About LIIA

Hosted by London Councils, LIIA is the capital’s Regional Improvement and Innovation Alliance (RIIA) and works with Department for Education, the Local Government Association (LGA), the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE) and the eight other RIIA across the country to promote learning, facilitate collaboration, enable governance, leverage investment and share best practice solutions for mutual benefit.

In 2019, ALDCS identified workforce, adolescent safeguarding, SEND and resources & commissioning as its priorities for concerted, co-ordinated action, due to the scale of the current challenge for London’s children’s services in these four areas. London boroughs children’s services have a proud record of improving the lives of London’s children and a wealth of experience of working with children from all of London’s diverse communities. There is a collective recognition across the boroughs that improved outcomes, a better experience for children and sustainable services in the future can only be achieved through the systematic collaboration that LIIA embodies, with our unwavering focus on London-wide solutions that positively impact children’s services and the lives of children and young people. The step change London’s children deserve cannot be achieved by individual authorities working alone.

Improved outcomes and experience for children and sustainable services in the future can only be achieved through the systematic collaboration that LIIA embodies – along with our unwavering focus on London-wide solutions that positively impact children’s services and the lives of children and young people.

Since 2019, we have developed and progressed an ambitious programme to address ALDCS’s priorities, with all workstreams now reaching fruition. To make their planned outcomes a reality, and in the context of the legacy of a global pandemic, structural inequality and amid the biggest cost of living crisis in generations, continued commitment to collaboration at scale has never been more important. The outcomes we strive for simply cannot be achieved by individual authorities working alone.

Our success is judged on:

• Our impact for children: we’ve improved the lives of those with the greatest need – adolescents at risk, those with SEND, children in care and those impacted by disproportional representation due to race.
• Our contribution to financial sustainability: our innovations have brought about collaboration that leads to better managed cost and demand across London.
• How well we amplify the voice of London’s children: we listen and act on the needs of London’s children. We have captured and told their stories to shape national policy that will benefit London’s children.
• Achieving culture shift: sharing, challenging, learning and problem-solving across London’s councils becomes the norm and common problems are addressed through collective solutions.
• Our facilitation of shared intelligence: decision-making and resource allocation is based on a systematic approach to children’s services data-sharing and benchmarking.
• Our creation of a common governance structure: London’s children’s services work better together and with partners due to the governance and practice we’ve enabled.

These are the tangible results we aim to achieve for ALDCS, for children’s service in London’s councils and, most importantly, for children and young people across London.

Securing funding for London's Children

LIIA have been instrumental in securing funding for London’s borough, bringing 33 authorities together to collaboratively drive improvement and innovation for children across the capital.

• Your Choice Project: £11.5 million over 3 years from Home Office / Youth Endowment Fund for Your Choice, an innovative violence reduction programme for 11-17 year olds at risk of serious youth violence
• Recovery Fund: £3.17 million secured from the DfE Social Care Regional Recovery and Building Back Better Fund in 21/22 for a range of London children's projects
• Secure Programme: £3.6 million from the DfE for secure welfare
• London Accommodation Pathfinder Project: £1 million from Youth Justice Board/Ministry of Justice for London Accommodation Pathfinder for children at risk of custody £1m data accelerator funding from DLUHC
• Workforce Priority: £45k from LGA to support the Workforce Priority
• SEND Priority: £136k annually from DfE on SEND
• Secure Programme: £70 million capital investment in Secure Children's Home x 2  for London (subject to gateways being met)

Get in Touch

Reach out to the LIIA Team if you wish to discuss any of our projects and areas of work in more detail.