boost quality in early years education
Early years staff across the country will be supported to upskill and qualify as teachers through a new paid degree apprenticeship. This will allow 400 staff to earn while they learn, gaining the skills needed to teach in nurseries and early years settings, improving the quality of early education children receive in the years that matter most.
By raising skills and creating clear routes to higher pay, the programme will help make early years teaching positions more attractive, supporting recruitment and retention of staff who are central to giving children the best start in life possible.
High-quality early education and childcare is pivotal to children’s lives. Research shows that the better trained the staff in nurseries and early years settings are, the more children benefit.
This new scheme is backed by a £3.2 million grant to support employers and the programme will contribute £9,000 per apprentice each year to cover training costs. The government will also provide an additional £8,000 per apprentice to help employers cover backfill, training and National Insurance costs, ensuring no provider is left out of pocket.
For more information, please click here.
Health & social care
Innovators across the UK are being offered £20 million in grants for technology designed to reduce harm and death from drug and alcohol addiction
Applications have opened with awards of up to £10 million available to support late-stage, high-impact projects that can demonstrate real-world effectiveness, UK market readiness and progress towards regulatory approval.
These grants are aimed at supporting projects expected to be close to deployment and capable of delivering impact within health and care services.
A second strand will support earlier-stage innovations, with awards of up to £1.5 million to help promising technologies demonstrate initial effectiveness, strengthen business planning and help them to progress.
Successful projects will also receive exclusive access to an education session from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), supporting innovators to navigate evidence requirements and the pathway to UK certification, approval and roll-out.
For more information, please click here.
£400 cash boost for disabled adults to tackle cost of living
150,000 disabled adults to keep £400 more cash each year to help with cost of living, and £700 million to support tens of thousands of home adaptations.
The government is increasing the amount that working-age adults who receive social care must be able to keep after paying for home care (known as minimum income guarantee) by 7% from April 2026. The increase in the minimum income guarantee will strengthen the safety net to ensure that people have enough for daily expenses and helping ease financial pressures.
This is the largest above-inflation uplift in more than a decade and means working-age adults receiving care in the community will have more money left over for everyday essentials such as food, heating and bills. Those eligible for the disability premium, an additional amount of people with greater disability needs, will keep up to £510 more per year.
The government has also confirmed £723 million for the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) next year to help older and disabled people adapt their homes so they can live safely and independently. The DFG supported around 60,000 people last year and it helps people come out of hospital and living comfortably in their own homes.
For more information, please click here.
Upcoming events
Employment Rights Act 2025 – What you need to know
The Employment Rights Act 2025 represents the biggest change to employment law in a decade, introducing a number of changes over the coming months and years.
This free webinar is designed to provide clear, practical guidance on what those changes mean in real terms – and how to approach them in a proportionate and manageable way.
Register here to join Laura Darnley, James English and Katie Adams as they take you through the A-Z of the reforms – from agency workers to zero hours contracts, and everything in between.
HR Conversations
The Employment Rights Act represents the biggest shift in employment law in decades. In this session, we will outline the key changes and provide practical guidance to help you prepare for what’s ahead. Following popular demand, we will also use the session to explore the challenges of managing toxic employees in the workplace.
Come join a relaxed, invite-only event where HR professionals can openly talk about the real challenges they’re facing at work. It’s a safe, judgment-free space to share experiences, ask for advice, and swap ideas with people who truly get what it’s like to be in HR.
Whether it’s plans to enhance workplace culture, tricky team dynamics, tough conversations, or navigating change, this is your chance to connect with others who understand – and maybe walk away with some fresh perspectives, too.
You can register for this event here.
International Women’s Day
You and your colleagues are invited to join us for our 9th International Women’s Day celebration (formally an Endeavour Partnership event), exploring this year’s theme of Give to Gain.
Our approach to the theme focuses on the importance of investment by organisations and individuals, and the lasting impact it can have. Through our sub-theme, Empowering Women, Strengthening Business, we will look at how access to education, development and alternative routes into careers enables women to build confidence, capability and opportunity at every stage.
The event will centre around a panel discussion, bringing together senior leaders and industry experts to share practical insight and lived experience. Together we will explore what meaningful investment looks like in practice, from professional development and skills-building to inclusive leadership, non-traditional career pathways and personal growth.
The afternoon will begin with arrival drinks and informal networking. Guests will then enjoy Wynyard Hall’s afternoon tea before the panel discussion, which will be followed by an interactive Q&A session, offering the opportunity to engage directly with our speakers and continue the conversation.
You can secure your tickets here.
Procurement and public law update
Our in-person Procurement and Public Law Update covers the new procurement rules and their increased transparency requirements.
This seminar will look at what those changes have meant in practice since both the new Act and the new NHS regime came into force. We will give practical tips on how to manage procurements now and how to deal with the risks of challenge when the timescales are so tight.
Register here to join this free session with procurement law experts Tim Care and Matthew Brady.
Please note that this briefing is designed to be informative, not advisory and represents our understanding of English law and practice as at the date indicated. We would always recommend that you should seek specific guidance on any particular legal issue.
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